Holiday Inn Harbourside Reviews

First of all, to give you the important facts: the event center has new carpeting and does not have that mildew/moldy smell that so many other spaces have. It is separate from the hotel, across the front drive and is a nice looking building. The space is large and up-to-date. It has a back porch facing a pond, and an overflow outdoor area that is adjacent to the pool area. We utilized both for our cocktail hour before the reception.

Barney, the Catering Sales Manager was wonderful to work with for our special day. She has many years of experience in hospitality and she has the skills to work with people well. She has been in this position for a long time and is trusted by her organization to be empowered to make necessary decisions on her own affecting your event, and she was caring, kind and attentive to our desires. She is cool under pressure and has the demeanor of the kind of person you want to work with in event planning (especially if you are inexperienced in event planning). I really can't say enough about Barney. She helped us to be economical as opposed to other venues that want to stick you for every little thing and take advantage to maximize their profits. She made good recommendations and was supportive of our wishes for the reception.
Because we had many out of town guests, we had a welcome event in the outdoor space at Jimmy Guana's Restaurant overlooking the intracoastal on the Friday night before, and it was a good value, as well.
In part, I chose this hotel because the rooms would be less expensive for our guests, as well as not having to pay parking fees (even to attend the event and not stay overnight like some other large hotels in the area). Also, they gave us an adequate block of rooms as needed, again, unlike other large hotel chains in the area.
The only negative is that there were a few rooms with issues that needed to be addressed, but no reflection on our event. It was beautiful, fun, economical, food was great and it was a pleasure working with Barney. From working with us in regard to vendors, planning and especially flexibility and knowledge...believe me, you want to work with someone who is not only knows what they are doing, but cares about the people she works with. Be sure and talk to Barney before you decide.
They have new a/c units in the space. One is recent, the other was replaced the day before our wedding!! Yes, the space can be divided into two, so there are two a/c units. If they needed to, they could have used fans to blow air towards the other half, but they did what it took to replace the unit quickly, since they couldn't repair it. So, if we were dealing with a small local vendor, this might have been a real problem with cash flow and resources to get the job done. These are all things to consider in making your choices, so I am more than happy to share because Barney was so wonderful!

Everything went has planed, Barney
Has out done herself, communication
Between everyone was right on point,perfect.

We had a great experience at the Holiday Inn Harbourside. Not sure there is anything we would have done differently. They were very accommodating, the price was reasonable, the food and service were good, and the space was just what we were looking for. They even coordinated making sure we had perfect weather and sunset on the day of our event!

I cannot say enough about the professionalism, friendliness and helpfulness of the entire staff at the Holiday Inn Harbourside! Everyone from the front desk to the servers to the chef to the bartender to the event coordinator, Barney, were excellent! My husband and I and all my guests really enjoyed ourselves and cannot say enough about all the people who helped make our wedding special! We decided to use the Hemingway room to keep it casual but they decorated the tables beautifully and made a pretty cake table! Like I said, everything was perfect!

I cannot say enough about Barney who went above and beyond for our wedding. She explained everything, made excellent suggestions, and made our day very special. The restaurant, rooms and staff were very friendly and accompanied all our requests. The food for the reception was the best i have ever had at any wedding. All the guests during and after the wedding kept telling us how good the food was. The hotel and our room was on the water with spectacular views and the Christmas decorations throughout the hotel were beautiful. You won't be sorry, book it now.

Barney saved our wedding day & made it a beautiful day! Barney met all accommodations in less than a 48 hr time period. I only met Barney for a short period of time but she made me feel like I've known her for years. The catering staff was friendly, prompt, & food was superb at a great price. I will never forget what you & your staff accomplished for our wedding. Thank you Mr. & Mrs. DeGarmo!

I wish there were an option to score higher than excellent!! Truly above and beyond, professional, warm, thoughtful, thorough, timely, flexible, creative, attentive and with an honest smile and joy the entire time!! Barney does not miss a beat and thinks of things you may not have.

