Thunderbird Beach Resort

My wife and I LOVE this place! Very friendly and accommodating staff! They gave us a suite with a bottle of champagne & balloon waiting! Yay! Thank you thank you! Very fair pricing!
The sunsets here are breathtaking! The tiki bar is classic and the beach music band set the mood. The pool and jacuzzi is very clean! I recommend the italian restaurant connected to the hotel. It’s very good. Get the eggs benedict for breakfast and you won’t regret it. Good laid back atmosphere. Air conditioned rooms and balconies, very clean rooms! Love the retro feel of old Florida. We will return!

Don’t expect too much from this hotel however it’s not a bad place to stay.
Clean place, friendly customer service.
2 pools, one more geared towards kids the other adults
Tiki Bar is fun. Beach is clean and close.
Lots of restaurants around. You can rent bikes and boats close by.
They have their own restaurant with decent food.

AMAZING VIEW from our suite. The air wasn’t up to full speed so the front desk sent Dave from maintenance. He knew exactly what the issue was. Fixed it within minutes. When we returned after about an hour or so out and about our room was much cooler. Thanks Dave. The building is from 1961 so it has some character inside and out. But all in all a nice stay.

Great if you’re into smoking and the Spring Break Party Scene.
For a non-​smoking room you can’t go anywhere without having to dodge smoking (including the staff).
Negatives: Room wouldn’t cool down. TV in bedroom wouldn’t turn on. Smoking everywhere. Party scene constantly. Other customers blared music far into the night. Construction starting at 7:00 a.m. Parking lot is VERY cramped. On several occasions we were asked to just park behind people and leave our keys at the front desk.
Positives: Great location next to good food, great beach. Very easy to find.

The Thunderbird is an awesome beach hotel. Rooms are a little outdated (with the strange heater hanging on the wall) but you have everything you need for a beach getaway! It’s clean and spacious. We had a room that was a suite so we could fit up to 6 adults.
The beach bar, Ikiwoowoos, is fun and they specialize in tropical frozen drinks. Lou is usually there bartending. My husband and his family have been coming down here for years and love Lou!
There is a pool right by the bar and there is usually a live band playing some type of beachy music.
The best thing about the Thunderbird is that it’s in Treasure Island and you’re allowed to bring booze onto the beach! Grab yourself a Bushwhacker from Lou and walk out to the water!

In the years we have been coming to the ‘Bird, the maintenance issues we’ve brought to their attention haven’t ever been resolved.
Paying big dollars for Gulf Front rooms only to have to use brute strength to open and close patio doors because the bearings have gone them and don’t slide properly (heaven forbid if you have chain smokers above you who are up all hours of the night slamming theirs opened and closed); a plastic PVC pipe is provided to slip between the doors as a security measure because the lock is broken (were talking ground floor here.)
The bathtub drain that won’t drain. 2 ice machines on the 2^nd. floor — the one closest to the big dollar Gulf Front rooms is locked (apparently only for Tiki Bar use) So schlep your tiny ice bucket up a flight of stairs, and then to the other end of the building. Echoing others’ sentiments about old, dated and tired rooms as well and poor Wifi reception. We are re-​thinking our vacation destination for next year.

Great Philly cheese steak subs great very kind service nice beach view. Great place to eat.

This is now our vacation spot. Perfect view, great staff, worth the drive from Fort Worth

Four star average? Really? I struggled to give this place two stars. Oh where to begin. First, it’s an old motel, not hotel, motel. The rooms are small, smelly (but not overwhelmingly smelly), lacking any sort of décor and in need of a serious renovation. Our shower was broken too. No shower. Only a bath. Yuck.
The pool is tiny. So small. And there were a bunch of dead palms floating in it. The water didn’t look dirty, but the pool is a joke. We were there on a Friday night and it was so noisy. Just people being loud, kids running around, and inebriated idiots acting like tools until 1−2am.
The parking is also a joke. TINY spaces which, if you drive anything other than a matchbox car, you’re going to have a very tough time pulling in and backing out. It may very well be the worst designed parking lot I’ve ever seen.
Now on to the good stuff. It’s right on the beach. That about does it. $ 170 a night is highway robbery. Unless you plan on getting wasted and going right to sleep not being aware of your surroundings, find alternative accommodations.

