Hotel Room Blocks - St. Aug

rhend88

Does anyone know of good places that are easy to work with for deals for blocks of rooms for a wedding weekend?  I am looking both downtown and the beach for options for my guests.  I was just looking for anyone having a really good experience with someone or saving a ton of money with someone, etc.  Thanks so much you guys!

amh04

Believe it or not, the Hilton is pretty good about working with you. I am using them and the Marriott since FSIL swears by them. The Hilton (Garden Inn specifically) was extremely helpful. They originally offered my guests $75 per room with a discounted breakfast. I told them no, and then they lowered it to $70 per room, with a discounted breakfast, and since I'm a HHoners member they will give me points for each room booked - 70 points per room, per night. The Marriott - wasn't very helpful. She gave me a price for $85 for a standard room and $115 for a suite and wouldn't do anything lower or any incentives.
HTH!

FutureMrsMiller25

We are getting married in St Augustine (at the mission where the great cross is) and our reception is technically Ponte Vedra Beach just 8 or so minutes away at Serenata Beach Club. I wanted to have both - St. Augustine and one at the beach. I hightly recommend Hampton Inn Suites at Vilano Beach - We got a bunch of rooms there. It includes breakfast and they were nice about the fact we were getting married a holiday weekend (Memorial Day weekend) and instead of a 3 day min went with a 2 day min. The hotel is very nice! They have this pimp suite upstairs that's normally $500/night but bc of the block offered it to me at $250/night. I would have done it except it turned out to be booked! The other wonderful things is they will not charge you for any rooms not booked and they do not charge to hand out welcome bags (some do so be sure to ask!). They also give you a discounted charge if you want the hospitality room - for gathering, socializing afterwards... we're holding a lunch in there the next day for our out of town guests. (They aren't catering, just letting us use the space for $50.. it's $75 if you don't get 10 rooms in your block booked). I haven't checked the ratings for this lately but it was around #2-3 on tripadvisor.

As far as a hotel in St Augustine... I couldn't find one that was affordable AND that I trusted based off TripAdvisor reviews. The main chains all kind of fell around the rankings #25-30 and the reviews were all over the place - some great, some really bad. If I tell my guests to stay somewhere I want to be confident in it. I did call the Hilton but it was EXTREMELY expensive and had a 3 night minimum bc of the holiday weekend.

We ended up reserving some rooms at The St Augustine Beach House. It's basically across the street from the Hampton Inn. It looks a little crazy to use but it actually had really good reviews on tripadvisor, it is RIGHT on the beach, is cheaper than the Hampton Inn & Suites and did not have any night minimums - we felt it was a good back up for our younger and even local crowd. It's rating was right around the same as the Hampton Inn.

So, I didn't get a block IN St. Augustine but I did make a list of all the major hotels with a link to their trip advisor reviews on my wedding website and reminded people to check maps and reviews. PM if you want the link to my site

aamk2012

We are using the Hampton Inn on St. Augustine Beach, and The Holiday Inn on Ponce Deleon blvd.  Both had good rates and were very easy to work with.  I have personally checked out both hotels an was very satisfied with the rooms.

rhend88

Thanks so much! I am thinking I want one on the beach and one in downtown so people can stay whichever place they would rather be.  I have never done these blocks before so I never know if you have to guarantee a certain number or what

aamk2012

They usually block about 10 rooms at a time and say that your guests have to book by a certain date.  Once the first block is taken, they will block another lot of rooms.  Our wedding is March 2, and our guests just have to book by Feb 2nd to get the guaranteed rate.