Review: The Vinoy St. Petersburg, Marriott Autograph Collection (Lovely!)

For a second, I thought you went to Russia!

Ben, it was good that you, Ford, and Miles were able to spend a few days with your mom.

I stayed here for my sister's wedding way back in '99. Was lovely, and my only regret was that the grass tennis courts were closed due to rain.

Ben - I'd love to see a post about your hotel approach when traveling with Miles. Maybe it's less of an issue for you given your early bed-time, but since having kids, I've strongly valued suites and whole houses on vacation much more than I did pre-kids. This is especially tough when looking at Europe, where some suites won't even accommodate more than 2.
We have not yet traveled with our kids (ages 1 and 3) where we've all stayed in the same standard hotel room together, and I'm hoping to avoid that indefinitely.

Well, last time I stayed was 2019 and in parts I don't like the renovation at all. I liked the old lobby better. Yes, the room looks nice, but that restaurant, really? What happened to there wonderful historic restaurant? Is that the place, where you can only have dinner? It was such a treat to have breakfast in that room.
It's somehow like The Galvez in Galveston, Im not a great fan of the things they do to the historic parts, but I like the rooms.

Haha, me too!

They only serve half-waffles there? WTF?

We've stayed there a couple of times. My wife loves it. We're treated well as Platinums. We plan to stay again.

For what it's worth, this is managed by Marriott. It's not a franchise.

I'm not sure I would have considered a junior suite on the second floor an upgrade. I probably would have asked for a king non-suite room on a considerably higher floor.

It seems odd the mini-bar isn't stocked in a suite at an Autograph Collection property.

Did they not offer you your Ambassador benefits?

Was there no turndown service?

The bottle of water is a pathetic welcome amenity. They didn't even do a signed welcome letter or card?

The hotel website says wifi is included in the resort fee. Did you ask for your replacement benefit? As a reminder, wifi is free for all Bonvoy members, not just elites. Any property charging a resort or destination fee for wifi must provide a replacement benefit.

You had me at opposite of Miami

This looks like a nice property for St. Pete, but I don't view Autograph Collection hotels as being anything more than full-service hotels with no specified brand standards. Some are great, most are OK, some are pretty bad. I can't think of any that could seriously be considered 'luxury' though.

@Jerry,

I'm not sure that's true. In fact, I would argue Renaissance is a worse brand.

There's a trend of nicer Renaissance properties housed within historic buildings converting to Autograph Collection recently. Besides The Vinoy, some other examples include The Mayflower and St. Pancras in London.

Renaissance as a brand is pretty lost. You have genuine 5-star boutique properties in Europe and then dumpy old Renaissances in the USA that date to when the Renaissance brand was either Stouffer or part of Ramada.

I would also note Marriott converted a bunch of older Marriotts into Delta a couple years ago. Likely because the owners wouldn't renovate the properties. Maybe we're seeing a similar approach with Renaissance. Convert the best properties into other brands and then either re-develop Renaissance as a brand or merge with another brand.

I wish you had contacted me ! I live 5 minutes from The Vinoy and work at The Palladium just up 5th Avenue.
Splendid hotel and great renovation. Love Pauls Landing ! truly one of Florida's finest hotels. In Florida's finest city. Biased ? yes !

Same here. Took me six paragraphs to realize Lucky didn't go to Russia.

When I was a kid, my grandparents lived a few blocks from the Vinoy... but it had been foreclosed on decades before and was used for offices of the Social Security Administration. My 15 yo brother got his card there in 1966.

St Pete Beach and Passagrille Beach changed so much and the memories are far better than today's reality. Grandma's house sold in 1972 for $13K, last I looked it was $600K.

I stayed there once when it was called the Stouffer Vinoy Hotel. I must be old.

I guess if you had a child with you you didn't get to check out DTSP nightlife. Just a great scene there; better and safer than Tampa across the bay.

I remember when each service plaza along Florida's Turnpike had one of those wax molding machines. Each plaza had a different one. Okahumpka had an alligator, Turkey Lake an astronaut. Etc.

I was thinking "finally! somewhere interesting!"

Most American thing ever that the “St. Petersburg” review is not the St. Petersburg the whole world expects.

@Cam Why is that? Have you heard of La Paz? Apparently, there is one in Mexico and one in Bolivia. Can you brush up on your geography?

I agree. St. Petersburg, FL is pretty much the opposite vibe from Miami and I hope we can keep it that way. South Florida, where I grew up, depresses me when I have to visit there. St Pete's gone from depressing to vibrant. Although I do see some leaching happening. I also know the hotel well and miss the museum on the ground floor. Having lived across the park from there we took family and guests there for drinks on the porch and breakfast in the old dining room. A beautiful dining room and setting. Did you know there are rooms with balconies in the tower?