You shouldn’t need binoculars to see the water in a gulf front room but here you do. The beach is sooo far away that you can not hear the waves from the resort.
Once you get to the beach it is beautiful and well worth it but being so far away is not worth the upgrade to get a gulf front room. Which was pretty pricey for a weekday.
The hotel is old. There are individual room air conditioners sticking through the walls. The entire room needs to be updated from the carpet to the bathrooms to the doors and trim. The TV stations did not come in clear and the deadbolt on my room door did not work. I regret to say I won’t be back. The staff was very friendly. Everyone I came in contact with was friendly and helpful. I loved the beach — but I know there are other options thankfully.

The husband got there a few days before me, so after living in the area for 3 years, imagine my surprise when he told me he booked the place that always reminded me of a casino in Vegas from the outside.
The décor was aged and the blanket on our bed had a hole worn through it. However, the beds were fairly comfortable, the pillows were great and we didn’t see any bugs in the room the entire week of our stay.
The only thing I found odd was that they had wall air conditioners, since the place is so old, and the housekeeping staff kept leaving the bathroom door open with the windows wide open over the shower. Therefore, the cool air is flowing right out of the room into the bathroom and out the window.
We also weren’t that pleased with the housekeeping staff. They weren’t that friendly, and being that they wore earbuds, when they were knocking trying to get in to clean early in the morning, we had to literally wake up, get out of bed and yell at them from the other side of the door so they’d let us sleep. A few days our room wasn’t even cleaned.
The office staff was great, the location was nice, and the restaurant was awesome. But I’ll write that up in a separate review.
Overall, we’d definitely stay there again when going back to visit.

Overall, it was NICE– not great. The staff was GREAT! The bar by the pool was GREAT… The beach was great, the pool was even great… But it is older and it looks older. The air in the room was mediocre at best-​granted, we sleep in 65 degrees at our own house! The shower was nearly impossible to turn on and my husband and I are both fitness junkies so «heavy» things excite us not intimidate us. The little court yard was super cute but we didn’t eat there. I was bothered that the maid staff was cleaning in their SOCKS?! I was tanning by the pool and she was walking around outside in leopard socks then going into the rooms?! Why? The music was good but the guy was awkward when he talked. Drinks were pricey but made well. I was there celebrating my bday and they gave me a drink on the house which I didn’t expect but I appreciated. We would go back bc of the price, but we’d also look at other places if the price was right!

Very nice place. On the beach. It is an older facility, built in 1961, but has been kept up well. The tiki bar is nice and has some great drinks. The room price, while not cheap, is not outrageous for the area.

Love, LOVE, LOVE this place! From walking thru the front doors, to the walking the beach, to swimming in their pool, to drinking at their tiki bar, we couldn’t have had a better time. Staff always goes out of their way to make sure that we are satisfied with EVERYTHING!!! When we have our «stay-​cations» this is where we stay! AWESOME!

I love this place! 11 out of 10, would recommend. There’s a cute little Tiki bar with a great selection, serving both alcoholic and non-​alcoholic drinks. It has two pools and a hot tub. There is also a small café in the front. It’s close to the beach, and most times, they have a band playing. It’s both adult friendly and kid friendly, but it doesn’t feel like a playground. It’s got a great location as well. There’s many shops nearby, and less than a 16^th of a mile away there is a great Sloppy Joe. The rooms aren’t fancy, but they are well taken care of and very clean. No worrying about whether you should take off your shoes or not! There’s also a small kitchen area with a sink, microwave, and a fridge. I vaguely remember a working stove. Each room has a balcony, which is especially useful on the ground floor. It’s close enough to John’s Pass, so that’s great as well. This has to be my favorite place to stay in Florida, and I look forward to staying again!

