Is it better to stay at the Four Seasons or the Breakers?
It All Begins Here
The pool area at the Four Seasons
If you want serenity and a beautiful beach, choose the Four Seasons. If you are traveling with active kids or want more hustle and bustle, choose the Breakers, but be aware that the lobby is VERY depressing. It looks more like a somber cathedral than a hotel, complete with sections of wooden walls that look like confessionals. HOWEVER, when you leave the lobby, you will discover lovely pockets of prettiness.
Why choose the Four Seasons over the Breakers
The beach.
End of story.
See these photos…
A front row seat at the Four Seasons beautiful beach area
A view of the beach from the pool area of the Four Seasons
But there are more reasons to choose the Four Seasons in addition to its lovely beach. They include:
Serene lobby.
Free coffee. When rooms are so expensive, I think a hotel should give you free coffee. The Breakers does not. I love it because you can grab a cup to go and head straight to the beach.
Free bicycles. The Breakers charges for bikes and they were in poor condition. We needed to return one because the air in the front tire was low and my replacement bike had handlebars that wobbled. From the Breakers you can bike to the lovely bike path that takes you along the Intracoastal and behind the gardens of some lovely Intracoastal waterfront homes and then loops back along the ocean front road. The bike path is too far away from the Four Seasons and you will need to rent bikes at the bike store in town. This is no big deal but just something to know.
Beautiful view from many of the rooms.
Many of the rooms have terraces. The Breakers does not have any.
It is quiet. When you walk in, it’s rare to see more than six guests in the large and long, marble lobby.
Very well-groomed and polished clientele even in the earliest hours of the morning. Perfect hair, perfect clothes. I use my nicest beach bag here and definitely opt for a straw hat instead of a baseball cap when headed to the pool or beach.
View of the pool and ocean from our room at the Four Seasons.
Why choose the Breakers over the Four Seasons
One of the pool-side restaurants at the Breakers. The view of the ocean is beautiful but the beach is very narrow.
More hustle and bustle. It is a huge hotel with many private events. On the way to the pool areas, you will often pass huge trucks unloading party furniture and paraphernalia and forklifts carrying materials. (On the days there are no events it is serene and lovely out here.)
Multiple pools and restaurants overlooking the pool and ocean. There are nice cabanas, and it’s pretty to walk in that area. If your family is loud or your kids play Marco Polo in the pool, you will feel more comfortable here. The pool at the Four Seasons is small. All it takes is a few kids playing Marco Polo or a loud group having a loud conversation for the peaceful ambiance be ruined. Most of the time, people sit quietly by the pool, and it is lovely.
A more casual clientele with many working on their laptops in the outdoor courtyard. To be sure, there are many stylish people on these grounds, but there is also a lot of bedhead hair in the morning. You will see sweatpants in the morning (sweatpants, not yoga pants) and denim. To me, it’s nice to not feel like the worst groomed person in the hotel in the morning. When I wake up at a resort, I like to roll out of bed, pull on a pair of shorts, grab a cup of coffee and wake up slowly on the beach or by the pool. The idea of having to get dressed up to go relax is anathema to me.
Better, and happier service. The service at the Breakers was perfect, from the restaurant, to check in, to the pool. The people cared, tried, and seemed very happy to be working there. At the Four Seasons, many of the staff seem burnt out and unhappy. One year, the concierge ignored us for a long time. When we finally cleared our throats, she looked at us in great annoyance. “Bad day?” I asked. “Yes,” she said. Then caught herself and said, “You don’t need to hear this.”
The wait staff by the Four Seasons pool sometimes rolled its eyes at customers’ requests. And after a few stays, I had the sense that palms were greased here. I started referring to the practice as “Palm Grease.” Here are two classic examples of what we experienced.
They reserve pool chairs but only for certain guests. One day, We asked to reserve chairs by the pool and were told, “We don’t reserve chairs.”
Okay. That was fine.
We went to sit down at empty loungers and were told, “You can’t sit there because those chairs are reserved for Mr. C____.”
??????
Another time, my husband called a car to take him to a meeting some distance away. He waited and waited and the guy at the door told him to take a black car that was parked there. (It was a car that the hotel used to give guests a ride.) My husband did. Ten minutes later, the driver got a call from the hotel. The person on the line was furious that he had left the Four Seasons and told him to return. The driver argued that he had a passenger but was told, “You have to come back. ”He made a u-turn and began driving back. My husband told him to pull over, got out, and called for a car service.
SWEAR TO GOD. TRUE STORY.
As I type this, I am wondering why we went back there again one month later.
After staying at both, this is why I choose the Four Seasons over the Breakers
The setting.
The location.
The serenity.
The beach.
Ah, that beautiful beach. If you get up early and are lucky enough to grab one of the front row beach chairs, it is lovely. Sometimes you will get a doofus with a cell phone who will have a loud conversation on it on his beach chair but most are respectful of the need for quiet beach time and will take their calls elsewhere. And you can take a short, lovely walk to Worth Beach for a Kilwin’s ice cream or lunch.
The beach at the Breakers is narrower and not as pretty as the Four Seasons. As with all of Florida resort properties, the beach is public, so the hotel is limited in how close to the water the chairs can be set up.