The facility, which reopened Friday, has 852 oceanfront room and suites, including 38 1,100-square-foot oceanfront balcony suites. It closed in August 2014.

Lyle Darden and his wife, Sherri, stayed at the reopened facility Saturday night.

“The rooms are really nice and I would say that it was a good experience,” Lyle Darden, 50, of Philadelphia, said Sunday. “I think we would come here again.”

The balcony suites will include 1.5 bathrooms, a living and dining area, a wet bar with fridge and Jacuzzi tubs. The hotel includes two 1,900-square-foot oceanfront Super Suites that offer the same plush amenities as the balcony suites, as well as a gas fireplace. ACSB Hospitality will manage the property. The property does not offer gaming.

“We were looking for a place to come and found this on the internet,” said Aaron Kane, 43, of Sewell, as he headed to the beach with this son, Jaxson. “We used to stay here. It doesn’t look that different from the last time we stayed here.”

The property closed in 2014 as the city’s games industry began contracting.

The hotel still has the Mardi Gras theme that it used to. The first floor of the Worship Surf Bar is open in the evenings. A second restaurant, Atlantic City Eatery, offers three meals a day. There’s also a gym and coffee shop.

“We know that this hotel with its completely refreshed look and new direction will attract new guests to this wonderful city,” Bart Blatstein, owner of the Showboat, said Friday. “My confidence and belief in the future of Atlantic City has never been stronger. There has been great interest in this hotel for meetings and other large events and we know that bringing this hotel back to life will have great positive impact on the surrounding areas and other attractions in the city.”

While other gushed about the newly reopened facility, Tyrine Johnson, 36, of Philadelphia, said she was disappointed that the pool was not open during her stay Saturday night.

“It was OK,” Johnson said

The reopening of the facility could be a sign that the city is on its way back, said Bea Hunt, 66, of Atlantic City. While not staying at the hotel, Hunt could not help but smile as she walked around the newly reopened facility.

“This was always my favorite,” Hunt said as she walked around. “I was upset when it originally closed and I couldn’t be happier that it’s reopened. It shows that people still want to come to Atlantic City.”