We were on vacation with our 3 kids, 2 girls ages 14 and a son age 16. We found Inn Paradise on the internet and it seemed to fit our needs. We usually stay away from the high priced hotels because we spend very little time in the room. I am not hard to please all I want is a clean,safe bug free room. I called the hotel to make sure it was in a safe location, no bugs,clean, and there were no questionable people living at the hotel. I was assured everything was safe I was told they were doing renovations so not to expect the exterior to be pristine. We arrived and I almost cried, the place looked like it barley survived a hurricane. The room was not ready, we were told they were short on staff. When we finally got the keys the room was clean and spacious as promised. The kitchen however only had a couple of plates, 7 butter knives and a broken spatula to cook with. We had to go to Kmart to get new items in order to cook the rest of the week. We also bought a grill because the one on the patio looked like it had not been cleaned since it was purchased. We were still not really upset, we got the room at a fair price and it was clean and bug free. We met several families staying there who were not as lucky as us, their rooms were filthy. The worse for us was yet to come. After a long day Tuesday we went to bed around 11pm, we woke up to the Police banging on our door to let us know we had been robbed. I thought they were crazy, we had been in the room asleep since 11pm and no one had been in our room, They told us someone was seen coming from our room and they had him along with our things, we just needed to come I.D. them. There was my camera, purse and all our money, laptop, 3 I pod's, and my daughters suit case (empty) laying on the hood of the police car! We had met a nice young man the night day before who babysat for a couple who worked at the hotel. Markel (the nice young man) happened to be on the beach around 2:00am hanging with a few friends and saw this man coming from our room. He called 911 and had his friends follow him to his room. This man had opened our door with a very large filet knife and had made 2 trips while we were asleep in the room. The police could not get the manager to come to the door to let her know what was going on, we also tried to contact her the next day but she was avoiding us. We were told she was working the next day so My husband was waiting on her when the office opened. She denied he was living in the hotel although the police other merchandise in his room that did not belong to him. The manager was very unapologetic and basically told my husband it was over so get over it, it could have been worse. It just so happened a family entered the office to check in so my husband took that opportunity to flip his lid. We received a FULL refund and checked out right then. We later found out he was working there doing odd jobs and had been in the pool naked the day before taking a bath. How could you not know there was someone living in a storage room/room less than 6 doors down from your office? This place is not safe and by the grace of god our kids were not harmed. Do not be tempted to stay at this hotel! I do want to thank Markel and the Panama city beach police for everything they have done, they saved our vacation and possibly our lives.
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