Lani Kai Bayside Resort

This hotel is known as a party hotel, unless u are a partier, and not JUST spring break don’t go there, def not family friendly and is OLD, and HORRIBLE paint job it is the ISOR of Ft Myers Beach, the minute u get on bridge and look to your left u know the nasty, old hotel is Lanai Kai And the parking guy is HORRIBLE, very rude If you go in to lobby you’ll see how old it is, the so called renovated sabal palm room is NOT ADA friendly, cause majority of room is outside, down stairs and no ramp. I got married there on 4÷30÷16 just for beach and danielle the wedding coordinator (who happens to be owners’ granddaughter) the promises she told us regarding place to change ended up it (was in disgusting storage room, next to lobby) that everyone walking by saw me half naked. Course the biggest promise she broke as a handicapped bride she was to have the sand isle packed down so I could walk, and she didn’t pack at ALLL, I could only walk part way-​not ok
The 6^th floor restaurant delapitated, old, rusted, worn down, even the bathrooms upstairs are rusted and OLD.
If you’re looking for a nice hotel and esp getting married choose another hotel down beach.
you know its bad when other staff at other hotel down beach tells u not to go there, unless your going to restaurant go to back entrance-​that only works if u can go upstairs

Nightmare! If you are looking to relax forget about this place and stay at home! It is like spring break all over– they have this huge speakers with non stop music it is like a carnival from hell! and you are paying for that! Not a minute of silence and i was in the fifth floor !!! the horrible music felt like i was next to their humungous speakers. Add the fact that the room was not ready at 3:00 pm for check in– we had to wait for an hour to get it. This is an old building– the only thing that «save» this dump is the location/​view.

Sabel Palm… WE LOVE ROBII (bartender). Dan and I went to experience the all you can eat crab legs. The servers all looked exhausted w reason. It’s Memorial Day weekend and everyone here is hammered. But Robi was still attentive and had THE sweetest disposition. I am visiting my friend from DC and would consider my service expectation standards somewhat high. I was surprised at the quality of service AND food. All you can eat crab — each batch was magnificent. Comes w corn and rice. To all those people who wrote bad reviews on service. Sometimes you just need to be nice to the staff to receive good service. They’re tired and other guests may be more taxing than you. So remember that. Had the best experience and next time I’m here visiting my friend i will Def come back here to see Robi.

I have never stayed at the hotel based on all the horror stories I’ve heard. Its that cherry of fort myers beach, all encompassing feel that is fort Myers beach. It’s kind of run down, part scummy, college kid packed and nothing you want for a quite, relaxing vacation. Its the quintessential «beach hotel», bar’s down below, restaurant on the roof, music playing on the beach, tons of people everywhere, limited park and idiots everywhere. You’ll never leave without some sort of story from your visit, might it be just the day or the longer. YOU HAVE NOT SEEN FORT MYERS BEACH TILL YOU STOP HERE FOR A DRINK. Go see for yourself and bask in the beach vibe.

Great view, strong drinks, food good but very SLOW service! Had to beg to get served almost.

Bar area: YES, hotel: I’ve heard not so good. The tiki bar is amazing, bartenders are great, can bring drinks right into the beach/​water, more for the 21 – 35 crowd. The Rum Runners with floaters are my favorite and if you tip a couple dollars each drink they are usually made VERY strong. For parking, there are a couple $ 10 lots across the street where you get a $ 10 voucher for food. I would only recommend fried food as the rest of it does not taste that good. Never stayed at the hotel but seems kind of dirty and loud. Reason I am giving 5 stars is because the beach tiki bar is my favorite on Fort Myers beach.

While watching the Cincinnati Firemen Charity show on Wed. 3÷9÷2015, our friend, an older women, became overheated and sick from the sun. My husband found a security staff member, Ham Bone, and asked for assistance. He was extremely kind & helpful in getting
her through the crowd and finding her seat in the shade and making sure no EMT was needed. MANY thanks to Ham Bone for his kindness and helpfulness!

Blacked out from sunday to Thursday. Top notch place, don’t mess with the staff because they all have tattoos and are super tough guys. It’s pretty easy to drink on the beach just bring out a clear cup. The butts on the beach are top notch
–rock, flag, and eagle

If you are coming here to relax… DO NOT BOOK YOUR TRAVEL DURING SPRING BREAK!!! They have no idea on how to properly organize guest!!! The GM is probably an idiot.
Now, I give them 1 extra star because when its not spring break its actually was nice. I believe though that it is going down hill. Its more for the younger generation. You hear doors slamming and opening during all hours.
Sadly my husband and I came here a year ago after Spring break and enjoyed ourselves.
It will never happen again due to the lack of organization and respect for their none parting guest. Almost $ 2000.00 for 6 days just to highly regret coming at all.
It will go down even further over time I am sure. Like college kids will keep you going forever.
The Almighty dollar is what’s King here. And that has a tendency of losing after a while. Especially when you let young & drunk people trash your hotel.
Also, I don’t recommend going in the ocean. The city allowed the dumping of sewage & the sugar Cain company to dumb their stuff in the water. Making it look like diarrhea water. So the water is contaminated. And is kiiling wildlife & fish. I wouldn’t let my kids or Grandkids swim in it

