To celebrate my birthday, I flew in for the weekend and spent the week in paradise! All was pretty amazing except for the room/the plantation. I’ve been coming to the plantation every year, since being a small child. I’ve never had a more outdated, ran down, smelly, falling apart, condo… in roughly 25/30 years. Used shampoo and conditioner, soap bars in the bathroom, a load of towels in the dryer, dishes in the dishwasher, sand in the “clean” sheets, blood smeared on the bathroom wall, and a dead rodent odor that would not go away. The couch was blue/gray flower print from the 80’s, which would’ve been beautiful, only it’s not supposed to be gray at all- it’s just the filthy layer of years and years of use and never being replaced…so nasty we didn’t sit on it. I was just there in June with the whole family, and noticed some things with the 3 condos we had on the first floor of the palms, and we also sat 53 minutes on hold waiting for a door code to get in, and not a single REAL PERSON was around to help. Sucked after DRIVING 15 hours with 21 family members, being ready to get out of the car… but we let it go and didn’t want to make a fuss… it’s just sad to see how down hill the place has gone as a whole. If you’ve never been, you don’t miss what you don’t know.. for those who’ve known it as their 2nd home, you just know!!. The resort workers used to chat in person while cleaning up around the courtyards, ask you how your stay was going.. they had real live people there, willing to help you navigate your trip, get settled in, enjoy your stay… I can only imagine the money that we’ve spent over all these years…You pay for a service, for a nice get away and to relax and unwind. Half the pools and hot tubs were out of commission half our stay. I noticed over the last few years, they close all pools, hot tubs and amenities at 10, it used to be 11. So night swim for grown ups hasn’t been a thing for our family down there in a long time. The security staff working the check in gate- horrible! “The first impression”is those people- renting balls, racquets, golf clubs, you have to deal with these people. They made me leave my drivers license for a golf club rental, when coming back that evening, my ID was lost. The lady there first accused me of lying, and had a really bad attitude with me and said “we’ll I don’t know what to tell you”. I took a picture of their 1-800 support number and was going to reach out to their higher up… obviously I needed my ID/DL to drive and travel. The gentleman with longer hair, ball cap and beard was very helpful, and ultimately found my ID. But only after the lady, I think Pat was her name; accused me of lying and then told me basically “oh well”. These are the people representing your company and dealing with your paying customers- change it!! Gods scenery, never disappoints.. but between our June family trip and now this weekend trip. I think I’ve had enough and it’s time to find a new home away from home. Gulf shores plantation is now, no more than a place to lay your head at night and use some (whatever’s not closed, closed early, or broken) amenities.