We usually stay at the Bilmar.
I confess that. It’s just what we do. We’re old. We’re creatures of habit.
However, at the last minute over Memorial Day weekend, we got itchy at home and wanted to go to the beach SO badly. Just for one night. Please let there be a vacancy somewhere, anywhere… any of our usual haunts when the Bilmar is full to capacity. please oh please.
Nothing.
Finally, I say to my husband, hey… you know we never tried to stay at the Thunderbird before. It’s probably booked, he counters, but he calls… and voila! There is ONE room open for Sunday into Monday! Book it!
The hotel is typical of all the other beachfront hotels on the strip. No super special amenities, but a nice clean room, with a nice clean bed. A mini fridge. A microwave. Clean bathroom. Again, nothing spectacular.
However, what makes the Thunderbird a great place is its courtyard. A beautifully manicured courtyard that you would NEVER know was there if you did not actually walk into the hotel. There is a beautiful hot tub area and a lovely, clean pool. There is an awesome Tiki Bar (if you’re a drinker) with great specialty drinks and a delicious restaurant featuring Chef Karim of The Pearl Restaurant (delicious Mediterranean Food) just up the road. There is usually always live music playing out back in the Courtyard which is a really nice touch.
It’s a beautiful place, but bit too overrun with kiddies. And by kiddies, I am not talking the 4 year old variety. I am talking the 20 year old variety… that don’t know how to STFU all night long. Were they bothering us? Absolutely not… my husband and I are dirty stay outs. We were up til 4 am just sitting outside enjoying the night. However the 20 somethings were carrying on and making such a racket and being so rude and disruptive, that it made it hard to enjoy the night. Especially when they were waking other guests with little kids up at all hours of the night.
We were very definitely annoyed about that. But, when we complained about the amount of times we had to call security (at least 3 times) they were very quick to give us a free pass for a one night stay. I imagine that on a less drunken holiday, this place would be pretty awesome. But, having gone to bed at 4 am with the shouting of the big kids… then, being in a poolside room, getting woken up at 7 am with the shouting of the little kids… it was a bit bothersome, especially since this is one of the more expensive hotels on the strip.
We don’t blame the Thunderbird though, it WAS a holiday weekend and we did make last minute reservations. So, we are more than willing to try the Thunderbird again as a change up from the Bilmar which is not NEARLY as pretty as the Thunderbird.
Pulling off a star because parking there sucks.
But, when all is said and done, a free night there was a nice touch… we’ll see how it goes.

I absolutely loved it here. It was perfect for a relaxing trip with no expectations. Clean rooms with a little kitchen, comfortable! It has a tiki bar and a band playing sometimes yet it stays child-​friendly without being a play ground, make sense?
Great area to walk to a market, food, clothing, etc. Also great stretch of beach! We got a free cab to John’s Pass and actually walked back to Thunderbird Beach Resort.
Ricky T’s was very good for breakfast and dinner.
Sloppy Joes was great for drinks, lunch and dinner/​seafood.

I was looking for a nice, classic beach resort for a weekend escape. I had a few things in mind… kitchenette, on the beach, internet service and a pool!
I had stayed at this hotel as a kid and wanted to go back and try it again. Sadly, our experience wasn’t so great at all.
First off… don’t make me sign a no smoking policy when I can’t get away from the smokers on the property and this includes the cleaning staff. When we checked out they had their heads in the rooms and were holding their cigarette out the door. We heard one exclaim even that she had found a watch. Nice. We also didn’t even get a clean up service after the first night we were there. They came super early and we asked them to return in a little while and they never did.
The pool areas and walkways were covered with smokers all around, not just near the tiki bar area where you would expect that issue. The tiki bar was actually one of the few pluses here. It’s nice to be able to get a drink pool side or beach side. Location was great.
There was a small, and I do mean small, kitchenette in the room. We really were only after a fridge. It had a dorm room size fridge with no separate freezer so good thing we didn’t rely to heavily on that. It didn’t get much cold either.
The internet… the signal was so weak with their wireless that we only got 1 bar occasionally which wasn’t enough to even pull or send email. That’s no good since it was a weekend where my other half was on call and needed the wifi. Instead we had to turn on the hot spots on the cell phone which saved us no money at all. Charging or plugging in our electronics wasn’t easily done either. The outlets were so old that the plugs just fell out of them and on to the floor. Seriously. They did exactly that. Plus, you couldn’t plug anything in that had the three prongs because it wasn’t updated enough to do that.
Upon leaving we told them of several of our issues and they told us they’d refund one of our night stays. Too bad they couldn’t do the math correctly either and only
refunded $ 80 of a $ 144 dollar night. Hmm.
I am giving it 2 stars because this place has great potential to be a bit better and the location is great. Other than that I sadly don’t have much good to say.

It’s better than Best Western.
They are both owned by the same company.
You can share the pools and other items.
Better pool

Service was super friendly here at the Thunderbird.
The open courtyard area with the pool facing the beach front is a great touch to remind you where you are, white sandy beaches, live music, and a little tiki bar-​that wasn’t open late. More of an older crowd place from what we saw on when we checked in a Sunday night. Nothing above and beyond here but it’s a great stay if you need a bed to sleep in.