I hesitate to comment, since our last trip was in 2017, but I'm surprised at the negative reviews. We've stayed at the Emerald Beach (one night before the flight home from STT) on about five trips, and it's been great. Perfectly fine rooms, nice restaurant, good views of Lindbergh Bay, nice beach and swimming. One time they made us wait a couple of hours before we could check in, which was annoying, but we never experienced anything worse than that.

In fact, one time we stayed at the Island Beachcomber next door (now gone). It was more shabby (and cheaper) than the Emerald Beach, but adequate. I wonder if I'm just not very picky, or if the Emerald Beach has gone downhill since we were last there. Or maybe the bad reviews are just misleading.

Dan