Tidewater Beach Resort - Resort hotel in Panama City Beach - 16819 Front Beach Rd, USA

Our family of 6 had a wonderful time at this resort. The staff, and the other guests, were all incredibly nice. The location and the views are incredible. If you are trying to return a cart or have lots of bulky luggage, you may wait a bit for an elevator during peak times (8-11 and 4-7), but they do offer to have someone come assist you in getting an elevator if you're having trouble. Overall, it was a great experience, and we plan to go back next year.

I booked our stay through VRBO. Our host was phenomenal. You could see how much love and care went into her unit. The views are STUNNING! Truly. Our problem is with the resort staff itself. Our wallets were stolen from our beach bags our last night there. Resort security was less than helpful. Upon filing a police report, I was able to review security tapes. But alas, the camera at the top of the stairs is motion detected, but didn’t record anything from the night. They didn’t know how long this was an issue. Security also made the comment that “the resort has never changed its door or gate codes so anybody and everybody knows them. The homeless people and ex-employees have these door codes” which left us feeling super defeated and uneasy staying with our kids. Once finished with my report, the security officer did not look at any other views to track where the suspect had walked to leaving us wondering where he went once entering the facility. They really were unhelpful, and still, nobody has reached back out as a courtesy or follow up. Once they realized one of the cameras was down, they stopped really caring.

This was a ONE AND DONE visit at Tidewater. The most miserable experience I have ever had at a supposed “resort”. Sweating and waiting for 15 minutes in the heat for an ELEVATOR, then we were crammed like cattle into a cattle car, about 15-20 people per elevator, no air and hot as hades in there, and going up to the 30th floor and then down to each individual floor. People were red and sweating profusely and ready to pass out. Then, each time you leave your unit you repeat the same miserable scenario with the elevators. Absolutely Unbelievable, everyone complaining, dreading to go out and come back. Ruining the whole vibe of being on vacation at the beach. 3 elevators out of service. The beach chairs are put away at 4:30 and check in is at 4….I asked why not change up the times so it’s not as chaotic with masses of people coming in from beach at same time as check in, was shut down with “the cleaners need time to clean the units”. How about another shift of cleaners, or coming in at night or change time the beach chairs are put away, or any number of scenarios that could help the guests, but no, suck it up and stand in the heat and wait and wait to enter the jam packed sweaty elevators. The Tidewater can suck it up now forever! The unit we rented was nice though. 25+ year old unit and looks it, but it was comfortable except for the beds, mattresses hard and the springs squeaked with every move, unit 1805. The resort needs to invest in improving the guest experience commensurate with the thousands of dollars we pay for renting one week. The stress level of going in and out of unit is not worth it.

"Resort" may be in the name, but it is not upscale, high-end or luxury. Upon arrival, it is not extremely clear on where & how to check in. You have to leave your ID with an attendant to get a luggage cart. The elevators are HORRIBLE. Slow, unreliable, small. Beach chairs\umbrella rental is outrageously expensive ($80 a day). Great location. Beach does get a bit crowded. The unit we stayed in was very nice.

Condos were beautiful. Beds comfortable, lots of space for children to run around. Beautiful beach views. Only complaint is the rugs in the dinning and living room had not been cleaned and had sand all over them. We had to sweep as soon as we unpacked. Amenities were great. Had everything we needed. Outdoor pools were nice. Indoor pool was not so good. Pool was cloudy and dirty. As others have said the elevators were awful. We had 2 small children and my elderly mother who had to wait up to 45 minutes at a time for an elevator. We were on the 10th floor and ended up taking the stairs down multiple times having to leave my mother waiting on elevators. Something else to considered before booking this place is the road construction up and down both the Beach front road and Panama City Parkway which made getting anywhere in to a nightmare. Not the condos fault but something to consider. Also a pond drains into the gulf just to the left of the condo causing part of the beach water to be murky brown. Again not the condos fault. Overall I wouldn't recommend this place due to the elevator issues. Hopefully they will get this issue fixed soon because the condos are very nice.

Where to start with this place. For one if you're coming here and have an extreme fear of having your time wasted, do not come to this place, the elevators take roughly 15-40 minutes on average to come, and will creak and shudder the entire way. They're actually terrifying to get into and I've had multiple people tell me they will just stop randomly and break. Not to mention there's about 4 "functional" elevators in this 30 story building. Staff is also deeply unpleasant to deal with, and will give you just as much of a bad time as the elevators. As for the rooms they're alright, comfy beds, functional appliances, pretty view, but incredibly bizarre choices in putting a bunkbed in the middle of the hallway. Also added bonus bringing my opinion of the room down, both of our fire detectors were both not functional, and the inspection itself was never told to us was going to happen (not the inspectors fault, I heard people give him a hard time over it but he was just doing his job). So not super fun getting that news on top of everything else. Also if you value sleeping don't get a room by the elevators, they're again incredibly loud and creak and shudder all night long (sometimes with horrifying crunches when the doors open!). Also just like random things of paint and half finished furnishing was in our room too. Also there's just a bunch of cockroaches everywhere in the main lobby. All and all I never write reviews for places i stay, because most of the time they don't have so many glaring and confusing issues, I get the price is mainly to stay so close to the ocean and the main shopping area, but maybe they should put the money they get running this place into fixing anything and everything.

We have been here one day so far. The room is wonderful.. no complaints there. The elevator at this place is horrible. We will not stay here again or recommend it to anyone. For the size of this place and as many units, this should have been designed better to withstand capacity. It’s not even peak time and some of the elevators are not working right now. Something needs to be done! The bathroom by the pool on the side where the tiki bar has mold all up in the vent. The odor is horrible when you walk in. Update - we found out that they are making changes to make the elevator situation better. Once those changes are made it should be a lot better. The staff and the guys working down on the beach are awesome!!

The elevators are beyond ridiculous. Would wait anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour for an elevator every single time. They have 7/8 elevators. Half of them were out of service and never work. The others kept messing up so it was mostly 2 elevators. Talked to someone who been there 4 and half years and she The elevators have always been an issue. The room we stayed at was through a company in pcb that has rooms at several different condos. Our room was great and we will be leaving them a great review but Tidewater gets a 1 star because of the elevators. No one wants to go on vacation or be down for a ball tournament and have to wait 20 to 1 hour for the elevator. Totally unacceptable. We won't stay at tidewater again because of the elevator situation. While waiting for the elevator spoke to someone who was staying and said emergency personally had to wait for 30 minutes to get an elevator to be able to go up to help someone in an emergency.