Casa Monica Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Saint Augustine

TL;DR: Two stars because the location cannot be beat and the theme of the common areas of the hotel is neat, some service here was good.

We booked a room at the Casa Monica for our wedding weekend. I did book the non-refundable rate. Later, I found out that due to our wedding timeline, we would need to do hair and makeup for myself and my wedding party at our hotel room. Our first poor service started when I called what I thought was the hotel to try to upgrade our room to a larger (hint: more expensive) room to accommodate everyone having to get ready there. Instead, I was bounced around a Marriott call center several times and told different things by different associates, but the gist of it was that since I had booked the room at the non-refundable rate, I also couldn't upgrade my room. I was finally transferred to the actual hotel and after speaking with the manager was told their system was down but they should be able to upgrade my room (after I basically pleaded with her that I was trying to pay them more money and this was for my wedding) and she would need to call me back at the latest by the next morning. This was about 2 months before our wedding and I never heard another word from the hotel.

At check-in, a gentleman at the front desk asked us the occasion for our stay and when we told him we were up there to get married, he did give us a free appetizer in the restaurant and a glass of champagne, which was lovely.

The rooms themselves are also nothing to write home about for a 4-star hotel: no in-room fridge or safe, the bed is kind of hard and uncomfortable, and the shower head had some seriously feeble water pressure. We ended up wasting a ton of food from our wedding because we had no fridge to store it in, which felt absolutely awful.

Valet attendants here were great, however.

Then, when my hair and makeup artist arrived on the day, the front desk called the room to ask me if it was okay to let her up. I told them it was. One of my bridesmaids had already arrived, so they ended up calling me like a minute later to ask if it was okay to let her up. In the chaos of trying to clear enough space in my too-small room for two hair and makeup artists to set up and work, for some reason I wasn't thinking enough about making the job of the front desk reception easier (this is sarcasm), and they ended up calling the room a couple more times to ask me if it was okay to let up two other bridesmaids, one of which they then escorted up with security like she was some kind of criminal - why? After the fourth call the lady at the front desk very coldly and rudely said "Can I make a suggestion? Rather than have us bother you with a call every time (her tone made it very plain that really I was bothering them by having them have to call up to the room), you can leave us a list of who you want us to let up to the room." Like, excuse me, I've never gotten married before or had to have people be let up to my room like this while I am frantically clearing all available surfaces and trying to prepare for my wedding. The blatant rudeness to this lady's tone on my wedding day just blew me away, and all of my guests and my hair and makeup folks also indicated that this lady at the front desk was super rude to them when they arrived as well. I am still floored that someone would be so rude to one of their guests/customers and act like me and my guests were rude and inconsiderate criminals when I am sure that they see many people staying there for their weddings given their location and probably deal with this not infrequently. Why be in hospitality if you aren't actually going to, you know, be hospitable? The rooms here aren't cheap and honestly I likely will never stay here again because of the rudeness we encountered during our stay and the lack of basic room amenities. The only reason this review is not one star is because of the proximity of this hotel to our venue, but there are other cheaper options in the same vicinity that honestly have better customer service. Save yourself the hassle and expense and...

I stayed at the Casa Monica this past weekend with my fiancé. We were there from Friday - Sunday.

We had a room on the 3rd floor. Friday night, we noticed a line of ants in our bathroom moving all through our personal belongings. We also noticed them in our food we brought to enjoy during our stay. Lakisha at the front desk was AMAZING. 10/10 for her service. She got us a new room on the floor above and food vouchers at the in-house restaurant.

The next morning at the new room, we noticed ants AGAIN. I went to the front desk and reported it to the front desk manager. We were offered another new room or a clean. As it was, we were tired and it was inconvenient to have to move again. The front desk manager mentioned that 1-2 ants is "normal." This was a red flag for us. Bugs of any kinds should not be considered "normal." We opted for the cleaning. I met with the head of housekeeping in my room. She explained that no, this is NOT normal and would take care of it. She asked our consent to use pesticides and would meet with engineering to take care of the larger issue. I explained to her that we moved one floor up from our old room and ants, likely a result form the hurricane last fall, made a home in those walls and would need deeper cleaning. We were given a $100 allowance which basically covered parking resort fees.

TIP: For parking, it's cheaper to park publicly than do the hotel option. For disability, they ONLY provide the valet option and it's charged $26/night. You can park on Florida metered or timed parking for free in FL with handicap placard. There's parking outside the hotel on the street.