Barney at Holiday Inn Harborside made our Wedding experience absolutely excellent. She has the personality that immediately after meeting her you feel like you've know each other forever and by the time your wedding comes you think you should invite her because of how close you become. She is incredibly organized and very considerate of the needs of the couple while providing great options to improve your event. I would highly recommend her and HIH for anyone to get married at!!!

Barney was absolutely amazing to work with! We got married here in July 2019, and booked the venue in October. Over those 9 months, Barney was one of the easiest people to work with. We are huge procrastinators when it comes to planning things, but she definitely made sure we kept up with our timeline. She had so many wonderful suggestions, she happily handled all of our requests, and made sure our day happened more perfectly than we had ever imagined. I would absolutely recommend looking at this venue and meeting with Barney, you won’t be disappointed!

Barney did an amazing job with our reception! She was so sweet and helpful. Definitely our calm in the busy day we had. I didn’t have to worry about a thing. I showed up and it was perfect! ❤️

Excellent customer service. We were very pleased with the service. We worked with Barney, who was amazing. The food was excellent, drinks were fabulous. The reception room was set up beautifully. The room accommodations were spacious and clean. Thank you Barney! Thank you Holiday Inn, we’ll definitely book again.

I can't say enough about this venue and Barney. We had the most magical wedding there. Barney and her staff could not have been more wonderful and accommodating! The food was amazing, and the atmosphere was perfect. We had about 75 guests, and there was plenty of room, but it still felt cosy. There is no limit to how beautifully you can decorate the room. This venue was the perfect place to start our life together.

It was a pleasure working with Barney La Prad and her team at the Holiday Inn Harbourside. The attention to detail in the wedding planning all the way from booking the venue, to hotel accommodations for our guests all the way through the wedding day was top notch! The food was so delicious! We are so glad the wedding couple chose Holiday Inn Harbourside as their venue for their special day. We highly recommend them to future wedding couples looking for a special place for their special day!

We got married in March 2019 and couldn't have asked for a better day and location. Wedding and reception was at this location. The majority of our guests stayed at the hotel as well. Only a couple blocks from the beach and nothing but sunshine. Barney LaPrad did a great job helping us get everything set, and also suggested some great vendors to help out on our day. The ceremony was looking out over the water. The reception was in a separate building from everything else. The food was great. The people working the event were very aware of us and when we needed a drink (and knew what we were drinking). Barney updated us on everything we needed to plan for setting up and deliveries. She made it seem not as crazy as we were working ourselves up to be, which made the day a lot more relaxing.

I canntt count the number of guest we have say that our wedding was the best wedding they had ever attended. All the guests raved about the food, the staff and the over appearance of the venue. I can say me and my husbands wedding planner went as smooth as anyone could have asked for....this would not have been possible with out Barney at Hokiday Inn Harborside. She was attentive, she was sweet, she knows how to run a wedding without stressing the wedding party or the guests. During setup the night before I was missing 2 chair covers (no idea what happened to them during decorating ) We were ready to send someone on a wild goose chase to find two white chair covers, Barney said no you're not I will take care of this, this is not going to be an issue. Sure enough she had called a friend and boom dilemma avoided. When a event organizer is that laid back and does not let little thing stress the bride and groom....that is an event planner that knows what she is doing. The venue was amazing and was the first venue me and my husband looked at....after touring the venue we loved it but after touring with Barney and just hearing the love she had fir this venue and her job we were sold. I live that fact that the wedding and reception was on the same property, very convenient for the wedding party and the guests. If at all you are torn between venues and Holiday Inn Harborside is one of your choices....choose wisely and choose them. The food was spectacular and the rest of the staff was very professional. Above all you will not find another event planner has caring as Barney.....

Barney - We wanted you to know that we had a great time!!! The Reception was perfect. Everyone loved the food and we did too, it was really good, especially the Anti Pasta salad. Troy our server was fantastic, he was very attentive and very kind. All of the servers at the inside and outside bars were all so nice too. The room was great and the view was awesome. We will definitely be back. Thank you for a perfect honeymoon weekend.

