I have stayed at the Vinoy on several occasions from 2004-2008. I was recently back for a conference, held in the hotel. My room was wonderful, very comfortable. The view - a rooftop and a loading dock. Not a deal breaker for me, except for the two fire trucks arriving Friday at 3 am with lights flashing. The fitness area is pretty nice and many people took advantage, including myself. Food - I had room service the first night and was delicious. Conference meals were nicely done as well. I think the overall issue for me was service. I was approaching my room around noon and came in the middle of a reprimand; a superior of the cleaning crew was chastising a subordinate about being behind, not doing a good job, pick up the pace, etc. All in front of me and my door, awkward. Also, we had a golf outing and had pre-ordered lunch before tee-off. There were about 30 of us. I realize this is a decent crowd, but the lunches were not ready and we had to scarf down our mediocre sandwiches because we were pressed to get on the course. I think for the cost of the place, the staff was not as I expected. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to dump on the service team; it seemed more like the managers were not on target and things were falling through the cracks. It's about reputation.

We stayed at the Vinoy for a wedding in March 2018. It was buzzing with guests (a great sign) and very, very beautiful. The rooms themselves are massive! We stayed in a double Queen room which felt more like a suite. Our room was on the second floor with a slightly obstructed view of the backyard/tea garden - not the best but not the worst view. The room was very clean.

The hotel is NOT located near the beach, but rather by Vinoy Park, which is quiet, quaint, and beautiful. We rode bikes around the area and had a lovely time wandering around the small town. The downtown area was very quiet during the day but lively at night. Many restaurants and cafes, lots of swimwear shops. St. Pete is not the most interesting place in the world, but great for enjoying a couple days of sunshine. We spent some time at the pool, which was decorated with gorgeous hot pink, oversized, VERY comfy lounge chairs! However, the bar by the pool serves a very limited menu and does not have a fryer on weekends (??) so my $16 burger came with a side of doritos. Yikes. The fitness center was small but great - there was even a spin room with classes offered. Overall, the amenities were great.

However, the service left a LOT to be desired. We were stuck in the room the entire first day we were there because a family member was sick, so we had to refuse housekeeping service. The next day we were out of the room from 9am-3pm, then back to get ready for a wedding. Housekeeping had not come to clean up the room in that time. I would assume since we refused service the day before, they would make it a priority to come by the next day so our trash wouldn't pile up - which it did. Maybe I am wrong - I am not sure how housekeeping scheduling works. Anywho - we ran out of towels, toilet paper, and tissues and requested more to be sent up. It took over forty minutes to send housekeeping to our room, forcing us to rush to get ready for the wedding. Our room phone did not work (not even the emergency line which I tested) so I physically went to the lobby three times to request the items we needed. Lastly, housekeeping finally came by at 4pm, when we were still in the room getting ready, and we had to let her clean the room while we were present because housekeeping leaves at 5 and she could not come back later that night when we would be out at the wedding! The entire time we were there, the room was NEVER formally cleaned. On top of that, there were some bartenders and waitstaff with major attitude problems. So much for southern hospitality.

Overall, our stay equaled out to probably 3/5 stars. Would be 5/5 if the service was better. It stinks when you pay so much for a hotel room and end up disappointed by preventable things. On a happy note, the Vinoy was clean, beautiful, and in a great area.