Margaritaville Beach Hotel Jacksonville Beach — Hotel in Jacksonville Beach

My wife and I stayed here on April 24th 2024 the night before we left out of Jacksonville for an anniversary cruise. When we arrived I pulled into the covered area at the main entrance. As soon as I stopped an employee approached the passenger side of the vehicle and asked for our name. I gave him our last name and told his we were there to check in. He stated we were right where we needed to be and instructed us to grab our luggage and said he would park the car (I assumed this was included with the stay given the nonexistent parking). After I removed our luggage from the vehicle, the employee told us that the main elevators were broken and told us to carry our luggage up 2 flights of stairs to the main lobby to check in. (I know things break and that out of their control, however I would expect for management to have staff at least offer to assist your paying customers get their luggage up the stairs while repairs are being made). So my wife and I carry our bags up the steps to the lobby to check in. There we meet a man that clearly wanted to be anywhere but where he was. He gave us our wrist band keys and a sheet of paper with WiFi information and check out information. He then tells us there will be a $100 hold on our credit card during the stay (which we were aware of), he then tells us that our valet service is an additional $27 per day. This part is a complete scam!!! You pull into the parking lot, and into the unloading area both of which are microscopic, the guy walked up, asked for our name and acted like that was standard procedure. Not a word about it being optional, or mention of daily cost. Didn’t asked if we did or did not want the service, just got our name and told us to get out and lug our stuff up the steps to check in. So after that was cleared up we were told there was an operational elevator on the back side of the building in the bar. We went there and boarded the elevator headed to the 8th to our room. We got on, hit button #8 and stopped on the 4th. An employee boarded the elevator, scanned a card reader under the button panel and pressed a 1st floor button that was for employees only. We then went to the first floor and the door on the opposite side of the elevator opened and the employee exited. We then went to the 2nd (main) floor and stopped again and a second employee boarded the elevator. They swiped the card reader and pressed 3. We stopped on 3 and as the employee went to exit I asked why we weren’t getting to our floor and the light had gone off for the 8th floor button. The employee pressed 8 and walked off with no response and we finally made it to our floor. We later found out from a large group of senior citizens on the same elevator that in order to get to your destination on the elevator, you have to first scan you room key bracket until a green light comes on, while the green light is lit, you then choose on floor button. If there are people on the elevator going to multiple floors there has to be a scan, green light, and button press for each floor. No pressing multiple buttons with just one scan. I’ve also never seen or heard of the elevator brand that they use. Over all our room was clean and it served its purpose for our one night stay. BUT their hospitality was nonexistent, and none of the hotel employees seemed like they cared anything about their job or that they even wanted to be there. My wife asked for the manager business card when we checked out and she was given one. While driving to the port for our cruise she sent the manager and email listing our issues and concerns with the lack of hospitality and the other issues. As of today May 1st 2024 there has been no reply to the email, she also called the number on the card this morning and left a voicemail and call back number with no reply. We spoke with our travel agent that booked our room also, she has attempted to speak with management l, and to my knowledge, she has not had any luck either. I believe that our experience was a direct reflection of lacy and poor management. This place is more...

WOW- this hotel was amazing. So like many of you- I was in here reading reviews trying to find the perfect weekend getaway for my husband and I's anniversary- it is always a gamble trying to weed out the good, the bad and the ugly, so here is my honest review and why I am giving 4/5 stars :)|Good: The corner suite was AMAZING- very clean and laid out well! Shoutout to Kevin! Kevin was the delightful young man that checked us! He honored our requests, was extremely knowledgeable and had a smile on his face every time we saw him. HE is an asset to this hotel!!!! The hallways, lobby restrooms and elevators were also clean!|-The bathroom was huge with a walk in shower. I love that there is a separate door for the toilet and was accessible from both the bathroom and living area.|-The living room was big, laid out well and had a Keurig and k-cups in the room to save money on coffee runs.|TV's in the living room and bedroom were good sized and worked very well (especially for football)!|-The wrap around balcony was gorgeous and very spacious with 2 different exit doors.|-Floor to ceiling windows (and blinds) made it feel even more spacious and enhanced the ocean views.|-The couch pulls out into a sleeper (we did not use it but would be nice if traveling with kids as there is a door between the living room and bedroom for privacy and again, a 2nd entry for the bathroom therefore someone could be in the shower and someone using the toilet at the same time- very functionable)!|-There were also extra pillows and linens in the closet so you did not have to call down.|-Bed: The bed was firm and supportive, not hard and uncomfortable. Definitely newer mattresses as there were no sagging. The bedding was also very nice, clean and decorated very cute. The whole room and hotel were decorated well.|-Location- you could walk to several restaurants/bars via ocean path or sidewalks so it was really nice to have that option as we did not have a car. We even walked to the grocery store one night to stock up on snacks- so love the walkability!|-Bar/Restaurant is 2 floors and has outdoor seating available to see the ocean. The main floor has a nice firepit going as well as good music :)|Reason for losing a star:|-Pool: This is the biggest reason for losing a star... I was very disappointed that there was no afternoon sun (or towels at the pool). If you want any afternoon sun then you need to walk to the ocean/beach and rent chairs or lay in the sand. I was really looking forward to relaxing by the pool and getting a little sun. You also cannot see the ocean from the pool. The hotel is tall and blocks the sun- I do feel this could have been designed better. If you want towels, you do have to go to the lobby and wait in line.|-Bar: The food is just ok- nothing special. There were a couple bartenders with an attitude and not helpful about menu questions/carry-out so after the 1st night we ate elsewhere. They did not have much of a selection of non-alcoholic options- even the frozen drinks were all premade with alcohol. That probably won't matter to many.|-There is an enormous closet with an iron- but no ironing board, only a few hangers and only 1 luggage rack- kind of a waste of space unless you say brought a blow up mattress and put someone in there to sleep.|-There is no microwave in the room, as I saw somewhere- but if you do want one- that is an additional $20 (I'm not sure if that was total or per day).|-Walk in shower has no doors (the floor gets soaked and even sprays into the bedroom area) and water pressure extremely low- it took several minutes for me to get my hair wet to wash- therefore another big reason of losing a star.|-Balcony furniture could be a bit better, especially in the suite. The little chairs they gave you are not very comfortable and put you eye height to the railing obstructing the gorgeous ocean view...

