The Don Cesar Hotel Review: West Coast Florida Vacay Recap

If you want a chill beach vacation the West Coast of Florida is a great place for you. This pink palace can be found on St. Pete Beach. Built in the Gatsby era The Don CeSar is a classic Florida style hotel with a rich and glamorous history welcoming celebrity guests such as Clarence Darrow and F. Scott Fitzgerald to name a few.

Staying along the West Coast of Florida we flew into Tampa Int. Airport, which has recently undergone a big renovation. I don’t know what it was like before but now it’s a very new, clean and easy airport to fly in and out of. From the airport, we took an Uber to our hotel, about a 45-minute drive, and were able to check in early. We made the pool/ beach by noon and had lunch by the pool. This was just a very chill trip with no work for Matt and I, with the exception of some iPhone pics 😉

I really wanted to capture the charm of The Don CeSar hotel for my own sake. Full disclosure I wasn’t working with them in any way. I mentioned on my Instagram I had wanted to check out this hotel for a couple of years since seeing its adorable pink palace vibes on Pinterest and Instagram and I was glad I did. It’s rated a four-star hotel most likely due to the lack of updates in the room bathrooms and pool area. The main entrance, lobby, lounging areas, and exterior are beautiful, clean and well kept, the restaurant in new and modern with cozy outdoor lounge seating with modern firepits for a chillier night. The hotel had so many picturesque spots with pink walls and white arches. The pool area located in the back of the hotel before the beach area. It’s very cute but mainly saved by the gorgeous pink walls of the exterior of the hotel that surround it. The actual pool and deck area is not at the 2019 aesthetic of a pool you would find at a luxury hotel. The floor was concrete, the bar area was very basic looking. Maybe people who chose to vacation on the West Coast of FL are more chill, laid back, and appreciate this vibe. My main reason for pointing this out is that the rooms start at $650-$700. So, I just expected the pool amenities (and room) to reflect that price point.

The beach area is wonderful. The branding of the pink and blue towels is so on point and makes for such a picture perfect moment. The beach area was very spacious and the white sands, which I love, are unique to this coast. Staff was super helpful and friendly yet laid back, which is good when you’re on vacation mode.

I was excited to pack and the cute summer clothes from my favorite brands like Line and Dot, L*Space Swim, Krewe and Lulu’s for this trip!

Lace White Dress

The Zota Hotel:

After our stay at the Don CeSar, we took an Uber down to 1.5 hours to the Zota Beach Resort in Longboat Key. Matt was really into this hotel because it was much more modern. I was the opposite. I preferred (warning I’m about to sound like a typical woman on HGTV) the character of the Don over the “modern-ness” of this hotel. However, I do admit that the rooms were really wonderful. The clean, spacious, new, bathroom was modern and chic.

The Zota beach area was smaller and more casual. It seemed common to claim your own beach chair with the pool towels rather than being set up by an attendant. As a guest, the resort fee gets you two beach chairs, however, the umbrellas, and some other “upgrades” like a cabana bed were for rent. I think this is set up to accomodate people who aren’t a part of the hotel and want to rent a beach set up for the day.

The Zota is a smaller hotel, owned by the same corporation as The Don Cesar. It’s in close proximity to St. Armand’s Circle, an outdoor shopping and eating destination.