We went here for happy hour and it was great. Good music to sing too and cheap drinks during happy hour. Our waitress was super nice and very efficient. I would defiantly go back next time I’m in the Fort Myers area.
The best part of this place is the amazing patio on the roof top over looking the ocean. Great place!

We came here for a lunch in the restaurant /​bar which has amazing ocean view. atmosphere is very relaxed, cocktails are very delicious and the food too. Our server James was very attentive and pleasant, we will come back for sure.

Mr C– the owner — is a scumbag who doesn’t pay employees fairly, the property is an awful dump that’s falling apart .
And the man gets caught getting blowjobs in the hotel !!!
Disgraceful
He needs to die a slow and painful death
Do what you want with your money but at the very least treat employees with respect
And don’t take profits out for hookers until you fix the roof you cheap ass selfish son of a bitch
One rainfall and it wakes up tenants — water dripping on their head
Meanwhile an employee comes looking for you and you are too busy getting a blowjob
What the hell kind of establishment is this !!! It should be labeled lani Kai brothel!

BEWARE OF KIM!!! I have never in my life dealt with such terrible, rude, upsetting behavior by anyone in my life, let alone someone in customer service or any sort of employment atmosphere at that. Kim will lose thousands of dollars for this family owned business guaranteed. With her inappropriate attitude and remarks followed with demeaning comments under her breath, I am truly shocked that she is allowed to be around any customers whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not the only problem with this hotel. In fact, quite a few people were anything but pleasant, but this lady has to go. There was a mistake with not only my room, but my two other family members rooms as well, and I’m not just talking about a bad view or something minor. When we first arrived, we walked in the room and immediately noticed that they had given us the wrong room, and a downgrade at that. After going back and forth, one of the managers finally switched our room, so we were happy to be in a room we should have been in to begin with. So I do appreciate that. Later that day, unfortunately, one of my family members rooms was infested with ants, and other bugs. The front desks solution was to give them a bottle of raid to spray themselves, which wasn’t much of a solution given that my cousin was pregnant and had two infant children with them. So after they had to move all of their own furniture and couldn’t go to sleep when it was already pretty late (11:00 pm), They realized that the raid wasn’t enough to fix the bug problem, they then gave her the option to move across the street (which isn’t beech front like they had paid for) or that they can get a suite, and they would have to pay extra for it… Fair? I would never again in my life stay in this hotel, and would never recommend this hotel to anyone. I have not named even half of the issues but am getting aggravated even re-​living this terrible experience… Oh and one more thing, it isn’t like we just walked in that day and had some crazy expectations, we pre-​booked and were very excited for this vacation almost 3 months in advance. Bottom line. Do not stay here. The only thing this place has going for them is that it’s beach front… Other than that, no one would ever even consider staying in this hell hole. I highly recommend that they start training their employees in customer service and actually start caring about their guest and not just money.
Hope this was helpful.

Parking attendant is awful. Absolutely awful. Avoid at all costs. I came for dinner and to possibly checkin on vacation with my family ON Christmas — the parking attendant would not allow us to park, rude and unbelievably unhelpful. We just left. Not going back.