The history tour of Casa Monica, free for guests, was very nice. The story teller did an amazing job of telling the histories. However, we had a man with mobility disability and the tour guide left him behind on every stop we made to the point he missed 90% of the tour. By the time he caught up, she was done, (I stayed with his wife to help move him with his walker). I didn't feel this tour was accommodating to him at all. I understand a time limit on the tour but the hotel should make sure EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR EXPERIENCE IS ACCESSIBLE.

Finally, I guess the perk of the trip were the paranormal experiences 10/10. For context, this is VERY on par for my interests.

The first night we were moved into our room on the 4th floor: I walked to hallways looking for our new room. Immediately I felt a heaviness, a deep upset feeling, nausea, and pressure. As I was walking down the hall, I felt an unnerving sense of being followed. It was as if someone was reaching out about to touch my back. It took EVERYTHING not to run. It was a visceral feeling. This got worse the closer I got to the back stairwell. Very creepy. Once in my room, I felt I could breathe again. I did not venture deep into the halls again.

Saturday night I woke up to the sound of a man asking, "Sir, could you tell me the time." It was an old American accent, and a very 1920s thing to say. Then, a few women's voices were giggling and I heard glasses clinking, the cocktail kind. I thought there was a bachelorette party or something so I didn't think much, but it kept going for 20 minutes. I assumed I'd get no sleep so I was going to ask them to quiet down. As soon as I got to open the door the noise stopped and when I looked in the hall there was no one there.

Finally, apparently a ghost bellman was taking care of us because 4 separate times since being reroomed on the 4th floor did the elevator doors open as we walked up to them to go downstairs with no one in them and already on the way down. The button to call the elevator wasn't even pushed.

To the bellman ghost, thanks so much!

We asked a nighttime security about his paranormal experiences, no surprise, he mentioned the 4th floor the most.

10/10 for...

Location and staff are the only two things saving this review from being a 1-star. In short, there is NO WAY anyone should be paying $800+/night (even in the holiday season) for this hotel. And as an avid Marriott-goer, it is embarrassing that Marriott added this to their autograph collection.

If you are an avid Marriott goer, this will be the largest letdown in terms of the autograph collection. This hotel is run down, and I'm not sure how this is labeled as one of the top hotels in the area.

Buyer beware: They hyped up the Serenata Beach Club on their website and even on all their emails. Heck, on our check-in email, it was still listed. Fun fact, it’s closed. We found this out the morning we called the front desk to ask when we could go over there. According to Google, it is not just closed but filed for Bankruptcy. We literally planned an entire beach day based on this feature. There was no communication about this until we called to leave to go to the beach. Don’t worry, they will refund their $22 resort fee for the inconvenience. 🤦‍♂️

WiFi is horrendous. When we called the front desk, they blamed “all the other people in town for the Christmas lights.” They offered to move us rooms, but this was after unpacking for three kids under the age of 7. AKA we were stuck in a room without WiFi. We couldn't even use their own food app to order room service.

Hotel rooms are dated and run down. Literally holes in the ceiling, this was the light above our shower (pic attached). One ice machine on the 4th floor, does not even work. Walls and doors are paper thin; bring your white noise.

Starbucks in the hotel was the most disorganized Starbucks in the country. They were literally out of everything. However, the strangest part was they would replace it with random stuff. We ordered medium coffees, they gave us smalls and said they ran out of cups. I know what you are thinking, it was probably just a one off….Nope, three mornings in a row. The worst part is they charge the full price, so for any of you using the Starbucks app, good luck getting a refund. They even did it for food. We ordered egg bites, we open the bag to find a random sandwich. Sure, don't hold this against the hotel, but they love to brag about their Starbucks on the “resort.”

And for any of you with young kids, don't eat at Cordova. They don't have kid's cups or plastic cups for kids. Instead, they provide very thin glass cups for kids. And with one sip, our 2.5-year-old literally chewed a chunk of glass off. Luckily, we were able to get the pieces out of his mouth. Our server took a picture and said, “I have never seen this before.” The manager stopped by, asked if he was okay, and then left. A very odd sequence of events.

This is not a “resort”. It is a hotel in a good location with a pool the size of a bathtub, a gym the size of a walk-in closet, and one restaurant. For $300-$400/night, sure, this is the place to be. For $800/night, look for a better option. It was a major letdown for our first trip to St Augustine. We left a day early, it...