Me and my daughter met with Barney to see the venue and she is the most sweetest person you ever want to meetl She takes her time and throughly show you the facilities. I look forward to working with Barney to make my wedding the most memorable event.

Barney and the team at the Holiday Inn were outstanding. From the beginning, Barney was there to answer all of our questions. We were able to do a food tasting at no cost. Barney sent the seating arrangements and set up the room well ahead of time. We were able to access the venue on Friday to set up decorations. We received a complimentary stay in the honeymoon suite the night of the wedding and a much-discounted rate the night before. The suite was very large (large enough that the 12 of us could get ready day of). The view is phenomenal and so quaint. The pictures turned our incredible. The food (we had chicken colada and grouper piccata) was very good and we received so many compliments on the food. Additionally, everything was ON TIME. This is Indian Rocks Beach's most well kept secret, in my opinion. Would highly recommend Barney and her team.

We got married on 4-20-18. Since the first meeting with Barney and looking at the venue we knew this was the place for us to get married. Barney is one of the sweetest and most caring person that I have ever known. She was accommodating and always made sure that everything was taken care of for us. Our experience with this venue exceeded our expectations and we felt taken care of at all times not only by Barney but by all of the staff. We had a great experience and will definitely be back.
Arleen & Mark Cosby

Barney was amazing to say the least! She is so sweet and helpful and made planning my reception a breeze. She walked us through everything we needed to know and helped us to pick out food and recommended vendors for other wedding services that we needed. Everything was perfect!

Barney was amazing and so was the rest of the staff at the Holiday Inn Harborside. Barney helped me with everything I needed, even coming in her day off to work around my schedule. The food was AMAZING and the incredible staff made sure my husband and I are and we were treated like royalty. We used the Holiday Inn as our reception venue and we got so many compliments. Definitely recommend!

I was recently married at the Holiday Inn on Oct 21st and I would highly recommend this venue! The catering manager Barney is the absolute sweetest person I have ever met. She was always very quick to answer any questions that I had and provided many suggestions, I would get married over and over again just because of her. We had our ceremony on the harbour and our reception int he Key West room. Both sites were beautiful and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

We are so grateful for Barney LaPrad at the Holiday Inn Harbourside! Barney was always super responsive to emails and calls, which was important to us because we were planning things from the east coast of FL. She helped us create a room block and our reception at the Hemingway Room. We met at the reception room before the wedding. When we met,
I instantly felt comfortable and like family! She really wants you to have the perfect day and even went out of her way to get last minute things together for us. The hotel staff and staff at Jimmy Guana’s were all so wonderful. Our guests are still talking about how great the food was! Everyone loved their rooms and the entire hotel! Our room especially was great for my bridal party to get ready in. I can’t thank Barney enough. Absolutely amazing to work with!!! We will be back to visit again!!

Barney was so awesome and easy to work with. She assisted us with every detail and desire we needed for our special day. I highly recommend her to anyone. She's the best!!

We are so grateful for Barney LaPrad and our experience with our wedding at the Holiday Inn Harbourside. Barney was so prompt in her communication with us, constantly answering questions and helping us plan our wedding from 18 hours away. She always made us feel comfortable asking questions, which helped ease some of the anxiety of planning a destination wedding. When we arrived, we were able to book the Mr. and Mrs. suite for the whole week, which was an awesome space for getting ready with my bridal party. Barney was present at every piece of our day, making sure our wedding was perfect from start to finish. The hotel staff was so nice, and they made us feel like family. The ceremony on the harbor was perfect, the reception space was perfect (the Key West center), and the food was phenomenal. Our guests are still raving about it. We are so appreciative of how budget-friendly this venue was, especially considering we got married on a Friday. Thank you for helping us with the wedding of our dreams.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. We received an upgrade on our room, which was such a pleasant surprise after a really crappy wedding day :( . We took full advantage of the jacuzzi tub in the room, walked around the property, ate (and drank) at Jimmy Guana's a lot , relaxed on our private balcony, etc. Just took it all in and had a wonderful two nights in a clean, comfortable, quiet room. We are local to this hotel, but we had never stayed in it before. We will be back for future "staycations" for sure.

