Portofino - Gulf Breeze

If you have a family of busy kids or teens, this is the place to stay! Seven pools including an indoor and one with a bar and live music. Starbucks and fruit smoothie bar on site. Within a short walking distance from both the bay and the beach. For an added fee, kayaks, bikes, paddle boards, inflated obstacle course, tennis lessons, beach games, chairs and umbrella, and boogie boards. The resort also has a spa and 2 restaurants on campus. Plenty of things to do! A little pricey but worth it!

The Premier Island Management Group rescinded our contract (booked 8/2021) during the COVID crisis (and I am a frontline healthcare Physician) and texted less than 1 month prior to our 6/19/22 arrival that we were bumped from our GULF FRONT VIEW condo because of their mismanagement in selling the condo. My colleague that facilitated the entire vacation has now been REMOVED from TripAdvisor when she posted the late noticed of being moved to another condo NOT THE SAME FULL GULF VIEW AS BOOKED with no explanation. UNEXCCEPTABLE. ! Unless this management group makes this right we will continue to object to their practices. We have been associated and faithful members since 2011. In the past when they had an error we were bumped to the PENTHOUSE SUITE. Our vacation includes a College Graduate and other needs for promoting a vacation for not only a frontline healthcare physician but also a frontline special needs educator. Let me remind you all that we have been faithful, trusting members of this resort and trusted that they would always make this right. PREMIER ISLAND MANAGEMENT GROUP MAKE THIS RIGHT YOU HAVE EVERY OPPORTUNITY

My family and I have been vacationing mostly at Portofino since 2011 11 YEARS. We booked last August 2021 for a special graduation vacation for my niece and thought we were doing the right thing by booking early to lock it in. Not so fast! A mere month before our arrival I received a text and not even a phone call: “Please contact Premier Reservations [at a telephone number] regarding a change to your upcoming reservation at Portofino Island Resort. The unit has sold and we need to change your unit. Any agent will be able to assist you. We look forward to hearing from you. We assigned [another condo] to hold another unit for you. “ Such a disappointment!!! We had a full gulf front penthouse and now have been relegated to a view of the tennis courts, seashore, and gulf view. They did begrudgingly give a small discount but only AFTER I asked. NOT PLEASED PREMIER ISLAND MANAGEMENT GROUP. Why are reservations not honored as part of the sale of a condo? The agent said they had to bump people who had booked it all the way through December this year.

Came here last minute for my 3yr olds birthday. The first impressions were great! Beautiful location! Our room (tower 2 0709) had electrical outlets pulled out the wall that they used the couch to hold in. Not great for 2 small kids. We had asked for an upgrade and was assured we had the best room possible, we now see that's not the case. I'd suggest getting a corner unit, you get much better views. We had alerted them 3x we had small kids so valued the view best since we would be stuck in the room past 7, I felt let down by them avoiding fulfilling this. We came in the off season and it wasn't busy at all, we were able to get beach chairs easily any time we went. I'm not sure why they charge so much for the rental of these chairs, they're very dirty and obviously never been cleaned. Definitely bring a towel to sit on. I was there when it was end of day and all chairs are just packed up to be brought out again the next day. This happened around 5, seemed way too early for beach bums. They failed to let us know every night we were there would have a wedding reception shut down the beach access, pool access, and our room was perfectly placed on the 7th floor closest to the party. Seems like a huge oversight for the staff to put us here. It was nice to have the room fully stocked with kitchen gadgets, this is why the room gets 32stars. But the 2nd bedroom with the kids got super hot, the AC wasn't great in this room and the fan was faulty. Hardly spun. We never went to the restaurant on resort. Every time we walked past it with our swimsuits on everyone looked highly dressed. Wasn't our vibe. The gift shops were lacking. Not enticing at all. Cheap portofino items to buy. We called the front desk asking if there were any lighters/matches in the area, we got a birthday cake and forgot the lighter. Ended up having to find a smoker and ask for theirs. The 2nd night the entire hot water supply left the unit. After a full day at the beach I went to use the jacuzzi tub and was stone cold. Showers too. The hotel offered to send maintenance but the kids were already asleep by then. Huge inconvenience. Overall if we go to Pensacola again we won't return to this resort. It feels like a hotel trying to be a resort that missed the shot. I can't imagine what it would be like in the full swing of season. Yikes. There's hotels on the Gulf Breeze island that has all the best shopping on it. Felt more like a beach town.

Having friends that have stayed at Portofino and one that works their occasionally we knew in advance that the staff was arrogant. When I asked simply to photograph their Pensacola Pelican behind the spa, the condescending attitude of the young person behind the glass was only surpassed by his arrogant tone. Sharing my experience with others, I find my experience all too common. Those that have stayed there all agree the property and staff are not what it used to be.