Tortuga Inn

Spend the money and ask for room 264. Its quiet, serene and incredibly picturesque — overlooking the bay. It’s also gigantic: with a full size upgraded kitchen, dining room and living room, along with a jumbo master BR and shower large enough for 4 or 6 (not that we tried to confirm that). If the plastic white blinds in both our bedroom and living room hadn’t fallen apart — literally — the first time we touched them, this place would have gotten 5-​stars. When we called management after hours to request help with the blinds, they assured us they would take care of it first thing in the morning. They didn’t — we had to call again. Then they assured us all blinds on property were being replaced. Fine idea! Overall a really unique, pleasant and extremely clean property that seems to deliver everything they promise. And more: the beach towels upon check in are such a nice, unexpected amenity. Thank you, Tortuga Inn, for a delightful weekend.

A bunch of girl friends and I stayed here this past weekend and we had such an amazing time! Our room on the second floor was extremely spacious and came with a fully equipped kitchen and washer/​dryer unit. The pool area was a bit small, but the beautiful beach across the street made up for that. There were beach chairs available to use for hotel guests only, which is a nice perk. I would stay here again and I would recommend this place for others to stay while on vacation.

We were very happy with our stay. We rented a ²⁄₁ for 4 adults and 3 small children & found we had plenty of room. The apartment and kitchen had all the things we would need. The pool was very nice and the beach access including free beach chairs was wonderful. The best part of our experience was the staff. Upon arrival Carrie bent over backwards to make sure we were comfortable. Carrie & the girls at the front desk treated us warmly and went out of their way to make sure we had a great stay. Elena in house keeping even tried to teach my kids Spanish while she freshened the room. I highly recommend Tortuga!

This was a disappointing, expensive experience. They don’t tell you the king size bed is just two twins slammed together sloppily. No food options on site, marketplaces, nothing. Loud. Can bear absolutely everything going on around you, on all sides. Not a resort. Barely a hotel. So frustrated to have spent my money there!

Pluses
The accommodation is very homely
It is right across the street from the beach
It is relatively centrally located in AM
Minuses
The front desk staff leaves something to be desired as far as ability to answer basic guest questions
It can be pricey depending on what your budget is.
All that said, I would stay there again.

This a great family friendly resort right on the water complete with heated pools and jacuzzis. The rooms were VERY spacious and clean with stylish, comfortable furniture. Amenities were amazing great and it was right across from the beach. The only thing that could use a bit of a touch up is the staff. Other than that, I would DEFIANTLY stay here again! :)

I have mixed feelings after a long weekend at the Tortuga Inn earlier this month. Having never been to Anna Maria Island before, I relied heavily on Trip Advisor in selecting a place to stay. There are tons of cute cottages and condos on the island, but we were only staying the weekend, and most of those require a full week stay during the high season. In retrospect, it would have been cheaper to rent a condo for a week than stay 3 nights at the Tortuga Inn.
Because of rave reviews I’d read on other websites and prices that I consider to be very high for a hotel in Florida, I had high expectations and was disappointed. It’s a cute litttle independent inn, but NOT luxorious, so I feel that the marketing materials are fairly misleading.
Plusses: location is great, very close to the Cortez bridge for access to Bradenton, and also close to some great restaurants and bars on the island. The «private» beach is nicely equipped with chairs, umbrellas and towels for guests, which is huge when you arrive by plane. Landscaping is pretty and gives the grounds a tropical fee. We didn’t have any negative interactions with staff, although check in and check out were slightly more tedious than at larger hotels.
Minuses: Very poor quality linens, including sheets and towels. Most rooms have doors that open onto a shared balcony, in the style of cheap, roadside motels. This means that you cannot open your window shades if you want any privacy. For me, being a non-​Floridian, when I stay at the beach, I want to open the blinds and let the sunshine into my room, or at least be able to sit on a balcony and enjoy the weather. You can’t really do either of those very easily at the Tortuga without interacting with all of the other guests.
To sum up, I think if the price for even the smaller, non-​suite rooms here were not in line with a 5-​star hotel in a major metropolitan area and if the marketing had not led me to expect total luxury, we would have had a great stay at the Tortuga Inn and been happy with it. But given the heightened expectations, we felt let down and would not splurge here again.

A poorly run establishment. Our stay demonstrated to us time and time again that the staff here consistently provides incorrect information and completely fails at creating a relaxing and enjoyable visit. When we arrived, the water heater was broken. We called to tell them this, and the failed to communicate this to the maintenance staff. When the staff finally came to fix after another phone call, they managed to flood our room by removing a water plug from the water heater. Never apologized, made a mess, and made us late to our event. Also failed to communicate to us that it was our responsibility to turn the water back on and turn the circuit breaker back on. So when we came back from our evening, there was still no hot water, we had to call the after hours people to have them tell us how to finish their job.
Next, we stayed here as part of a wedding and the staff told us that the wedding couple had picked up the check for our stay. We relied on this information and told others the great news and thanked the wedding couple, only to make a fools of ourselves. The wedding couple picked up a select number of rooms, but not all the rooms. Somehow the staff interpreted the wedding couple’s gesture as «free rooms for everyone!»
Generally, the staff was unapologetic and needs significant work in the area of customer service. What’s even sadder is that their front desk was staffed with excessive people not doing anything. So you can take comfort that your money is going to waste at the Tortuga Inn by paying people to do nothing.
Finally, if you haven’t gotten the point by now: Their beachfront property is underwhelming. The pool is a glorified kiddie pool. Free WiFi is spotty, as is the cell service (for Verizon). We visited multiple restaurants they recommended and all were poor quality — my guess is that they only recommend places they are in cahoots with.
There are many other options on the island. My recommendation is to not waste your money here.

