Clarion Collection Castillo Real Hotel

My wife and I have been coming to St. Augustine for the last eight years to relax and enjoy the warm sun in March and get away from the snow of Minnesota. We came across the across the recently opened Castillo a couple years ago and gave it a gty for a week. We loved everything about our stay. Beautfful stone parking lot, Lobby and jacuzzi suite. It was very clean, large and had a great ocean view. We were in a higher room. The lower rooms may be blocked to the view of the ocean as there are buildings behind, but still the view is not objectionable. The staff and management have all been very accommodating and would highly recommend to friends. (And I have)

I wish I had read the reviews before.

This place is NOT on the beach as inferred by their advertising.

It is a rather annoying walk on hot pavement to access the beach.

The place looked real swanky with the rates to boot (over $175.00/night).

But don't let the charade fool you.

The hotel's restaurant has been cited numerous times in violation of several serious health department violations this year.

The bed was extremely uncomfortable and the fitted sheets are just too small for the matress.

The water pressure is almost Third-World!

The receptionist was a foreign girl with a curt and rather disregarding demeanor whose personality might lend her talents to responsibilities other than those dealing directly with the public (i.e: folding laundry, performing bookeeping behind closed doors).

Just awful. Never again.

The beds are too high and fitted bed sheets consistently pulled from bed, I awoke every morning with the fixed sheets competing with my husband! Water pressure from all fixtures was so low, you had to:

(1) shower for an hour

(2) hold your cup under the faucet for 15 minutes, and

(3) re-flush and re-hold the toilet for at least three times before you waste products finally turned an eye away from you.

The pool was freezing cold in dead of summer!

Years ago, there were only four hotels on this beach. Today, there are dozens of respites. Take it from a long-time St. Augie vacationer, don't let the fancy marble and faux-wood finishes fool you. This place is $50 more than the best beach-front accommodations one can find on the beach!

Front desk personnel were apathetic and disinterested. Our room had urine on the toilet when we arrived. The hotel was not on the ocean as perceived by the website. The side door to walk to the ocean, where the outside rinse off shower was, had a bench where all the workers hung out on break and smoked. Not fun rinsing off from the ocean sand with workers staring at you! The maid did not check to make sure the door was shut when she left the room; we came back from being out all day to find the door unlocked. The front desk attendant just stared at me when I went to tell her the problem, like she didn't know what to say, and there were no apologies. We never saw a manager the whole time we were there, just young college age kids. Of all the hotels we have stayed in, this was the worst experience. I'd try the Hampton Inn down the street.

We were traveling for a few romantic days and the room was not ready at check-in time of 4:00 pm. One desk clerk said we could have a certain room and the other said we could not. It was not an ocean front as perceived when making reservations. A 4-story condo blocks the view.

The room was not cleaned the 2nd day after we had been out all day touring the city. We had to wait on the balcony while the cleaning attendant finished cleaning the room. The head of the cleaning dept. said she did not know we were returning that day so if we had not gone out then the room would not have been cleaned at all.

There were no flower arrangements all around the Jacuzzi as pictured on the internet nor were there any on the night stands. As we were ready to retire for the evening and pulled the covers down, we noticed the sheets did not fit so I had to go to the front desk to ask for the right sized sheets so they would not "pop" off as soon as we got into bed.

The hotel itself is beautiful, but I would say I was disappointed at not being directly on the beach and the missing arrangements in the room. When you complained, they were most accommodating, I was told they would give us a discount on the room for all of our troubles, it was a whopping $10.00 and we were paying $189.00 for two nights. What a deal. That goodness the city was not disappointing.