"Let's just chillax..."

I don't get it. Two "highfalutin" (yeah, I looked it up, it's a word) travel professional-types were interviewed on the Today Show on two separate occasions and they both recommended this hotel: The Postcard Inn on St. Pete Beach, FL.  Of all the hotels in the world - why this one?  Sure, it's cute and the price is right, but what makes it so special?  Photos, please...

Alright, it IS adorable. The rooms are kitschy with surfboards at the ready, colorful towels on the wall, old school desks and vintage lamps. There's still a hint of the 1950's motel & travel lodge it once was even though great efforts have been made to update it inside and out.  What kid wouldn't be excited about a room that looks like this?

The beach, by all accounts, is stellar (look at it!) and the Postcard Inn is front and center.  No two rooms are the same and starting at $99 to $189 for the best room in high season - it's a great deal.  Ok....I'm starting to warm up to this idea...

Check the hotel's blog for great packages like the "Fly a Kite Beach Retreat".  Upon arrival, mom & dad are presented with a bucket of "Cold Ass beers" and the kids get ice cream. With your room rate, you get a bucket of beach toys including kites. The next day they'll pack a picnic basket for you to take to the beach.  Clever, creative and totally cute.  I also love the blog post with photos from their recent one year anniversary party complete with a nighttime bonfire and a showing of "Elf" on the beach.

Since the property is fairly small, there are only a couple of choices for dining but they sound just right: there's the PCI Beach Bar and an adjacent Snack Shack, the "canteen" for breakfast, and the hotel's main restaurant, an off-shoot of Wildwood Barbeque on Park Avenue South in Manhattan. The Postcard Inn's owner brought down the pit master, Big Lou Elrose himself, to get it up and running.  He rode all the way from New York on his Harley and documented his trip on Facebook and Twitter.  Cool...

Throw in the occasional live music, a little boccie, shuffleboard, horseshoes and of course some volley ball, and you've got a really fun and different vacation.  It's retro, It's casual, it's laid-back...

...like my youngest says, we're "chillax'in". 

I get it.


For more info on the Postcard Inn: Travel + Leisure Article