Plantation Resort on Crystal River - Crystal River, Florida

L

I stayed here for 3 days last week. Check in was easy but my room keys kept resetting themselves and I had to have the front desk reset them every time. On two occasions, I waited for several minutes for help before the front desk helped me reset them. It should be noted I was the only person there and I felt completely ignored while waiting for them to notice I needed help.

The rooms are average. The bed is comfy, the air is cold, but they are outdated and DIRTY. My feet were black on bottom after walking around for a few minutes. The shower curtain was moldy, and my friends who were also staying didn’t have a microwave in their room and their AC broke. Room service was terrible, not replacing our towels one of the days, and not giving us washcloths for two of them. The cleaning staff doesn’t do any cleaning except for take out trash while you’re there.

The pool area was nice and the property is nice and convenient if you have a boat. It’s pretty from afar but it shows its age.

For almost 200$ a night, this is a terrible value in my opinion. I have stayed at far nicer hotels for far less. Next time, we will stay elsewhere.

Samantha G.

My husband and I have stayed at the Plantation 3 times now. If you are outdoorsy person this is the place for you. This past time we brought our small skiff and booked a waterfront room. We really liked how we would park our boat right outside our room and hop in and go! The fishing is great and it was like we got our own tour of the crystal river. Previously we booked a charter captain who works out of the plantation and he was great as well! Ultimately we did not spend much time in our room unless we were resting after a long day on the water. The room was spacious and mostly clean. The resort is older so we don't have the expectation that everything is going to be perfect and new. We did have housekeeping come in daily and reset our room, I just wish they came earlier as most of the time they were in our room when we returned from fishing in the late afternoon/ evening. Overall we love the Plantation on Crystal River and are already looking forward to our next stay!

ginnyLondon

PROS: -The location was amazing, reception area and restaurant, bars etc were beautiful. Room was a good size, lovely furniture, comfortable bed, lovely fluffy white towels and face cloths. Had an iron and ironing board, refrigerator, good complimentary shampoo, conditioner, shower gel & liquid soap. Shower was powerful and hot. We had a King River Front ground floor room so good location with lovely view.||CONS:-Walls are thin and if you have an adjoining room with adjoining door like we did, then you hear everything from next door. Our first night our next door neighbour had his TV in blaring all night long, didn’t turn off once. You can hear all the doors banging in the corridor as doors stick and you have to slam them shut. Floors in the room were grubby, if walking bare foot your feet turn black. Debris and dead insects in the sliding patio door runners inside and out. Broken glass top table outside the room on patio. No safe in the room. Poor selection on hospitality tray, no English Breakfast or black t-bags, no fresh milk or half/half milk pots, just a small packet of dried milk/creamer! Power sockets in places you can’t reach and not enough of them. Stains on lamp shades. No privacy door on bathroom or toilet, just a make shift shower curtain put up between the toilet and main sink area. Sliding toilet door broken/jammed in the wall! Bath base looked grubby where the enamel has worn away and plug looks painted in with paint chips coming off! Complimentary liquid soap dispenser had come off the shower/bath wall so was just left next to sinks, no attempt to put back on wall. Biggest issue was the pool outside, which was the biggest draw for us booking this hotel. It was brown and full of debris from hurricane Debby that passed through 6 days before. We understand that these things happen but there was no attempt to clean it in the two days we were there and when we asked staff if it would be cleaned, they just shrugged their shoulders. The hotel should at least have contacted us to make us aware of the pool issues before arriving! Hotel is definitely not worth the £200 per night that we paid!

T P.

The food and the staff was good. The rooms are just gross. We switched to another room and it was just marginally better. Room service somehow missed our room 2 days in a row. There is lots to do for kids so for a family, it is basically your only option around. The owner has been trying to sell the place for several years so he isn't putting any money into the place.
Next scalloping trip I'll be staying some where clean.

Cat

First I’ll say that this is a great location. You can park your boat close to your room and that’s obviously very convenient. It has a 70’s old Florida vibe which is cool but probably hasn’t been cleaned since then. The shower water wasn’t hot but the sink water was scolding hot. The low pressure shower has lukewarm water. The floor was dusty and bathroom was kinda moldy. Humidifier has to be dumped constantly. We were charged a daily $30 service fee at checkout. Such a sneaky way to make more money. The place has so much potential. You have to keep in mind that it’s not a hotel and paying for the location. I still had fun because we were on the water all day. But this isn’t the place to go if you’re looking for valet, room service or housekeeping.

Hans K.

I hate to say but after we booked we read the reviews but decided to try anyway. Beautiful historic location. Very beautiful property but probably struggling after the hurricane. Room was neglected to the point of not feeling comfortable to stay. Mold in the shower but just plain dirty on doors, shower etc. truly a shame as some TLC would go along way. Staff was nice and offered to clean but just wasn't feeling comfortable at that point. Not how I wanted to spend my birthday weekend but stuff happens. Hopefully they can get it on track as it certainly would be a great place to stay otherwise. Also nice is that a freedom Boat Club location is there.👍

Matthew B.

Great location.. grounds are beautiful.. unfortunately we got a room that the AC barely worked and it wasn't long before we discovered bedbugs!!! There was bedbug poop in the slats on the headboard as well. The staff happily moved us to another room that was 100 times cleaner than our original room. Maybe they gave us a crappy room because we stayed on a gift certificate? We ended up loading my boat up at 2am and driving home and not staying.. bed bugs are no joke to get rid of in your home and we did not want to risk it.. I thought management would maybe reach out to us regarding this issue but we have heard nothing! I thought this might be a nice getaway place during the summer but we won't be back.

nicholasaJ2043CQ

I hate to do this. This place has so much potential and based on past reviews at one point must have been a nice place. Aged…is honestly putting it nicely.||So when you walk in, reception area and restaurant is the nicest part of the resort you will see. After that…well. I wish I took more photos, but we were trying to make the best of it and not be overly negative as we were celebrating our anniversary. ||The hallway my wife accurately put it, was like a nursing home. The drop ceiling was worn and stained. The title floor in the hallway was dirty and stained. Immediately upon entering our room, it was a horrible odor coming from the air conditioning wall unit. I have experienced mustiness before at resorts near the water, but this odor was beyond that. They need to spray/deodorize those units. Lamp shades were stained. Bathroom tub in poor condition(we chose not to use it) Dry wall breaking off the wall in bathroom.||Grounds:||Pool desk area was dirty, cracked and worn. The weave on some chairs were busted and broken through. The bricks by the fountain were broken and falling apart. The fountain had trash floating in it(as pictured) the awning stained. The chuffle board court dirty and stained. Next to the pool, was a caged off area was filled with broken concrete and dirty water(not sure what it was/used to be) but it is an eyesore.||Checking out: Check out was 11. At 9am, we were getting ready, someone started knocking heavily not nicely at the door, we told them “one minute” but they continued to knock harder. I opened the door and the maid said “are you checking out now.” I looked at my wife like we missed check out, but it was only 9.|When we checked out they didn’t bother to ask how our stay was as we were both thinking how we would nicely respond but also not lie. ||It’s sad because the pictures online make this place look so wonderful. That’s some serious editing and use of angles, or they are older images. We live in Florida and honestly this is shame. They need hotel impossible or someone to come in. How Choice Privilege carries this place, and how it even stays open is beyond me. And if you look at recent 2024 reviews as of writing it, you will see the same complaints and the hotel responses but nothing is being done. Crystal River deserves better than this. I think this place could be saved, but it might take some serious money, elbow grease, and imagination.