Best Western Historic Bayfront — Hotel in Saint Augustine

Good afternoon, i would highly recommend picking another alternative Hotel to stay at in the great city of St. Augustine. We chose this location for a portion of our wedding party to stay along with myself the groom. I am not one to complain about prices of thing, but i will complain about when we pay top dollar for TERRIBLE SERVICE/TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE/LACK OF CARE AMONG EMPLOYEES. I have spent my entire live in the St. Augustine area and downtown was only a quick bike ride from our house, it is a very special place for me and my now wife. When we pulled in, we were instantly treated poor. We had 3 cars among the 2 groomsmen's rooms with a total of 8 people staying in the rooms, 4 in each room. I received a call the day before we arrived and was told that they were giving up our rooms because of lack of payment...... A DAY BEFORE WE GOT THERE. The front desk lady was extremely rude and informed me that due to it being a busy weekend they had to run my card NOW or else we loose the rooms. I received a text 20 minutes prior our lovely conversation from my CC company and i denied to charge due to not knowing why i was being charged 24hr in advance. I then received a phone call from the front desk lady who informed me about the situation. After going back and forth about policy and how this has never happened to me before, i was simply told i had one option... pay the hotel bill now or loose the rooms. A DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING..... The parking attendant was a whole different problem, we were told we could only have two cars on property and we had to park elsewhere.. then he walked away and went and stood in the middle of the parking lot while we were still under the loading and unloading area. By the way, it was raining... So instead of communicating to us that we have to pull around and park, he just continued to stand on the other side of the parking lot. After sitting for seriously 10 minutes he walks back over and says " What are you waiting on????? i have been standing in the rain for the past 10 minutes waiting in the rain, why haven't you moved. I seriously kid you not, it was 10 minutes. we get into the spots after he directs us into the approved spots and walks away and mumbles under his breath and looks back at us and shakes his head. We get into the room and there was sand all over the floor, towels unfolded and balled up in the corner, the bed was half way made and had blood spots on the sheets.... i seriously cant make this up. these rooms were $385.00 dollars a night a piece. Needless to say, i will never be staying in another Best Western AGAIN. The way we were treated was very unprofessional and just down right...

The only good thing about this place was it's proximity to the local attractions.

Parking is atrocious, both the manner in which you have to park and the price slapped on top of your room rates. Parking rates were not mentioned anywhere when I made reservations and we were not told about that particular charge. We found out by listening in on the front desk's conversation with another customer. They have no breakfast, but that at least was mentioned when I made the booking. It just meant having to spend more money at the cafe conveniently located next door to get food in the morning.

The room looked okay at first glance, but got worse the longer you stayed. The bed was very hard, only a bit softer than the floor. The floor needed a good cleaning. Walking across it in bare feet guaranteed getting dirty soles with grit on them. I'm not sure the last time the bed skirt was washed. There was a 2" diameter dark stain on the side closest to the wall when we arrived. The a/c unit sounded permanently like someone was using a weedeater right outside the window. There was no vent in the bathroom to use while showering. To ventilated the room, you had to open the little window looking directly into a busy alley with a bar of sorts on the other side. Even with the window closed, you could still listen to conversations at the bar without leaving your bed in the next room. We slept with the bathroom door closed to muffle the sound.

When we left our room one morning, we purposely did not place the card left in our bathroom on the bed. The card States that if we did NOT want our sheets changed, we should place that card on the bed. We wanted the sheets changed for our third night there, so we left the card in the bathroom. When we came back, our beds were poorly made, with the topmost cover pulled over a sheet that was still rolled up beneath it, and they were the same sheets we'd asked them to change. There was a small stain that made it hard to mistake new sheets for our old ones. The following day, we left our room by 8 am and didn't return until 2:30 PM to drop off a purchase and get water. At 2:30 PM, our room had not been touched, but the housekeeping cart was parked outside the door. We figured they were running behind but it looked like they would get to us soon. We left and came back just over an hour later. The cart was still parked in front of our room and our room was still not taken care of.

Overall, we were thoroughly disappointed with this establishment. In the future, we will be taking our business elsewhere. It would be worth more money just to have a...

May 2, 2019: My lady companion and I are senior citizens living in Orlando Florida, and we like to go visit St. Augustine with our German Shepard. I am a retired 30-year Veteran Florida Police Officer, but my German Shepard is not K-9 police trained and totally not aggressive. Just a sweet house pet from a puppy. We love St. Augustine, and we visited there at the Best Western Bayfront hotel last September 2018 and had a great stay. Unfortunately for me, my dog is extremely smart and she figured out how to pull down the door handle on the inside of the hotel room, and open the hotel room door, and got loose, and then started to roam the streets of St. Augustine looking for me in town. A male staff member at the Bayfront hotel followed my dog a few streets and got her back in my room. I was so relieved and happy with concern for the safety of my dog, and his efforts and his dedication to escort my dog back to my room. I have stayed at this hotel two different times now with my dog and loved both stays. However, on April 1, 2019, I tried to book another visit for Monday through Thursday on May 20-24, 2019, and I was told the standard fee for a dog was $25.00. Well, this was totally OK, per it was what I paid in my other visits. But, the lady then said there was an additional $70.00 non-refundable for my dog. I asked her if that $70 in addition to the $25.00 per day, and she said yes. So, that is 4-days at $25.00 a-day standard dog fee, plus an additional $70.00 dog fee totaling $170.00 or $42.50 a day dog fee ... whew, I sadly canceled my booking. I know most dogs (very small to large dogs) do damage chewing and can be messy doing their business on the floors. However, I would pay for any damage my dog did. But, my dog is 9-years old and she never has done her business inside anyplace for her entire life, and never chews anything. She is just a sweet house pet and totally house trained. I was looking to stay again at this hotel, per the dedicated customer service and the location was great. But, $170.00 dog fee is ridiculous ($42.50 per day). So, I am sadly not booking here. On 04/05/2019, I see the Management's posted a reply to me, which was vague. When they remove their policy for $70.00 nonrefundable dog fee, and just have the standard $25.00 a day, they can contact me, and I will be back. But, until then I will seek other hotels in the area. They have my email in their records, so the ball is in...