Aircation VLOG: The Saint Boutique Hotel St. Pete: Vaycay Recap & Review + Camera Roll

The Saint Hotel is located juxtaposed to St. Pete Beach (the beach actually wraps around this area, but for reference its is near the historic Don Cesar. I became aware of this hotel sometime in the start of 2020 and became enamored with it because they have lots of fake flamingos everywhere. Anyway, I was determined to make a trip over there during my 2022 birthday month vacation so I secured my suite early in the year and bid my time.

So, although I did show my husband the place before booking he was clearly not paying attention because when we drove up and saw this hotel was clearly a renovated motel he was not happy. This place is very very different from where we usually stay and I am sure you guys peeped that also. Right now its a popular place for Millenials and Gen Z as it is an Instagrammable hotel with a really great restaurant ( 82 Degrees).

The building is all open air, two stories, a small boutique style pool with the restaurant on the second level. There are some play areas for lounging and corn hole and on the several nights there is live music. Now for the good stuff.

Everything has been renovated first off and I loved the style and decor of the suite. I honestly would not stay here if I wasn't in a suite because the rooms are small, it isn't how I roll because I need space. I liked the decor and color theme the most. I liked the bed headboard especially and the the peek-a-boo window in the bedroom was cute. We actually were here long enough to utilize the small kitchen with microwave; it came in handy when I got the late night munchies.

The bed was pretty comfortable, but the room was loud. The person above us was making a lot of noise and it wasn't so much as they were noisy I just think the floors and walls are very very thin so we heard every single step and they just never stopped walking around presumably their suite all night. The noise level alone would make me never stay here again. Since the hotel is open air there are stairs that get utilized which also makes it noisy.

So, upon check in we did get complimentary bottles of mini sparkling wine, he actually gave us two each which was nice. Complimentary coffee is in the small lobby where you check in, but the lobby does close after a certain point in the day. When I say the lobby is small I mean it is SMALL like 6ft wide. The hotel owner or person who was running things was an older man. I was there long enough to tell he was attempting to mirco-manage everything and every one.

For example, there were signs at the restaurant "no alcohol past this point. At the pool "you must have a wristband to be at the pool or be escorted off the property. As soon as anyone would leave the pool he would immediately come inspect the chairs/area/space and take towels if you had more than one.

This is the kicker, we were still checked in obviously. We were at the pool and I literally saw this man leave the front office and enter our suite and start looking around. I was like why is he in there? Our suite was completely in view of the pool so I could see him though the open door looking around. I also noticed the Ring camera that strategically monitors everyone going to the pool, going to their rooms, or parking.

Some other things that are notable, this hotel restaurant closes at 10pm. We tried to get my last cocktail at 9:25pm and they literally said final call was at 9pm one hour before they even closed. I don't know about you, but if I am on vacation I like to have my cocktails by the pool or in the room and everything shut down before ten. That is beyond boring and I really hate staying places like that.There is no room service here also. I was told if I wanted drinks or food to go to any of the local places that are open until 3am.

So while this area is nice enough, it is a little run down like beach type run down. All of the places that were nearby weren't places I would exactly venture out to. So we just went back to the room.

Below is a public boat dock area, the water is beautiful here also. This is right across the street from the hotel.

Hotel restaurant 82 Degrees

This restaurant is worth there drive to visit even if you are not staying at the hotel. Parking is free and the food here is very good. We got to eat dinner and brunch here and it was consistently good both times. Their cocktails are very good also.

The nearest beach is Upham Beach which I had never even heard of or been to. St.Pete has so many beaches and it just runs all the way down all the way through Bradenton and Sarasota. Well, Upham Beach is quite gorgeous! The hotel provides bikes, chairs, umbrellas, picnic items take to the beach claiming it is a short walk. Realistically it would take about half an hour to walk to and with chairs and all of that maybe 40 minutes. It's hot in Florida soother is no way I am walking to the beach unless it is right across the street. I love this beach and its was crowded! There was public parking and it was super competitive. There literally wasn't enough parking for as many people that were there.

Months later I am like, damn I need to get back to that beach. It doesn't look like Pass-A-Grille Beach, St. Pete Beach or even my favorite beaches in Sarasota or Bradenton. Now, I will be honest, in Florida its 100% depends on the time of year, the time of day, and the weather to see a beach at it's full potential. I have been on some beach days and the sun isn't out, it is overcast, or it just stormed the day before and you can get green water with gray skies that is unimpressive. But for the most part, St.Pete Beach and Pass-A-Grille always look the same to me which was not as stunning as Upham Beach.