Southbank Hotel Jacksonville Riverwalk — Hotel in Jacksonville

I don't even know where to begin, but maybe it's best to start with - TRUST THE 1 STAR REVIEWS, ANYTHING OVER THAT IS A LIE!

I had to stay here because my company got a corporate block. I typically opt for Hilton, and this stay proved why... You walk in and the lobby gives you hope that it might be an ok hotel stay. The front desk rep has a smile and witty banter and away you go up the glass-backed elevator to your doom... uh, I meant room! I got in and dropped my things and headed downstairs to meet my co-workers. I got back to the room that evening and began to unpack. Unfortunately, because my stay would be for 4 nights, I had a lot to unpack. I settled in and went to the bathroom... well, that first step into the outhouse, er, washroom should have been when I immediately packed my things and left. A literal handprint was on the wall right next to the sink, and more on the door trim. The toilet had a brown streak around the toilet seat (which I can only imagine what's brown and is associated with toilets), but that shower looked like it hadn't been cleaned since 1929. Foreign gray/ blonde hair was entangled in the shower door crevices (hard to see from the pictures). Stains on walls and light fixtures, debris in the bathroom on the floor near the sink.... soooooo many red flags. And do you know what I did? Guess.. go ahead, guess.. I'll wait.... well, like an idiot, I stayed in the room. I didn't speak up, didn't pack up my week's worth of stuff... I stayed silent and miserable in this dirty room for three whole nights.. UNTIL (Warning: you will start to itch when you hear this next part) the 4th night, I came back from dinner with my co-workers, went to the bathroom, and saw these little teeny tiny black bugs jumping around my feet. I was like.. am I imagining things? Upon closer inspection, I saw more little black bugs on my washcloth (which is what is pictured in this review), my bed, the other bed where my clothes were laid out on, my shoes, they were hiding in plain sight the whole dang week!! Thank goodness for the zoom on my camera or you wouldn't be able to see anything. They are as small as a grain of pepper, and jump when you get close to it. I called down to the front desk, freaked out (no lie). They sent someone up to confirm I wasn't seeing things. He saw that first one jump and called down to the front to authorize a room change. I had to go down to retrieve my new room key. They would not give me any change from the till to go wash the bugs off my clothes, they said I would need to pay out of pocket to use the washer/ dryer... nor did I get an apology, offer for refund, points, no attempt to improve the trauma I was enduring... to make a long story slightly shorter... I moved rooms, reported this incident to my employer so that we would never have to stay here again, and ran out the next morning never looking back!!!✌️STAY AWAY FROM ROOM 470... AND...

Good: Priced well but beware of amenities and condition of hotel, on the river and a very nice paved river walk, front desk service was polite, engineer/maintenance was quick to respond and promptly brought me a nice office chair so I could sit at the desk and study, hotel on a metro line (but doesn’t seem to run on weekends).

Bad: The hotel must have been recently purchased by Marriott because this is not up to Marriott standards. The signage out front doesn’t say anything about Marriott but says Southbank hotel. Walking in, it feels like an old hotel with select corners updated. It didn’t feel welcoming at all. Carpets in the hall and coming into the rooms need repair or replacement. The room features are not thoughtfully done. I tried to work from the desk, but there are no outlets for my laptop. The only outlet is behind the TV and I’m not able to move the TV and furniture out of the way to get to the outlet. The chair for the desk was old and the armrests were removed from the chair as evident from the rusting holes of where the arm rest used to attach to the chair. No worries. I thought. I don’t need arm rests but I needed to raise the chair to sit at the desk to work. To raise the chair I actually had to lift the chair by its seat and pull on the lever at the same time because it wouldn’t come up on its own. After sitting at the chair for a few mins, the chair sank back down to its lowest setting. (Maintenance was quick to respond and brought me a nice chair to use) There are no towel bars or rings for hand towels next to the sink, but there is room for one with the blank walls there. In room phone didn’t work. No luggage rack in the room. I tried to call the front desk about the chair and to get a luggage rack so ended up using my cell phone to call. No luggage rack in the room by default. Only a mini fridge in the room, no microwave. The restaurant for breakfast had old furniture — the pleather seats were cracked and peeling— it thought it was a striped design at first till I sat on it. Pool- we didn’t use it but walked to see it. The pool was tiny - like one you would see at the Hampton Inn— not at a Marriott and certainly not for a hotel that is a large conference center too. The paved area around the pool is huge, but looks sad because of maybe a dozen seats. They could have definitely made the pool area a better place to hang out like add conversational sets to make little sections for people to talk, tables for enjoying meals, add easy outdoor games. Adding it all up, there are definitely many opportunities for...

After just getting off the phone with this hotel,...At this point this hotel deserves nothing good to be said about them period ..,I was charge a hundred dollars deposit for room incidentals...before I handed over my card I asked how long does it typically take to return to my card I was told 2/3 days could b 7/10 days ok kool I stay the night ,b4 closing down for the nite I walked downstairs to their designated smokers section out front the hotel n smoked...which was on camera, i get up the next morning pack up to leave made it my duty To go to the counter an make them aware I was checking out ,the front desk clerk slim young lady with long braids closed out all paper work told me everything was gd n my deposit should be bk on my card in a matter of days cuz online bank cards usually take alil longer,..Now if i had violated at any time Now was the time to inform me..(Mr Harris) were keep a deposit or charging ur card for smoking an it would of bn dealt with then ..that was June 2nd they got the deposit checked out Jun 3rd...after a week1 I called the hotel bk an was told "Mr harris we definitely released it n now it's on ur bank...nothing said to me at all bout any smoking charge..which again was on camera ,i reach out to my bank after 3weeks, like where is my money why hasnt it return yet..to truly find out that this hotel NEVER returned my deposit ..just lying to me all this time to hear a supervisor 2day tell me (o I see here u were charged for smoking in the room! I was floored!!!! I've spoken to that front desk 2/3x's from June 3rd til today n this is where I was Givin a bogus smoking story to cover the lies an take my money...NAWL never that ,next step is corporate call ,an if they don't handle this proper ,I will spend more than that $100 their basically stealing from me to sue for alot more..these employees play with people's money an companies back an protect their wrong doings thinking they can just justify these situations by saying the customer violated a room policy..,I'm not going for it, the local news outlets will be next,..when you have money it means nothing to spend wutever it takes for ur respect an the protection of your hard earn money, cuz it makes me think of people and their families who dont have more than the money theyve worked hard for to give to this hotel,an here you are the hotel pulling fast 1's..due to mismanagement an the lack of accountability from employees an those who are in charge over them who are representing this company's Name...! Well let's strike it up cuz im not being...