I realize this sounds dramatic, but having graduated recently and reflecting on my college experience, I firmly believe that van life is preferable to renting at Trop. I lived here for a year in 2022, and Trop ruined my first year of college. I was new and didn’t understand the IV housing market. At the time, what they charged me for a triple could have gotten me an apartment to myself one block away. (I did this the next year.) DO NOT sign a lease with trop, on the basis of cost alone. But there’s plenty of other reasons not to: the disgusting prison food (they force you to buy it), the sorely outdated bathrooms, and the ant infestations which I remember being particularly bad.

Lost phone and had to buy replacement key card, when I got a new phone, they told me I could only have the app or the key card even though I had already paid for it, and refused to refund me for the key card. When I asked them to just use my phone, they deactivated it so I had no working key card. I cannot believe the irresponsibility of Tropicana. They lost my priority mail and it has been missing for an entire week. I don't understand how you can be so careless to lose a resident's mail when it was clearly delivered to your staff.

Electricity and wifi have gone out with no warning, blocked me in with the maintenance golf cart so I couldn't leave the parking lot, even though I turned in my application early to get an earlier selection time for rooms, Laura messed up the male/female ratio of the rooms and put me in a random room with people I did not choose. Messed up my billing over the summer. I'm absolutely appalled that you could lose my priority mail. I need you to find this immediately it's been missing for almost an entire week at this point and it is very important.

It's always a pleasure working with this company. They repaired my circuit breaker that kept tripping with great skill and reliability today. The electrician took extra care to avoid making a mess or mistakes while moving around the house. I highly recommend this company for any electrical repairs!

In 2024, Tropicana Gardens is an all-around excellent place to stay. Catering better than many places in IV. Staff that genuinely care. Single rooms (good luck securing one elsewhere). Nice rooms. Close to campus. Activities and opportunities. A community environment. Does it have its quirks, yes. Do any other places hit all these points? No (as far as I’m aware). A year and a half ago, I would not recommend it. Now, I absolutely do. The rest of this review is dedicated to the food, which is my favorite aspect of Tropicana Gardens: Ok, so there are 3 meals available a day, each with both buffet options and a prepared hot meal. Additionally, if the gods bless you, there’s sometimes an ‘action station’ which is basically customized meals (pasta, poke bowl, etc) prepared HOT in front of you. My biggest recommendation is the action station and hot meal options for dinner. Most of the time, I leave the dining room feeling like I robbed them because of how good the food was for the price. It has got to the point where I befriended the head chef and various chefs because of my enthusiastic compliments. On the plus side, if you’re a picky eater, there’s always options. Not a fan of the hot meals? Make your own bagel and throw stuff in from the salad bar (like chicken etc). Or, if you want a treat, try the late-night order, which is more fast-food-esque. Each week the food centers around a different cuisine (I think that’s how it works), so you’re guaranteed to get options that aren’t available on campus. One time, though, I got their Mongolian beef -a dish I usually eat at Su’s bowl in IV- and I generally thought it was better at Tropicana. Better, for cheaper. Another great change that was small but made a big difference was the quality of the buffet items. For example, the bagels and oat milk last year would alternate between a much nicer (presumably more expensive) brand of bagels and oat milk and a much worse brand. The worse oat milk cartons would sometimes not even open without breaking or leaking. This year, representing a microcosm of their improvements, there’s only the expensive kind of both. Add to that an all-new vegan/gluten-free area for desserts.