Barney and Ken at the HIH definitely took care of us through this entire process. Barney is wonderful to work with, is very responsive when you need her (for anything!) and flexible when it came time to meeting for tastings/tours etc. We got great feedback from all our family and friends on pretty much everything HIH has to offer - the rooms are gorgeous and they offer a great variety of sizes/prices, there are multiple bars onsite and the restaurant is great local beach dining. It was the perfect little getaway for all of our out of town guests (especially being right across from the beach!) Thank you so much for offering such a beautiful atmosphere for our special day!

We had our wedding reception at the Holiday Inn Harbourside and could not be more happy with our decision! It was a great location for all out of town family and other guests to stay. Barney was AMAZING and was there to answer ALL of my questions. She was very sweet and made the whole experience of the planning the reception basically stress free. :) The food was very tasty and many guest raved about it! The complimentary Mr. & Mrs. suite was just the cherry on top of it all! I would recommend this hotel for any event.

My husband and I payed for our wedding on our own, so we were looking for a great reception location with access to the beach for our ceremony for a good price. I thought we would never find a hotel with everything we wanted for a decent price, but then we found this hotel! It was literally 1/3 of the cost that most other places required for the food & beverage minimum & we were so happy with everything. Barney LaPrad was fantastic & very helpful during the whole process. The Key West room is definitely the place to have the reception, even though it cost a little more, it was worth every penny. The hotel is very quaint & was really perfect in every way for our reception. I'm so glad we picked this location!!!

We had our wedding reception on the deck at Jimmy Guana's. Everyone had a great time, the deck offered an awesome low-key vibe and a beachy feel. It was exactly what we wanted and very affordable. Barney was AMAZING!!!

Recently had our wedding reception here with about 100 guests! Location was perfect, too! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! WE received compliments on the great food and service! The servers made sure our bridal party and us were especially taken care of. Everything was perfect! Barney was such a pleasure to work with and so sweet! She is extremely professional and helpful! Thank you Barney for helping us make our wedding dreams a reality!

We had our reception here and it was perfect! The staff took care of everything and was always pleasant to talk with if we had any questions. It was beautiful and amazing!

From the planning stages to after the wedding the Holiday Inn Harborside's staff were wonderful. Even though I started with one event co-ordinator (Elizabeth) and ended with the current planner, Barney La Prad, the event was seamless.

We could not believe the amount food provided for the "tasting" for the wedding. Everything was so good that it was difficult to make the final choices.

As the wedding drew near Barney became my rock. She helped me with every detail, from decorating the room to finding transportation for the guests to and from the beach. All the vendors on her preferred list were top notch and I would recommend all of them to any other people looking to book a wedding.

My husband and I had the best experience. They accommodated all of our family members needs. It was absolutely perfect.

My husband and I were so thrilled to have our reception at Jimmy Guanas restaurant. All of our guests booked rooms on the property and were all very happy. The accomodations, the kindness, and the patience with our wedding party was perfect. The catering department did an excellent job. The food was delicious, the room was beautiful, and the service was great. The property has so much to offer. Just wish the waterpark section was open. It was such a hot weekend. The pools were just fine though. We are so appreciative to everyone that was involved in our special day at Holiday Inn Harbourside Indian Rocks Beach. Thank you all!

The Holiday Inn Harbourside was an excellent choice for my venue. It was adjacent from the beach allowing for beautiful pictures and had plenty of room for all my guests. The staff was very helpful, especially our wedding coordinator Kerry Steiner. All of my guests needs, including the most picky, were met with flying colors. My wedding day was beautiful and fun and I have the Holiday Inn Harbourside to thank for allowing that to happen.

