My spouse and I stayed at the Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach for three nights in late December 2016/early January 2017 over the New Year’s holiday. (We stayed at the Embassy Suites Deerfield previously when we visit relatives nearby.) We made our reservations online using the Hilton HHonors website, and we remitted points for a complimentary award stay. We electronically submitted our reservation for a paid upgrade (even though we could have qualified for a complimentary HHonors Diamond upgrade); however, the hotel was sold out during our stay, and an email from the Lead Night Auditor two weeks prior to our stay informed us that an upgrade was highly unlikely. (He was correct! Not only was the hotel filled with families on holiday, but it was also packed with college men’s and women’s swim teams who were in town to practice over their holiday break.) The day prior to our stay, we checked in online, but our room options were limited - all available choices faced away from the beach and pool. Ultimately, we selected Room 431, which was located at the front corner of the hotel facing A1A (also known as Ocean Drive and SE 20th Avenue) and SE 9th Street.
The
resort is located less than one mile south from the “center” of Deerfield
Beach. You can take a
lovely walk along the paved beachfront promenade from the Embassy Suites to the
center of “town”, where you can dine at restaurants including Bru’s Room, Crepe
Café, Kilwins ice cream/fudge shop, Barracuda, Big Kahuna, Rattlesnake Jake’s,
Umberto’s, Amante’s, BurgerFi, JB’s on the Beach, Oceans 234, Café Med, Patio
Bar at the Wyndham Resort, Burger Craze, Flanigans, and the Whales Rib. A few
small souvenir shops, watersports operator, mini-market, 7-11 convenience
store, and the International Fishing Pier are located in the same area. (We
walked to “town” daily, and it took less than 20 minutes for a leisurely less-than-one-mile
walk.) The upscale Chanson’s restaurant at the Royal Blues Hotel is even
closer. A little farther across the Intracoastal’s drawbridge (but still
walkable at less than 1.5 miles) are additional restaurants and bars like Two
Georges at the Cove, Le Val de Loire, Tipperary Pub, The Sticky Bun, Casa Maya,
Los Andes, Taj Indian Cuisine, and American Rock (all in the Cove Shopping
Center), as well as a Publix grocery store, Masamune Japanese restaurant, Asian
buffet, Five Guys, and Muscle Maker Grill (all in the Hillsboro Square Shopping
Center); adjacent to Charm City Burger, the Olympia Flame Diner, and CVS and
Walgreens pharmacies. If you would rather ride, a local company called “Beach
Rides” offers shuttle service from the hotel to nearby restaurants in the
evenings from 5:30 to 10:00 pm. The hotel is located approximately 18 miles from Fort Lauderdale
International Airport and 23 miles from Palm Beach International Airport; you
can take a taxi (approximately $6) or Uber if you do not rent a car. You can self-parking for about $23 per night or valet
parking for about $26, both in an underground garage below the hotel.
The Embassy Suites Deerfield
Beach is an all-suite hotel, so every one of its 244 units includes a living
room, separate bedroom, and two full bathrooms. Our living room contained a
sleeper sofa with an end table beside it and a leather ottoman/cube-shaped
table in front of it. The room also contained a small table with four chairs
(which you could use as a desk, if necessary), a wet bar (with a sink,
microwave, and small refrigerator), and a bureau that held one of the two TVs.
The first bathroom contained an oversize shower (but no bathtub), as well as a
toilet and a long vanity. You can close the door to separate the bedroom, which
contained a king-size bed with a nightstands on each side and a large bureau
(that held the second TV). The second bathroom was accessed from the bedroom
and contained an open vanity/sink area (with a large closet) that connected the
bedroom to the room with the toilet and the bathtub/shower. The two-room, two-bathroom
setup is ideal for families or multiple people traveling together. Most rooms
offer a balcony that varies in size with the location of the room, from large
wraparound terraces with furniture on oceanfront units, to “Juliet” step-out
balconies that are too small to hold chairs.
As with all Embassy Suite
properties, breakfast and an evening reception are included with your room
rate. At the Deerfield property, breakfast is served weekdays from 7:00 to
10:00 am, and from 7:30 until 10:30 on weekends. (The hotel advises to visit
between 7:00 and 8:00 am to experience the smallest crowds, with medium-size
crowds between 8:00 and 9:00 am and “crazy busy” crowds from 9:00 to 10:00 am.)
You are requested not to remove food from the restaurant area, which includes
both indoor climate-controlled seating and outdoor seating on a patio beneath
an awning. (The birds are a bit bothersome looking for crumbs and hand-outs
when you dine outdoors.) The restaurant also serves a la carte lunch, dinner,
and drinks. The evening reception occurs in an indoor/outdoor banquet area
nightly from 5:30 until 7:30 pm. (We did not attend the evening reception
during our most recent stay, but past experiences featured large crowds, long
lines for drinks, and snack food like goldfish and potato chips.)
The Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach
offers an outdoor pool and spa; chairs are arranged closely together on the
pool deck, which begins the day bathed in sunshine, but receives full shade as
the day progresses. You can request pool towels from the attendant at the pool
bar. Other hotel amenities include a small shop (with souvenir items, drinks,
snacks, and affordable resort wear; in fact, we purchased a pair of men’s name-brand
rubber flip-flops for a price similar to what we would pay at home), fitness
center, spa (Spa950 offers treatment rooms, steam rooms, and dressing rooms), business
center (with computers and printer), and luggage storage. Internet access costs
about $10 per day, but is free to Hilton HHonors members. (Because our room was
situated at the front corner of the hotel, we could access the internet while
sitting in our living room, but we could not use it when we were in the bedroom
because the signal was not strong enough.) The beach is located across SE Ocean
Way/SE 21st Street; the street between the beach and ocean can be
busy at times because it offers public parking. You can use the back gate (with
key card access) at the hotel to access to the beach area. In addition to the
sand and ocean, a grassy area between the sidewalk promenade and the beach
offers barbecue grills and picnic benches. Hotel guests can rent beach setups from
Boucher Brothers on the narrow strip of sand across from the hotel and down a
steep flight of wooden stairs. More graduated sand access is available from the
public entry a few yards to the north. Note that usage of lounge chairs on the beach
is not complimentary.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay
at the Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach, and we will return. Although we always
debate staying at the Wyndham right in the heart of “town”, we like the extra
space that the Embassy Suites units provide.
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