Southern Oaks Inn — Hotel in Saint Augustine

My fiancé and I had to stay here during Hurricane Helene. We had 2 huge White Oak trees that fell on our property and cause a lot of damage. So we ended up booking through a 3rd party for several nights in advance and we bought travel insurance for $14/night just incase our power got turned back on before our nights were up and we could get a refund. We tried to convert the last night into another room, because our niece and her friend who are deaf btw , were traveling from Boston to Orlando and their vehicle broke down at the exit we were staying off of. We had to go save them from the side of 95 at 11pm. Since our power came back on, we didn’t need the last night, the hotel staff and no sympathy and would not allow us to convert it into a room for them instead of a refund. The night is already paid for and we just wanted to use the credit for that night for them to be safe and off the road until we’re could reassess in the morning. They made me pay out the pocket for their stay. Ridiculous! Then today after check out they charged our card $160 for missing or damaged items. They said we smoked in there!! We’re not smokers #1, and #2 it smelled like an ashtray when we walked in on the first night!! We were so tired we didn’t even make a stink about it. I mean for Christ’s sake we just had to frantically leave our house because of the damage caused by the storm. Then they charged $111 for the “amenities”, $25/night! I tried telling her we didn’t use any of those or have any knowledge that we’re having to pay that. I asked what amenities?? “She said, did you park in the parking lot?” Which we did but where else am I supposed to park? She said “well downtown they’re charging more than that for parking“. Southern oaks is not considered downtown St Aug. We didn’t use the trolly, didn’t use the pool, didn’t go to their breakfast, all we did was park and they charged us $111 to do so. All of their staff are incompetent and they are scammers. When we called our bank to dispute we just found out they ALSO charged another $137 for God knows what, there’s nothing I can do until it’s no longer pending. This is unacceptable and just added more stress on our plates! I will go to the news if I have to, in order to get my money back! WORST hotel and service in Saint Augustine, located on corner of US1 and SR16! We also called the American Society for the Deaf and blind community on behalf of our niece and her friend, who are both deaf and got treated like crap by the staff at the school hotel.! Please save yourself a headache and and DO...

The location of this motel is the best part of it. It’s pretty central to the downtown area and beaches. They also provide transportation via shuttle approx every 30 minutes. It runs from 10am to 10pm so be aware that if you are out late you need to make other arrangements back.

The outside is pleasantly quaint; and I almost feel like they try harder with the outside appearance than the inside of the actual rooms. We did not use the pool but the area did appear clean and the pool looked well maintained.

The rooms and premises are clean. However— when we got in the room there was an extremely strong and overpowering stench of bleach. It smelled like a pool in our room. So FYI if you are sensitive to chemical odors. Also there was a thick residue all over the furnishings from the cleaning liquid they use. Please find something else to clean with besides straight bleach!

The staff was friendly and helpful, no problems there. Be advised that breakfast is NOT FREE/“included”. They are charging $25 a day additional due upon check in for the “amenities” that include the breakfast, transport and wifi.

The breakfast was extremely disappointing. It was lackluster offerings; the french toast was chewy and the eggs were watery and it reminded me of hospital food. Cereal looked like it had not been changed out in a while — or at least the bottom of it is not being emptied out and only refreshing the top. You can tell because theres a mountain of crumbs and sugar built up.

All in all we came here for a quick two night stay for Sing Out Loud and it served the basic purpose of a place to sleep with a transportation service that dropped you off right at the festival gate. That being said, we would not plan a return stay. Rooms need more than a coat of blue paint and a seashell painting to feel inviting. Those “nipple lights” on the ceiling are very dated. Bedding is also dated and needs a refresher. The showers are pretty dingy, they used one of those “overlays” walk in showers and there is just a cheap thin shower curtain. Water easily gets all over the bathroom floor.

This place has some potential to be much better as far as the accommodations and maybe they are working towards that. Seems like they are fixing their front door and from reviews dating back to July it looks like this is an ongoing project.

In summary if you just need an affordable place and you arent looking for much frills then this is probably fine. But I would not come back until some major renovations are done in the rooms. Breakfast can also use a...

The desk staff were great upon our initial arrival. They issued us our parking pass early because we were attending the Sing Out Loud Festival and wouldn’t be officially checking in until around midnight. They also gave us a bunch of useful info. After the festival, I had a migraine so my husband went and checked us in. We were in Room 261 and as soon as he opened the door, I could smell mildew or mold so badly and it was clearly not a remodeled room like the site said. However, because of the distance to the office and how bad my head was hurting, I turned the AC up and went to bed. In the morning, my migraine was still there so my husband went to breakfast alone and attempted to bring a bagel to me when he was rudely stopped, and told that he couldn’t leave with the bagel. He threw the bagel away and returned to the room while I got ready to leave. He put our bags in the Jeep and we headed home. On the way home, I got cold and grabbed my blanket that I brought in the hotel with me. My blanket stunk so bad like mildew/mold that I couldn’t use it. As soon as we got home and I grabbed our bags to unpack, I found that all of mine and my husband’s belongings that we brought with us smelled so bad that I had to take everything and wash it immediately. Every single thing! I then had to take our bags that are not washable and put them outside to air out and wipe down our toiletries and such. I’m also STILL trying to get the smell out of my purse. At first, I thought the smell was because the AC was off and once we were in the room for a bit, the smell seemed to have went away. Clearly it didn’t go away, but we had become immune to it while in there. It’s very disheartening to spend your hard earned money to stay someplace and even pay a “resort/hotel” fee, when my husband wasn’t even allowed to bring me a lousy bagel and all of our things needed to be cleaned because of the disgusting smell. I’m even more annoyed and now a bit angry because I see there’s more reviews that have already addressed the mold or mildew issue going back for at least a few moths and nothing has been done to correct it. This is not something to be taken lightly and overlooked as it can cause serious health issues. Please respect your customers better and fix this!! This is pure greed to continue renting out these rooms that aren’t fit for occupancy and to prohibit your paying guests from taking a bagel to their wife that is also a guest. What are you doing to make...