Sheraton Jacksonville Hotel

The bed was comfortable, but those pancake-thin pillows gave no neck support, and I woke up with a sore neck. The breakfast was decent. On my first visit, I also found housekeeping had a language barrier that led them to bring the wrong thing more than once, though they never said they hadn't understood. The hotel sits awkwardly off to one side, with basically one way in and out, so getting to nearby places meant making U-turns around the area. Staff were pleasant for the most part.

We picked this hotel because we were renting an EV and it had a charger. When we arrived, the unit was covered in tape, and at check-in they said it was out of order. No one had emailed or sent a notice to customers. Since our rental wasn't a Tesla, we couldn't use Superchargers. We spent our first evening driving around looking for a charger, then had to exchange the rental at the Jacksonville airport instead of having dinner and relaxing. Otherwise, the room was nice and quiet. The French doors to the bathroom were cute, and breakfast was great and included for members. There wasn't a microwave in the room.

The location worked especially well for me: Town Center is an easy walk, the beach is a short drive down Butler Boulevard, and places like 14 Prime are nearby. My room, along with the lobby and hallways, looked freshly renovated and was very clean. As a longtime Marriott Bonvoy Gold and Platinum member, I’ve stayed at plenty of Marriott properties, and this Sheraton was better than its reputation on Trip Advisor and Google Reviews suggests. The staff were attentive, let me use my 2 PM Gold checkout, and even offered an appreciated upgrade. Rates were also in line with less upscale Marriott brands such as Town Place Suites. Bravo to the team.

The parking charge left me feeling like I’d been scammed as soon as I checked in. The desk agent asked whether I had a car; when I said yes, she explained parking was $10 per night, which was fine. But there’s no pass because the parking system hasn’t been put in place yet. That means someone could say they had no car and there’d be no way to tell they hadn’t paid. In my opinion, charging guests for a system that isn’t fully implemented is scummy. The booking site didn’t mention paid parking either. I’ll update this after I finish my stay.