I loved this hotel for my wedding!! Everything was absolutely beautiful! We had our ceremony in the grassy field with the arch which was perfect. The reception was held in the Key West room. Elizabeth was great to work with and made sure everything was perfect for my big day! We sent many emails back and forth and she always answered my MANY questions without being annoyed. We spent the entire weekend at this hotel, as did many of our guests. Great room rates for wedding parties. We had our rehearsal dinner at Jimmy Guanas which is inside the hotel. That was also great! Everything went smooth and perfect on my wedding day! I couldn't be happier with the venue I chose!

Great Resort for destination wedding. Food is delicious. Elizabeth is great to work with. Staff, facilities and rooms are amazing. Had a beach wedding ceremony on the beach 2 blocks from the resort.

Holiday inn Harbourside was the best place to have our wedding they made sure all our needs were met for the wedding and the price was reasonable. They gave our family members and friends a discounted room and my husband and I a complimentary room for our honeymoon. Love this venue and would pick it a million times over

Loved working with Elizabeth! She made our event a breeze! The hotel was very accommodating and each team member that we encountered during the process was friendly and helpful - always eager. We had several of our guests stay at the hotel for the wedding weekend and they couldn't say enough about the great guest service the staff provided! This hotel is a great location for a beach wedding! They have everything you would want or need for your wedding and your guests. Great hotel, great location, great staff!!

This is a great place to have a reception, especially if you have out of town guests. we were married on Sunday but checked in on Friday. We had every room booked that was set aside for the wedding. We had a great time hanging out at the beach and pool. the bars are open till 1:30 AM. The food is wonderful, we had plated dinners with an open bar. the wait staff was very attentive and all of our guests commented how perfect the event was.

We had our wedding ceremony and reception in the Key West Center at the hotel. Everything was wonderful. The staff was great and on the ball with everything from keeping the flow of the reception going to accomodating us with a last minute table due to last minute RSVP's. The food was wonderful and everyone enjoyed. I enjoyed working with Elizabeth and would recommend this venue to everyone for any kind of event. Thank you!

We really enjoyed our reception at the Holiday Inn. I'm very wishy washy so I changed my mind 100 times, but Elizabeth was always helpful and friendly with me. She recommended great vendors for Dj and chair covers. When we setting up the reception we moved tables, changed table numbers, etc and the staff was very accomodating. Our main server was Adam and he always checked in on me and my now husband to make sure we were having a good time and had everything we needed. It was so convenient for our guests and our comped hotel room was amazing! Our main server was Adam and he was great. We paid per consumption on our bar, and he let us know when our limit was close. He always made sure Phillip and I knew what was happening and when- and he made sure to let us eat!!

Great Caterer. Everyone was happy. Was not your typical caterer who provided boring, slow food. Highly recommend.

Elizabeth was great to work with. We got married on what turned out to be the coldest day in Florida and our ceremony and cocktail hour was planned for outside. We made some last minute changes on the ceremony location and everyone at the hotel was more than willing to help. The hotel made the decision to move the cocktail hour inside the reception hall which was perfect. The food was excellent and I heard that from guests as well. We loved the room we stayed in the night of the wedding.

We recently had our reception here in the Hemingway room. It was a very small wedding so that room was just the right size (we had 46 guests). The staff and the event planner, Elizabeth, were very very helpful all the way up to and through the day of the wedding! They even accomodated us after dinner and cake and set up tables on the deck for our whole group to re-locate to and listen to their musician for the night. It was a perfect setting. I highly recommend them!

We had our ceremony and reception at the Holiday Inn Harbourside. Our ceremony was held in the main breezeway area facing the Marina and Intra Coastal. It turned out beautiful.

We really loved it that we didn’t feel nickled-and-dimed to death. When we were shopping around for reception venues, the gratuity fees seemed high at some places, other places charged to cut the cake, and they didn’t offer us a free room night for our wedding night. I was especially sensitive to the bottom line budget since I knew that we didn’t want to go into horrible debt for our day!

It was free to host our ceremony on site at the hotel. Also, Elizabeth provided us with complimentary mirror and fishbowl centerpieces and helped us by even floating our heart candles in them for us. I know that we saved a fortune by using these free centerpieces and not going with fresh flower centerpieces. She offered us a complimentary night’s stay in a suite as well as helped us find wonderful vendors.