This is NOT a hotel for families to relax at. If you are looking for that, try the Pink Shell or possibly even Diamond Head. If you’re looking for a quieter hotel, head a little further down the beach and stay at the Gullwing. They have huge 3 bedroom suites with full sized kitchens and living quarters with beautiful balcony views looking out towards the Gulf of Mexico.
Anyway… Back to the Lani Kai…
The Good:
This is, for the most part, a Spring Break party hotel. If you go there to have a blast, then a blast you will have. :-) Enjoy their beach side drinks by day and their rooftop club by night. The property is situated in a prime spot on FMB. You can walk to pretty much all of the restaurants and the main boardwalk to catch that beautiful nightly picturesque sunset.
The crowd here gives off a fun and exciting vibe. There is often a volley ball net set up on the beach and jet ski rentals are close by as well. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the various brightly colored drinks and food fare. I tried a rum runner and it was delicious.
There is a periodic trolley that will cart you up and down the Estero strip for a mere buck.
The Bad:
This isn’t the cleanest hotel on FMB by far. Much because, as I stated earlier, it is mainly a party hotel. As with any hotel as this, I always suggest grabbing one of those $ 10 microfiber blankets from the local Walmart and covering the top of the bed with that to sleep on. You can also grab a nice $ 3 pillow while you’re at Walmart too. Oh… and don’t forget a small can of Lysol to spray the entire bathroom and shower down upon arrival. Trust me. It’s a great investment at just about any hotel. I mean… do you really want your longest lasting souvenir to be a case of foot fungus? Oh… and spray the remote and phone down too… You know how many people grab those two things right after having sex??? ewwww… Gross!!! :-)
The Ugly:
The nightlife in the area in general seems to bring out a lot of local vagrant types. Crime is surely present amongst the nightlife crowd here including thievery, underage drinking, drugs, etc… There have even been several deaths/​murders at the Lani Kai, so maybe some of you ghost hunters want to book your rooms early. The most prominent one being in 2002 when Christopher Dame dangled his wife off of one of the 5^th floor balconies by her ankles before dropping her to her death. There have been other deaths related to the property as well.
Don’t let that dissuade you from staying here though. I’m sure that the ratio of having a good time to actually dying is a pretty high number. And hey… What’s Spring Break without a little risk and danger involved? :-)
This review was written by a past local who turned snowbird. Cacaw!!!

Great apps, great view, great drinks, and most of all best service from James. All of his suggestions were spot on, he was quick and friendly. This place was a hard 4 in my mind but James pushed it over to a 5. Thanks bud, had a fun time day drinking.

Don’t understand why people give this place bad reviews. Just went there with my husband for food and drinks at the rooftop bar during our mini moon, our server was James and he was absolutely great. Very friendly and attentive, drinks were really fresh and great and the food was pretty decent. If the food was better I would give it 5 stars. Incredible view and friendly staff. James made our experience great! Will definitely return.

Tuesday September night. Nothing going on in the area. I stopped by for a beer. Very inattentive bar tender. I watched a customer walk to the side of the bar he occupied to order shots. 10 minutes after I arrived he decided to grace me with his service. I ordered a Miller Lite. It was $ 3.75. No problem. I tipped him $ 1.25. 20 minutes later I ordered another. This time it was $ 5.25 and he even gave me a receipt. Gee thanks. I won’t be back.

What can you say… this place needs to be remodled, is old and dirty, they have gfood drinks for the location and food is good as well but everyone here seems so sad like if they are not enjoyin life. when in season is more enjoyable I guess if you are looking for more entertainment. is okay. Nothing special.

Such an amazing place to be if your visiting Fort Myers. You won’t be disappointed there’s lots to do !

Drinks and atmosphere are great. They had live music. Have not tried the food. A lot of boats pull up close to the beach. Place gets crowded. Definitely one of the more popular spots :).

**** I don’t stay here, never have/​never will.
Don’t set your expectations high and youll love it here. I do come here to party with my friends. Miami Vices with a 151 shooter and the gulf of mexico. It doesn’t get better than that. That found is typical bar food. I brought my gf and another couple that were really good friends with. The girls verbally castrated me, saying this is the trashiet place they have been to. This isn’t a 5 star resort in Punta Cana or Cancun. YOU MIGHT SEE A HILLBILLY COUPLE GEORGIA make out session. This place is a honky tonk on the beach and I hope it stays that way.

We didn’t stay here but we went to the club downstairs and boy was it fun. We all got a run runner with a floater (a shot of 151 rum on top) and that was all we needed to dance our little hearts out.
The best part about this place is that when you got a little too hot you walk right out on to the beach. Classic fort Myers beach live music situation but the band we had was pretty great.
If we had been down here a few weeks earlier I can easily see how this place would turn in the nightlife hotspot.

Oh Lani Kai, how do I even explain you, much less rate you. As far as a hotel, 1, maybe 2 stars at best. As per the restaurant upstairs, 5 star view with 3 star at best food. And as far a bar on the beach, that’s why I come here. This is the place to be for spring break as well.
With most of southwest Florida being a retirement community, its nice to have an option to go out and have a good time. As far as I know, this is the only place around where the younger crowd hangs out. The boat tie ups can be quite rowdy. Plenty of other activities as well. Live music, beach volleyball, para sailing, jet skiing, just to name a few.
As per the food and drink. The food is nothing special, and not that cheap, but completely worth it for the sunset view. Beer wise, overpriced schwag, but that’s kind of expected. Plenty of fruity island style drinks and a couple of full bars throughout the place.
Bottom line is, this place isn’t for everyone, but if you are looking for a partying crowd this is the place to be.

This place is total zoo, it’s loaded with spring breakers and the staff does nothing to keep them under control, in my 3 days there I saw objects flung from the balconies, several fights and vomit in the elevators every night
The location may look attractive, but a week in a 3^rd world prison would be safer