Review of Holiday Inn Resort Panama City Beach, an IHG Hotel 3*

We have mixed feelings about this Holiday Inn. First the good: It really is beautiful and the staff (for the most part) are very friendly. The building itself is… tired. But we didn't spend much time in the hotel anyway. Because it's a resort, they had fun things going on like movie nights by the pool, live music in the evening, handing out watermelon slices, etc. Now for the bad: We booked our room on Travelocity. But when we arrived to check-in, the hotel staff said that our booking didn't cover the "cleaning charges" so we owed them an additional $100. WTF? If that's not a hidden fee, I don't know what is. That in and of itself makes us not want to return. Second, we had lost a float in the parking lot that looked similar to one a lifeguard would use. We use it for diving. We asked security if they had found it, and they said no, and there wasn't any record of anyone finding it either. So we asked the manager, who said the same thing. Then we asked the lifeguard. The lifeguard said security found it the day before, and asked if it was his. It didn't belong to the lifeguard, so they put it in their stash of stuff. The lifeguard told us to make the security guy open the closet. Sure enough, there it was. What do you do when security can't be trusted to do their jobs? We told the manager, who seemed genuinely bothered by the situation and that he would "take care of it. " … whatever that means? So they get two stars for being unethical with the hidden fees and the lazy (or sneaky? ) security. UPDATE: Annie T has responded that it is our own fault for missing their hidden fee, and that security would get a good talking to. After reading Annie T's responses to other critical reviews, I have noticed a pattern of "it's not Holiday Inn's fault" with the exception of the "rare miscommunication" of team members. There is an abundance of hotels in the same area. We will not be giving this one a second chance.