Hotel searching help

[Anonymous]

We have a wedding in Florida in February. The hotels provided by the bride and groom don't have suites, and we will be traveling with a toddler and a baby. We must have a one-bedroom suite with a door that closes (no "privacy wall" or tall bookshelf pretending to be a wall and door). Online searches I've done do not allow me to search by one-bedroom suites. For instance, on the Marriott website, I have to put in the city/area and click on every single hotel to see if their suites are actually one-bedroom suites. My husband's work travel website allows us to search by suite, but it also brings up every room listed as a suite, even if it is a basic room with mini fridge. Does anyone know of a website I can use to filter my hotel search? Right now I'm clicking on every single hotel in the entire city with availability on that weekend, and it's an unproductive search. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

First piece of advice would be to search for suites-only hotels, like Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites, Residence Inn, etc. After that, you might be better off calling the hotel directly to book a suite. If you speak with someone at the property, typically they can guide you through what their suites are like (i.e. is the bathroom in the living room or bedroom?)

Some hotels also have parlor rooms that connect to regular rooms, forming a suite. Again, best bet is to call the hotel directly.

[Anonymous]

What city in Florida? You might want to post this in the Travel forum. Lots of posters, including me, travel tons.

[Anonymous]

Excellent advice. Thanks. I found some hotels on Residence Inn and now we're trying to determine if the hotels are in corporate office parks (fine by me) or in a sketchy area. I will post in the travel section. FYI, the wedding is in Jacksonville Beach and the hotels I'm finding are in Jacksonville.

[Anonymous]

I like Trip Advisor but I don't know if it filters by what you're looking for.

[Anonymous]

You could call Marriott or Hilton and ask for them to guide you.

[Anonymous]

For Jacksonville beach look for a condo rental. Try homeaway.com or the vacation rental section on tripadvisor.

[Anonymous]

I have found that you really need to call the hotel to find out if their suites are genuine 1BR rooms.

[Anonymous]

Rent a house on air bnb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found that you really need to call the hotel to find out if their suites are genuine 1BR rooms.

I agree. I have stayed at some Residence Inn's where the largest room they had was actually a studio type of room.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the info. I tried to do AirBNB and VRBO last year and not a single person wrote me back.

[Anonymous]

My experience with VRBO in Florida was terrible and I've done it throughout the country without a problem.

Having been in the same boat, I would try posting a query on trip advisor forum asking for recommendations from families re suite rooms. Then you just have to call the hotels. I found that many hotels have "suites" that don't have a true separate bedroom. You can ask the front desk which rooms have them (often they have different classes of suites too so you really need someone to identify the room name you need).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have found that you really need to call the hotel to find out if their suites are genuine 1BR rooms.

I agree. I have stayed at some Residence Inn's where the largest room they had was actually a studio type of room.

I have stayed at many Residence Inns in various cities. They will always say 1 bedroom or studio when you book online. Studio is a bigger room, but has no separate bedroom with a door that closes. The 1 bedrooms have pull out sofas in the living room and an actual bedroom with a door. Love REsidence Inn!

[Anonymous]

you could also book a connecting room at most hotels (even the ones suggested by bride and groom)

[Anonymous]

I booked a one bedroom suite at a Residence Inn, and when I got there, they said all the one bedroom suites were booked, and that they could not give me one. I had to take one where there wasn't really a divider between the king size bed and the sofa bed. This is a real issue for us because dh has insomnia and uses CPAP. He is usually up 2 hours during the middle of the night, and he wants to watch a movie or move around and have a snack. I am not booking with Residence Inn again after this.