Our wedding guests even received discounted room rates which was convenient. They made their reservations directly through the reservation manager.

Elizabeth really made our day special and was great to work with. She answered all my (looking back now) silly emails and made us both comfortable for the get-go.

Our guests keep complimenting us on how delicious the food was at the reception. We chose a buffet package which included a free champagne toast. It was so fun to use our engraved flutes for the first time!

Anyway, we loved the Holiday Inn Harbourside and so did our guests. We loved working with Elizabeth. She put at ease and made sure every detail was handled the way we wanted.

I would highly recommend the Holiday Inn Harbourside for wedding parties! We will cherish the memories we made there for our lifetime together!!

After only planning our wedding two weeks we had narrowed down our list of possible venues to two with the help of my sister. My sister was really pushing for Holiday Inn Harbourside. We went and met with Elizabeth and decided right then and there that we had to have our reception and ceremony there. The hotel is beautiful. Elizabeth was so helpful with everything and even ungraded our reception room at no charge. This was a surprise as we did not find out until one week before the wedding, which was February 28, 2009. The staff was very curteous and accomodating. There are several places within the hotel to hold a ceremony, and I believe we picked the most perfect spot. Everything came out wonderfully, from the ceremony, to the food and decor. I always hoped my wedding would be amazing, Elizabeth helped make our wedding more than amazing!

I used the Holiday Inn Harbourside for my reception site and Elizabeth was wonderful to work and all the staff was completely professional. The food was wonderful and for the price, it is a steal of a deal. If you ever want to get married in elegance at an affordable price, this is the place for you. The honeymoon suite that you receive for free is also wonderful. All my guests loved the area and the quality and look of the rooms.

We met with Barney twice thus far for wedding planning and have been Very happy with the respect, caring and professionalism displayed. Our wedding isn't until November 2019 but feel very confident with our choice for this Venue. The Venue is beautiful and has an old Florida charm to it

Our wedding was great! Holiday Inn Harbourside is absolutely beautiful. The staff is extremely helpful and I would definately recommend them to any future bride. The only thing that I don't like is the minimum requirement. You have to spend a minimum amount in order to book a room.

Outstanding! Elizabeth is wonderful to work with, we received a great deal, the food was fabulous, everything was beautiful. I'm very glad that we chose this venue. It also worked out well when we had to use their site for our ceremony at the last minute, too. Couldn't have been better!

Barney Laprad was wonderful to work with she made sure that us and our guest were happy and comfortable. I look forward to visiting the hotel on our first aniversary!

My fiance and I used this venue for our wedding guest room block, as it was less than half a mile from the beach cottage where we stayed and got married at. Our guests had wonderful things to say about the hotel: from the clean and spacious rooms, to the wonderful open “Key West” design of the hotel, it’s no wonder that they were completely booked the weekend of our wedding (with 3 wedding receptions and a class reunion in addition to some of our wedding guests!). I also used one of the suites as my “getting ready suite” with my bridal party, and my new husband and I spent our wedding night at the hotel: both suites were the same design, two floors, and beautiful. I only wished we could have stayed longer. If you’re planning to visit the area beaches, don’t hesitate with the fact that this hotel is on the Intercoastal side of the map: Indian Rocks Beach is a quick walk away. This is a very well-kept and convenient property.

Elizabeth is a big part of the reason we ended up choosing HI Harbourside to be the venue for our reception. She was so much fun when we went to meet with her and was more than ready for us when, on a whim, we decided to come back a few hours later to do a tasting. She wasn't always 100% when emailing back and forth throughout the year between us booking and our wedding date, but she was always prompt. Sometimes I just had to ask questions more than once if I had sent her an email with multiple questions because she would overlook them. When my husband's family backed out and left us well below our minimum requirement, the hotel was really flexible with how they allowed us to spend that money. Initially they weren't but they came around without me even having to protest. The day before the wedding Elizabeth let us put together centerpieces in her office because there was another wedding in the venue the day before so we couldn't get into the room to do it there. She also made sure she was nearby the day of the wedding, even though I was getting married on the beach instead of on hotel property. Very few glitches throughout the night and none of them were major. Adam was incredible.