The staff here are a total train wreck. There are always at least 6 people working the front desk, but it takes at least 2 of them to get something done, and they don’t communicate with each other.
When we arrived in our room, we found that we had no hot water. After a few calls to the front desk, someone arrived to fix our in-​unit water heater. He decided to pull out the heating element, causing a fire hydrant-​style water spray that flooded our room. An hour later it was cleaned up, but when we returned that evening to take a shower, we still had no hot water. After calling the emergency number (the staff are only on site 9 am to 8 pm), they walked us through how to turn the water heater back on ourselves. Apparently the maintenance staff never tested the water heater after they fixed it and had forgotten to flip the breaker and turn the valve to activate it.
We asked for late checkout on our last day and were told, «There’s no one checking into your room, but we can only give your half an hour after the scheduled check out (noon).» After educating them about the flooding incident, we were granted late checkout, but they called at 12:30, woke us up, and asked why we hadn’t vacated the room. I reminded them that we were granted late checkout, and she then noticed that it was written in our file.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the other couple staying with us visited the front desk on our last day to see if we could split the bill. We paid in advance many months ago (payment in full when booking is a bad omen, no doubt), but we thought they may be able to refund half and charge our friends. They instead informed our friends that the bride and groove (we were here for a wedding) had covered our room. We were pretty surprised, but the front desk said that under no circumstances could we pay.
We then asked them about the comped room AGAIN when they woke us up about our failure to check out on time (even though we had late checkout). I asked how this worked if we had pre-​paid. Were they planning to refund our payment or just double charge us & bride/​groom. They got confused and said they would look into it and let us know when we checked out.
Upon checking out, we tried to get to the bottom of the ‘bride and groom paid for your room’ business, and they were like, «Did the bride and groom tell you that?» No, you did! Twice! «Oh, no, they didn’t get YOUR room. They paid for other people’s rooms. Do you want us to call them and ask if they will pay for your room?» NO! 1. I already paid for it. 2. YOU told us they paid for it, and we tried to get you to let us pay. 3. It’s extremely unprofessional to put us in this situation where we thanked the bride/​groom for paying for our room, and they awkwardly messaged us back saying they didn’t pay for our room.
Bottom line: Do NOT stay here unless you like mis-​information and a comedy of errors.

We stayed for 2 nights in a 2 bed 1 bath room. It was nothing fancy, but sufficient. The main reason I would never stay here again was the bed was VERY uncomfortable and the sheets were like sand paper. Also the tile floor wasn’t well cleaned as my bare feet were blackened by dirt. We were there for a wedding so were able to see other rooms. A 2 bedroom 2 bathroom suite and one of the rooms located on the bay side with private hot tub. They were both way nicer than our room… but I assume the same sheets are used. Also we assumed that the inn was on the beach, but the beach was actually across the street. It wasn’t a huge deal. The road is busy, however, and kids shouldn’t cross alone to go back to the inn to use the restroom etc. The beach was lovely and it was nice to have chairs available for guests. Staff seemed friendly enough too.

I couldn’t decide between 2 or 3 stars, so I’ve decided to round up in this case.
The rooms were clean. Beds were comfortable. We stayed in a two bedroom and thought the prices were reasonable. The pool was clean– it was a little warmer than I would have liked on such hot days, but it wasn’t overcrowded.
That being said, every single member of our party had a rude encounter with the staff– but then we found that this is a problem with a lot of service related places on Anna Maria island.
If you’re a self-​sufficient traveler and don’t mind being snapped at for no reason by a grouchy front desk clerk the two times you actually have to deal with them and you’re just looking for a comfortable room with a pool, then by all means, stay here. If you’re looking for great service and hospitality on top of great accomodations, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Located on the intercoastal, it is one of the nicest doggy-​friendly places around. I always get that at-​home feeling when I’m here and have not had one bad experience here. There is such a wide variety of rooms. From studios to two bedrooms… there is a boat dock and right accross the street is their private beach area with chairs, umbrellas and towels available to all guests. This is a hassle free get away. Very clean, private and if you have obnoxious children or pets, please do not come!

This is my spot. All if the rooms are different. One of the few dog friendly hotels. Just don’t come because it’s really nice when it isn’t busy.

I didn’t actually stay at the Tortuga Inn. I attended a wedding there. My girlfriend from Seattle (we met in LA) married a man from France. They figured Florida was the half way point for friends and family to meet for their nuptuals. We all met in the back of the place by the swimming pool, they set up a drink station by the jacuzzi, and together we walked accross the street for the wedding ceremony. It flowed really well and was a lot of fun. The beach was fairly empty, it was 88 degrees outside and the sunset was gorgeous. The bride and groom rented the back suite with the pool on the deck and her brother and sister in law rented the back suite adjacent to the jacuzzi. They set up the food on the counter top and table in the suite, and people mingled by the pool. It was lovely and informal. It worked well. The units were clean and the location was ideal. Anna Maria island is a little beach community with sweet small hotels down the bulevard. The water was clear and again… gorgeous sunset. It’s about an hour and half from Tampa airport.