WOW- this hotel was amazing. So like many of you- I was in here reading reviews trying to find the perfect weekend getaway for my husband and I's anniversary- it is always a gamble trying to weed out the good, the bad and the ugly, so here is my honest review and why I am giving 4/5 stars :)

Good: The corner suite was AMAZING- very clean and laid out well! Shoutout to Kevin! Kevin was the delightful young man that checked us! He honored our requests, was extremely knowledgeable and had a smile on his face every time we saw him. HE is an asset to this hotel!!!! The hallways, lobby restrooms and elevators were also clean!

-The bathroom was huge with a walk in shower. I love that there is a separate door for the toilet and was accessible from both the bathroom and living area. -The living room was big, laid out well and had a Keurig and k-cups in the room to save money on coffee runs. TV's in the living room and bedroom were good sized and worked very well (especially for football)! -The wrap around balcony was gorgeous and very spacious with 2 different exit doors. -Floor to ceiling windows (and blinds) made it feel even more spacious and enhanced the ocean views. -The couch pulls out into a sleeper (we did not use it but would be nice if traveling with kids as there is a door between the living room and bedroom for privacy and again, a 2nd entry for the bathroom therefore someone could be in the shower and someone using the toilet at the same time- very functionable)! -There were also extra pillows and linens in the closet so you did not have to call down. -Bed: The bed was firm and supportive, not hard and uncomfortable. Definitely newer mattresses as there were no sagging. The bedding was also very nice, clean and decorated very cute. The whole room and hotel were decorated well.

-Location- you could walk to several restaurants/bars via ocean path or sidewalks so it was really nice to have that option as we did not have a car. We even walked to the grocery store one night to stock up on snacks- so love the walkability! -Bar/Restaurant is 2 floors and has outdoor seating available to see the ocean. The main floor has a nice firepit going as well as good music :)

Reason for losing a star: -Pool: This is the biggest reason for losing a star... I was very disappointed that there was no afternoon sun (or towels at the pool). If you want any afternoon sun then you need to walk to the ocean/beach and rent chairs or lay in the sand. I was really looking forward to relaxing by the pool and getting a little sun. The hotel is tall and blocks the sun- I do feel this could have been designed better. If you want towels, you do have to go to the lobby and wait in line. -Bar: The food is just ok- nothing special. There were a couple bartenders with an attitude and not helpful about menu questions/carry-out so after the 1st night we ate elsewhere. They did not have much of a selection of non-alcoholic options- even the frozen drinks were all premade with alcohol. That probably won't matter to many. -There is an enormous closet with an iron- but no ironing board, only a few hangers and only 1 luggage rack- kind of a waste of space unless you say brought a blow up mattress and put someone in there to sleep. -There is no microwave in the room, as I saw somewhere- but if you do want one- that is an additional $20 (I'm not sure if that was total or per day). -Walk in shower has no doors (the floor gets soaked and even sprays into the bedroom area) and water pressure extremely low- it took several minutes for me to get my hair wet to wash- therefore another big reason of losing a star. -Balcony furniture could be a bit better, especially in the suite. The little chairs they gave you are not very comfortable and put you eye height to the railing obstructing the gorgeous ocean view...