This venue was wonderful! The best prices for food I could find, since I wanted a hotel setting that would do the ceremony and the reception! My guests complimented my food tremendously. The ceremony was on their property, and the reception was in their stand alone building, the Key West Center. The event planner at the hotel was very responsive to all my emails and questions, letting me in to set up the reception room the day before the wedding. Excellent group rates for the hotel rooms for my guests-- even gave the same rate the day of for the rooms that were left and guests who wanted to extend their stay! Would highly recommend!

We just got home from my sisters wedding weekend, it was perfect! I helped in the planning, behind the scenes, and through the process as I have worked in the industry in one form or another for 10 years.
There were excellent & not so wonderful aspects, but all of the best parts happened in the last month when dealing with Kerry. He really loves what he does and really made my sister feel special.
In the beginning it was not as delightful as it became, his predecessor was very forgetful and made offers initially that she would either forget about or forgot to note.
Having been in the business I know the difference between a Planner & Sales Manager, but there was a disconnect at times-her job and ours.
The previous Manager would take days to respond to our inquiries and almost never return phone calls, when she did the conversations were all over the place-from wedding details to her personal life. This it the reason for the two 3.5 stars above. They would be all 5 if we had started off with Kerry.
About 2 months ago, Kerry called us to introduce himself, letting us know that his predecessor was on vacation but would be retiring the end of May-one week before our wedding!!!! SCARY! We were very concerned-due to the problems mentioned above. However, he stayed 'on task', sent us a very detailed menu sheet (banquet event order/BEO). I saw this and calmed my sister, I knew we were in good hands and the worries went away.
Kerry was available to us the entire time we were on property, almost as if he anticipated all of our needs and wants. When we were setting up the space, he came in and helped set our tables, tied sashes, set-up our favor table, etc., my parents thought this was wonderful.
At the reception he assisted with our introductions and made them 100 times what we planned! Loved the drapes opening and closing!
The next morning my sister received a 'congratulations' email and asked if there was anything else he or his team could do! Above and beyond!

My wife and I got married here two months ago and were thrilled with how everything turned out. The location is probably the biggest plus of all. The hotel is only three blocks walk from the beach, it is walking distance to several restaurants and it is right on the water, making for some beautiful views.

The service was also excellent. Elizabeth (events coordinator) was very helpful and worked with us the whole way up to our wedding date. They were able to make several of our requests work and her Elizabeth's experience is also a big asset.

The hotel's layout is unique. It is open air and exposed to the elements. But most of our guests loved that. The mini golf course is also a lot of fun (and much more tricky than your average course too).

I only have good things to say about my experience there. The bar (Jimmy Guana's) is a lot of fun too.

Andrew Skwara

I was initially told that as long as I gave any cancelations within a few days, I wouldn't have to pay for those people. A week out I gave my final payment and called the next day to tell her that people had cancelled on me and she told me it was too late. I couldn't even put the additional money to something else.

The staff at this facility is phenomonal.... I was promised a few things that were overlooked.... Which my mother did my entire wedding for me... She started at 10am and put that entire room together with only one hotel staff *james* who helped her.. With my brother, and my sister in law and my step dad!! They did everything!!! the hotel even came in to take pictures, which was false advertisement per my dad, because my mom did everything, and nothing was from the hotel except the room!!! We are taking James a gift card this weekend for all his help!! He was phenomonal.. I just felt that the wedding coordinator should have been at my reception like she said she was going to be... Because even at the wedding, my mom had to take care of everything, because once i walked down the isle, elizabeth was gone... She never stayed to take care of what she said she was going to!!! This hotel is lucky that they have such a good staff to pick up for her not doing what she said she was going to!!

We had some minor problems, nothing too big and overall everyone enjoyed themselves and had a good time. I would recommend to other couples who are looking to have a wedding that is close to the beach.

