The Inns of Sanibel

There are three inns on Sanibel Island and I used to get them terribly confused.  I could never remember which one was which.  I knew that one of them is on East Gulf Drive and one or two of them are on West Gulf Drive.  The Island Inn, Seaside Inn and Sanibel Inn.  Well, I know one of these that I will never have difficulty remembering again and that is the Sanibel Inn.

 

I ended up booking our trip later in the year than I normally do.  The condo complexes that I usually use were unavailable.  My five year old niece Kenna was not going to be joining us this year so it ended up being just myself and my brother.  I decided to try one of the inns this time.  I went back and forth and back and forth trying to decide which one to use.

 

 

 

I am the travel coordinator for all of the divisions of the company I work for.  I use Expedia a lot for our travels and based on the volume that we do, I am one of their elite members.  It just so happened that the Sanibel Inn had a special arrangement with Expedia to treat Expedia's elite members "special".  So I chose it.  I booked two Ocean View King hotel rooms with balcony.  One for myself and one for my brother Kenny.

 

 

Isn't the office so stinkin' cute!  It was overcast on the day I walked around with my camera.  But you can still see the wonderful plants and the lovely landscaping.  The brick driveway adds to the character as well, don't ya think?!

 

 

After booking I sent a fax and requested that our rooms be side by side.  We were sharing a car and being next door would just make everything easier.  I also mentioned that I was a VIP with Expedia in the note.

 

Well, let me just say that I was blown away upon check-in.  They upgraded, at no extra cost, us to a two bedroom condominium.

 

EACH!!

Both of us!!!  Kenny had a two bedroom condo and I had my own two bedroom condo with great ocean views. 

 

 

 

And that wasn't all.  Upon entering the condos, I saw that they had left us welcome gifts.  Each of us.  A nice bottle of wine.  A nice beach tote and a wonderful beach blanket.  WOW...OH WOW!!

 

 

Talk about feeling special.

 

I was blown away.  This is my unit, I can't remember if I took any pics inside Kenny's.  If I find them I will share them later.

 

And that "special' feeling didn't end there.

 

I noticed on the front door that there was a "do not disturb" or "please service room" card that you could place in the lock on the outside to let housekeeping know what you desired.  Housekeeping?  For a condo?  I've never heard of such.  But yes, you could have housekeeping daily, DAILY, if you wanted or needed it.  Crazy, huh?  Crazy GOOD!!!

 

The view through the screened in patio.

 

 

The Beach

 

Another great thing about the Sanibel Inn... Beach Chairs and Beach Umbrellas!  Yes, the other condos had them too, BUT you had to wrestle with them and drag them back and forth from the beach yourself.  Half the time you couldn't get the umbrella secure enough and you end up chasing it down the beach on a windy day or out to sea.  Yes, out to sea.  I remember strolling on the beach last year and looking out at the ocean and seeing an umbrella upside down floating further and further away.  I thought, "poor schmuck!".  Then I looked at my spot and realized that schmuck was me!! lol

 

 

Well not this year, thanks to the Sanibel Inn my umbrella was anchored firmly each day..

 

Well that's it for now.  I have so much more about the Sanibel Inn to share.  And of course some more beach shots and shell shots...............so stay tuned, my friends and Thank you ever so much for stopping by.

 

 

Dreaming of Sanibel