Villas of Amelia Island

We had to escape the west Coast due to hurricane Milton. Headed East to the Atlantic side, on Amelia Island. Now we want to move there. The Villa's are booked through the Omni Hotel. If you book through the OMNi you will be getting a 4 star Villa, if you book through an agent you will be getting a Villa that doesn't meet the OMNI requirements. We stayed at "Sandcastles Villas - Villa 315.. it was amazing.. 5th floor, all glass Villa overlooking the Ocean on one side and the marsh lands on the other.! Modern and new. The Island is Beautiful, the beach amazing but most of all the people we met.. Southern Hospitality at it's best. BTW: Fernandina Beach is at the Northern end of the Island, it's historic, not "Beachy junk" real classy shops and endless great restaurants. We spent 2 weeks. We will no back in the Spring..

Stayed here for a wedding. The villas are worn looking and smell musty/moldy. And there was a sickly sweet smell in the main area that must have come from cleaning products that was nauseating. Others in our party were in the main resort hotel which was a lot nicer.

The villa was spacious and had everything one would need, except a working air conditioning unit. The villa was cool on arrival but smelled horribly like mold and all the surfaces felt damp. Each morning we woke our throats were sore. I do not think this villa is safe for renters. Very disappointing considering the price and that the rest of the resort seemed nice. Really wish we could have stayed in the main resort. I had the option when I booked but thought the villa with the kitchen and the extra room would be nice. Huge mistake. Definitely stay at the main resort if you want to stay here.

Attached are some pictures of our 1 night stay at the villas of Amelia Island,  part of Omni hotels. As you can see from the pictures it was extremely filthy. When we arrived we were so excited to stay at such a beautiful hotel, boy what a disappointment.  To start off it took 30-45 minutes to check in. Computers were down or slow, so the couldn't swipe my card for incidentals; really! On top of that they couldn't figure out my reservation because it was made by a travel agent. Once this was figured out we were directed to our villa by Kinnon at the front desk.  By the way the credit card machine never came back up! We were told we were staying in villa #2, the building closest to the main hotel on the beach! We thought, GREAT on the beach, no another disappointment.  Trying to find the correct villa/room took another 45 minutes and we actually had to go back to the main hotel and be escorted to the right one! We were the 3rd villa from the hotel, we had to carry our bags too, no luggage carts. At this point we wasted 2 of the 4 hours we had left of daylight to explore the island. When we entered the room we were thoroughly disgusted, but didn't want to waste anymore time getting another room. There were bugs on the couch, locks were broken, the bathroom and floors were filthy. The pictures will back this up. The price that was charged for a night for this room is despicable! There is no way it should have cost more that $70 and yet it was probably 5x that amount. There should be some compensation made for this nasty villa. We have stayed in nicer hotels on the highway! These villas and the Omni hotels should NEVER be booked or recommended for anyone. We were appalled at the accommodations and will never stay at an Omni hotel. I believe my pictures will show the disgusting room we stayed in, the walkway getting to the room was no better. This was a terrible waste of money and Omni hotels should be ashamed. This review will be posted on the internet as well.

We had a wonderful trip. I was worried about the Villa given the negative reviews I had seen but our Villa was wonderful. We booked through Omni so that may have helped. We had a 3 bedroom, 3 full and .5 bath villa in Turtle Dunes. The unit was 2 floors so we had plenty of room. We had amazing views of the ocean. Rented bikes and beach chairs from The Beach Store. Mike could not have been more accommodating.

First time renting villa. Will definitely recommend and book again. The additional space maked our stay more enjoyable. Walking distance to main lobby. Enjoy villa pool or hotel pool. Both beach side. We rented a golf cart and enjoyed touring the property. The hotel spa is awesome. Highly recommend

The Villas at OMNI are a condo to avoid, . Most units are 1980’s worn out units, a mish mash of worn out furniture, pots and pans, broken light fixtures, burned out light bulbs, dated kitchen and bathrooms, broken shower door handles plus an exorbitant price tag. To top it all off is the multiple stair cases required to enter the condo, at least 30 steps, a very long way to carry groceries and suitcases. I feel sorry for renters and older people with disabilities who end up here. When booking, not a peep out of the reservation clerks warning you of a disastrous future stay. Hard to believe how a supposed fine hotel could act this way, setting the guest up for a less than happy vacation. They must laugh under their breath. No bargain here, what should have at least been a bargain, cost over $600 a night plus all the bogus resort fees and tax. AVOID STAYING HERE. Take heed and avoid this hostel.

The rooms were clean and kept up by the staff. Great rooms, we had a ocean front room,, good breakfast and afternoon snacks. People were friendly and helpful. Restaurants nearby were very good and easy walking distance.

The villa was nice on the second floor. There was a small washer dryer, mini fridge and microwave. There was not enough towels. Housekeeping is not included. The floors were super dirty and turned your feet black. They need a super cleaning. The TV was the smallest I have seen in awhile. Rooms need updating. They are from the 90’s. You could catch a shuttle which was nice and convenient. The beds were ok kinda springy . You could not access the beach. Only from the hotel. Too far to walk. I would probably stay somewhere else.