The Local - St. Augustine — Hotel in Saint Augustine

This is quite possibly the cutest hotel on earth!! And unique! Our stay was extremely pleasant! This hotel has been really nicely renovated and every comfort has been considered (except an ice machine on premises) . The room has a fridge and microwave and small dining table, which was so nice. The beds are super comfortable! And did I mention how darn cute the entire premises is?

What is unique about it: It is located exactly in the fork of two roads, one being A1A. This seemed like maybe it could be a problem when we first arrived due to heavy traffic….but it wasn’t really a problem. We did not even notice the traffic from our room and we were next to A1A. Others have critiqued that the walls are thin and they could hear their neighbors. We did not find this to be the case. We didn’t hear anyone arrive or leave or talk, and our side of the inn was booked. The inn almost seems to run itself. Seriously, there is no one on the premises other than when the housekeeping staff are on. There is no office. Everything from booking, check-in, room assignment, room key, check out, is all done through an app. To me, this was oddly fascinating and made it one of the most unique places I have stayed. It all seemed to work very well and was really quite convenient. There is a number to call or text, which I did once to inquire about an ice machine and I got a prompt reply. The communication from the inn was stellar from the beginning. We appreciated that. They even sent instructional videos before our check- in showing how to use the virtual room key, etc. A lot of thought has been put into this inn.

Pros: Super comfortable, super cute!, walkable to some restaurants (Conch House is sure worth a visit!), Located between historic district and beach. Wonderful pool area. Bikes, nice coffee machine in what would be the office if there was an office. Quiet despite being close to roads. Great communication. You can see the lighthouse from the inn!!

“Cons”: Seems like you can’t stay unless you own a smart phone?, not walkable to historic district if that is what you are in town to do, no personal touch of having an in- person check-in (whether this is a pro or con depends on the individual.) No ice in premises.

I am so glad we found this little treasure! Nothing listed in my “cons” lowers the rating at all….i simply stated them for ...

Don’t let the reviews from years ago fool you, this place was an absolute nightmare.

Pros: Nice location Very clean Pool was beautiful

Cons:

The virtual keys DO NOT work. Before you even check in, the motel sends you an email saying their virtual keys are known to be “finicky”, which is an under statement. We arrive at 3pm to go to our room in the back pool area. The gate into the pool area where are room is was broken open, which helped in our benefit since the virtual key didn’t work. Anyone could just go back there, which was concerning. We get to the room and the virtual keys don’t work. Tried to find staff to help us, which leads us to con #2:

There are NO onsite staff. So when our virtual keys didn’t work, we were left to wander around the motel trying to find anyone who could help us. The “front office” is just an empty room with a coffee machine. We ended up finding another couple who told us their keys didn’t work, and they were trying to call the owners for access to the physical key. They were nice enough to give us the number, so we called and got our physical keys out of a lock box 15 minutes later.

The bed was uncomfortable, and there was NO HOT WATER. Imagine a sofa bed, with a little more height. That’s what you get. Sure, the room was clean and very pretty, but you’re telling me they can’t invest in a proper bed? On top of that, the shower never put out hot water.

To say the least, we ended up calling about an hour after check in to cancel the rest of our stay. We booked a total of 5 nights, and got a refund for 4. I’m going to dispute the one night charge on my card, because we ended up leaving within an hour to go to another hotel down the street.

Read through the more recent reviews before you stay here, all of them say the same things.

To the owners; stop advertising your virtual keys when you know they don’t work. You’re misleading the people who pay a lot of money to stay at your motel. You can’t expect people to run around the property trying to find help, only to realize there are no staff. You need at least one person on site at all times. You invested so much into making the place instagram-able, that you missed the plot entirely. All we wanted was a smooth check in with access to the room we paid for, and you couldn’t even...

The good: location is great- a few minutes drive to both the beach and historic St. Augustine. Bed was comfortable and room was clean. I happened to be there during a quiet time, so although my room (114) faced the pool, it was like I had it to myself.

The bad: It's not great having nobody on site. The water/ice machine was broken and I received no answer to my query about when/whether it would be fixed.

The ugly:

I arrived at 1am after flight delays and my Virdee key didn't work to open the pool gate (necessary to access my room). I texted and called the after-hours number and received zero help. Part of the fence was broken and so I was able to literally climb over it in order to get to my room (desperate times that late at night). I then realized my wrist/hands are small enough to fit through the slats in the fence so I didn't need to use the app key to open the pool gate moving forward (convenient for me, bad for security).

The morning of check-out, I went for a walk and returned at 8am to be ready for a couple of meetings from 8:30-10am. My key no longer worked at all and I was unable to access my room (where I had naturally left my computer and notebooks). After texting and calling and receiving no response (on hold for 15 minutes), I had to take my meetings (which I lead with video on, so not a quiet, video-off participant) from my phone by the pool without my notes. After 10, I was able to speak with someone (Mary) by phone after a shorter hold, and she was able to direct housekeeping to let me into my room. At this point, I was given a physical key card, which I wish I'd been told was an option after the management knew I'd had issues getting into the room my first night.

All in all, the key issues made this a frustrating experience, worsened because of the lack of response from management and because it impacted my professionalism. The point of a hotel is to pay money in exchange for access to a room. I requested a refund from the management by email, and unsurprisingly, have yet to receive a response...