Four Points by Sheraton Jacksonville Beachfront — Hotel in Jacksonville Beach

Overall, our stay was nice because of the beach and going to a Dave Matthews concert in town but there were some things about the hotel that concerned both myself and my wife...

Safety/Security: I'll begin with this because to me it's basically the most important thing followed closely by cleanliness. The first thing I noticed was that the lobby is completely open for anyone to just walk in from the street or from the beach and go to any of the six floors without a keycard. It makes sense for the front doors to be open to guests but there should be a keycard system on the gate that opens from the beach and there should definitely be a keycard system which would prevent someone from getting on the elevator and using the elevator to get upstairs to where the guests are staying. There were people in the hallway on the 3rd floor who didn't look like they were guests and there was a young guy and girl basically having sx (pants pulled down and shirts on the ground) in one of the elevators around 9pm when my wife and I were going to the elevator to go down to the car for dinner. Needless to say, we used the stairs.

Cleanliness (Lobby/Room): The lobby seemed very new/clean and you could tell that someone must have been mopping the tile in the lobby fairly regularly because there would be foot prints and sand coming in from the beach and then it would always be gone and clean when I'd walk by just a short time later. When I first entered the room, both my wife and I agreed that it smelled bad (like dirty cleaning water or a dirty hospital) and there were a ton of small issues like gross dental floss wrapped around the drain in the shower, what appeared to be a used tissue on the floor next to the bed, unfolded towels on the counter, mugs which had clearly been used and then placed back next to the coffee maker on the counter, and stains on the comforter. Also, it would have been nice if the cleaning staff would have opened the curtains to the sliding glass doors because it was extremely dark and uninviting in the room when we first entered. Also, at 5 star hotels and some 4 star hotels where we've stayed in the past, we have received a call from the front desk to check on us and make sure we were happy with everything about 20 minutes after we first went to our room. No one at this hotel called us to see if there were any issues with the room and it's obviously not a big deal but it would have been nice to explain how dirty the room was and see about moving. We could have called downstairs ourselves but we just cleaned everything ourselves because we had to leave to meet friends. Basically, the point is that little things can make a big difference and there were many little things that were overlooked in this hotel.

Amenities/Restaurant: The restaurant downstairs was clearly an afterthought for the hotel. It's extremely small, it's out in the middle of everything in the lobby so it's not a very comfortable place to sit and eat, the service there was slow, it's expensive for what you get, the food is mediocre at best, and the hours are terrible. The thing that seems so insane to me is that the hotel is twice as expensive as other hotels that are rated much lower and those other hotels at least offer a free continental breakfast. It would have been nice to be able to go downstairs and have breakfast for free each morning considering how much we paid for the room. Also, other hotels in the immediate area such as Hampton and Marriott offer free buffet breakfast every day so it makes me question why I chose to stay at Sheraton.

Elevators: There really isn't much to say about the elevators other than they were shockingly slow. The place has three elevators, it wasn't ever very busy the entire time we were there, and it would literally take the elevator 3 to 5 minutes to get downstairs from the time we would press the button. That may not sound like a long time but trust me, it is.

Checkout: Checking out was a little confusing because no one told us anything at all and we didn't get any kind of a printed receipt under the door or anything on the day we were supposed to checkout. I've always received a printed bill or at least an email on the day I'm supposed to checkout from basically every other hotel in which I've stayed. When I went down to the front desk to make sure there was nothing I needed to do the girl at the desk seemed happy to have another room empty as opposed to thankful that we had decided to spend our time and money in their hotel. Again, not something that's required but it would have been nice.

Overall, the hotel was fine for a short stay. It's obviously cashing in on its location and that's fine it makes sense. However, it would have been nice to feel a little more welcomed and secure at the hotel, and I would have liked it if the room had...

I stayed at the hotel for a weekend getaway with some friends. My SPG Ambassador called the hotel about 1pm on the day of arrival to confirm the room was ready and ask a few questions for me. She confirmed the room was ready and we could arrive anytime. When we arrived at 3pm the room was not ready, but they quickly finished whatever they were doing and we only had to wait 5-10 minutes.

The public areas of the hotel are well kept inside. The restaurant/bar area is small, but nice. There is free water all day and coffee in the morning. The lobby area w/couches and computers is large and comfortable.

The front desk staff is less than enthusiastic and seemed poorly trained. The person who checked me in had trouble with the computers and couldn't answer local questions like where the nearest large coffee chain was. I assumed he was new. However, throughout the stay the entire desk staff was disappointing.

The Food & Beverage manger was exceptionally helpful and really made the stay. He was extremely helpful and welcoming. There was one woman server in the restaurant/bar that went above and beyond as well. So they really stood out!

The rooms are run-down, walls scuffed, and carpet stained. The room was very small but was divided into a bedroom with two double beds and a living area with bathroom (bathtub, toilet and sink) and sitting area with a pull-out sofa bed. There was a small fridge, a microwave and safe.

The pool area is small and not many amenities, several of the chairs were broken. There's a pool and hot tub which was nice. The bathrooms near the pool require key access and so does the pool. There's direct access to the beach (requires hotel key for re-entry) and the hotel provides towels at the front desk.

The hotel staff made a big deal about the beach chair/umbrella rentals offered on the beach. They informed us that we could charge them to the room. However, the person who rented the chairs/umbrellas didn't show Saturday or Sunday of our stay. The weather wasn't great, but there was plenty of sun time. So we were very disappointed by that.

Overall, the hotel is average. It's kind of what you expect from a Four Points not terrible-not great. I'd have a hard time going back after seeing another mid-priced hotel brand down the street where our friends were staying. The cost was similar but their hotel was about 100...

Been a guest multiple times, but have noted some drop off since new ownership took over. Hope they read this review and reevaluate.||A. First the financial ones| 1. Dramatically raised the number of points you need to use to stay with Marriott Rewards - not the end of the world as we can use points elsewhere| 2. Increased the breakfast rate to $18 per person - Weird, as they have a very small dining area and very few people eat there anyway - guessing this helps them get a better reimbursement when Elite members are awarded complimentary breakfast.| 3. Parking rate increased to $18 per day - this may be the slimiest as hotels do not have to list parking fees at rsvp times (different from "resort fees"). This one is surprising as multiple properties in Jax Beach do not charge for parking (Springhill next door has free parking).||B. Property changes| 1. Poolside umbrellas are gone. Maybe they were being cleaned or replaced, but the pool area has about 100% sun all day long and the lack of umbrellas this time was frustrating.| 2. They removed the trash cans from the guest room floors? Maybe they think this improves the appearance, but now folks just leave trash (pizza boxes, papers, etc) on the tables near the elevator. Sad... |3. Paper towels in the room are gone. Used to have very convenient paper towels rolls in the kitchen area.... Please bring back.|4. Coffee and Creamers - Used to have flavored creamers with the complimentary coffee in the lobby - those creamers were good|5. Flavored ice water - Watered down so much you would not even know there was any attempt at fruit flavoring.|||Sadly, we are moving on to try another option. The Springhill Suites has no parking fees and FREE breakfast for relatively the same rate (varies based on what day you book). We will stop by and say hi to Dennis and Maria (hoping they are still there)||Lastly, it appears they promoted the Marketing lady to be the main manager at the property. She appears to be extremely overworked as we saw her there for 10 hour days multiple times during our stay. May have been an outlier, but I hope they...