My husband and I stayed at this hotel last Spring and decided to hold our large (120) destination wedding here. The event was wonderful. Everyone enjoyed the resort and its amenities. Elizabeth Ottani is the person we dealt with and she was very responsive. A few issues arose (inevitable) and they were dealt with on the whole very well. Some things to look out for:

1. Your room block. People were told time and time again that our block was sold out. And it was not. Our invitations hadn't even gone out yet. It took a lot of extra work on my part to get accurate information flowing from the hotel, but eventually it got worked out fine and everyone who needed a room got one.

2. The wedding and reception were held at the Key West Center, across the street from the hotel. A lovely venue, and the room has good accoustics. Attached to the Key West Center is a 'private' pool, which guests of the hotel can access. A sign was posted 2 hours before the ceremony was to begin that it was closed for a private function and I was assured that the slippery concrete would be toweled off prior to the start of my event. And I'm sure it was. Except that not 5 minutes before the ceremony began, there was an uninvited 'guest' floating about the pool. They shooed him of course, but there wasn't time to dry things off again. I believe only my husband slipped on the way but it was a cause of stress.

3. The food was solidly very good. Not fancy-schmancy but that's not what we wanted anyway. We worked with Elizabeth and the chef to get our desired menu, which contained big caveats about food allergies... the biggest of which was ABSOLUTELY NO NUTS on all the billing sheets. Yet, as my green beans arrived, they were artfully decorated with almonds. I halted food service as I had 4 attendees with violent (read: lethal) allergies to nuts and all seemed calm. When service resumed, the nuts were back on the plates. I halted it again and had a minor bridezilla moment with one of the servers, who couldn't have been nicer. They fixed the problem but our meals were delayed. And all because the function sheets were being ignored by the person plating. I found this frustrating all the way around but was pleased that the servers were all so responsive.

That's another thing I'll add - the people who served our event in the room (our waiters, the bartender) were exceptional. I went to another wedding a few weeks later (at another locale) and couldn't help but notice the difference between that wedding and my own.

I love my wedding but the planner they have there was a little abrassive and didn't seem to care what was going on. She seemed to have other things on her mind and I didn't see her the whole day of my wedding.

When I first booked my wedding here I was very excited. It was the perfect place and they came down a couple dollars on their menu for me to remain competitive. Elizabeth was always quick to respond and give me information, However as we got closer to the event date, it seemed as though i kept having to remind her of details i had already given her, remind her that she had quoted me a lower cost..etc..then a week before the wedding, I call her to find out if we would still be able to set up the night before as originally talked about. She informed me that we would not be able to do that and not only that, but that the room had been booked untill 3pm the afternoon of my 530pm wedding. Meaning I would not be able to set up the room nor have the help of anyone in my wedding party. This really upset me and stressed me out. Luckily i was able to call in some outside people and they turned the room in an hour. however i feel like this should not have happened. The venue was beautiful. The servers were amazing, however the Bartender was a jerk. All the guests complained about how rude he was and acted as though he did not want to be there. The night of the wedding was my 21st birthday, and when i went to the bar and told him that, he said "so what" and mulitple guests told me he asked for tips. To say the least we were not at all happy with him. The food was good for the price and most guests enjoyed it.

The Holiday Inn Harbourside was such an intimate setting for a party of 33 people in the Hemingway room. However, a larger reception was going on as well and leading up we didn't feel as special or remembered. Overall, it was very reasonable and wouldn't have gone anywhere else.

Everything was great at first, but when the prices went up about 4 months before the wedding, I refused because our contract said that prices were set 6 months out. I had to fight to keep the prices that were rightfully mine. In addition, they said that eventhough they required my credit card on Wednesday, they would not charge it until Friday. I got my final check from my parents on Wednesday so it would have been ok. They didn't hold to this and charged it on Wednesday, tip and all, causing my account to over draw.

Overall I enjoyed the food and the clubhouse, but I just caution to watch what they do closely.