We're thinking of taking a little trip to Savannah for our anniversary this year, which is Labor Day weekend, and I have a few questions:

1) What can we realistically expect, weather-wise? We're prepared for hot & humid (my husband grew up in Northern Florida and actually enjoys that type of weather, and I can deal). Are there generally a lot of storms at that time of year?

2) Any recommendations on where to stay?

3) Should we consider staying on Tybee Island? My husband enjoys fishing, and I read somewhere that they have charter fishing trips, so that was a thought.

4) Anything we absolutely shouldn't miss? (I've reviewed past posts regarding restaurants.)

5) Is five days too long?

Any answers/opinions are greatly appreciated!

Hot and humid, but bearable. You will be there during hurricane season, but the odds of a storm then, and one hitting Savannah, especially, are highly unlikely. It seems to sit in a little protected area and generally has escaped most everything.

I would advise against staying at Tybee. It is only 20 minutes from the downtown historic district, so easy to drive out to, and there is far far more to do and see downtown, and a far wider selection of places to eat and stay in downtown as well.

Look at the B&Bs...Foley, Gastonian, Ballastone. 5 days might be a bit much. Many people like to combine Savannah with Charleston...the two cities are only 2 hours apart if you have a car. You could easily do 3 days in Charleston and 2 in Savannah, although if you are limiting yourself to just Savannah, I'd say it could be seen fairly well in 3 days, perhaps a bit more if you are doing an all day fishing trip. You might run out of things you must see and do with a 5 day stay, but if you don't mind just sitting around the squares and really soaking it in, you will be happy none-the-less.

My favorite day and time for just enjoying the beauty of the city would be an early Sunday morning stroll, say between 8 and 10, starting at the head of Bull St at Bay, and down Bull St through all those squares to Forsyth Park. The city hasn't yet come to life, it's quiet, little traffic, it's cool, church bells begin tolling for the various services. It always made me happy to be out and about then (my husband and I always ran then, and that route too.) Hard to put a finger on one thing that is a don't miss...other than to say don't miss the ambience of the city. Though you'll want to see River St, that is not where you'll find the ambience...it's back in the squares, each different from the other, and each pleasant in it's own way. If you are walkers, there is no better way to really see it, though one of the trolley tours for orientation is quite helpful.

It's a neat place for an anniversary...maybe even take a little carriage ride anniversary night? Have a grand time, and Happy Anniversary!

Ditto for much of what OliveOyl has said! We usually do Charleston/Savannah together, about three nights in each, but I never get tired of either one, both are wonderful places to just chill and soak up the atmosphere and the Southern hospitality! I could easily do a week in either one.

My favorite things about Savannah: just walking the squares, dinner at River House on the water - have the Chatham County Artillery punch!, eating at Lady & Sons (drool!), Bonaventure Cemetery. We have stayed at The Gastonian, it is perfect! Just don't get the room with the old-fashioned tub (the most inconvenient place I ever took a bath!;-) ) Loved staying at the Hyatt Regency on the water, my favorite place to stay. Have also stayed out of the historic district (because we had our dog with us this last time, at the Comfort Inn East, which was fine for the short amount of time we were there.)

We saw the Jim Williams house on this last trip, had just opened for touring. He's "the guy" from "Midnight in the Garden......." It will be hot and humid then, but bearable. Just dress cool..... Have a wonderful time, do that carriage ride, and eat some praline samples when they're just cooling on the candy store counter......... that's when they're the best!

I'm glad you like the Hyatt Bonniebroad. Me too! My husband ran it and we lived on the top floor for 4 years with a corner suite that looked north over the river and east down River St. I loved to watch the huge ships passing, some so tall the bridge was level with our suite windows, which in essence is 10 floors up--7 for the hotel and 3 more for the parking garage beneath it! It was a fabulous stay.

It is a nice hotel in a terrific location. The only reason I didn't mention hotel stays, blm1, is that you are celebrating your anniversary so I thought a B&B might be nice...but they aren't for everyone! As for quality, the Hyatt has now been surpassed by the Westin, but they have a serious drawback, IMHO, in being located on the other side of the river!

Jim Williams house being on tour is new to me, bonniebroad. It had been for sale for years and must finally have sold. I cannot imagine his sister living there all this time with those miked tours going non-stop in front of the house, from early in the morning until dusk. It'd drive me to distraction! What did you think of the inside? Glad you found the real Savannah too!

Thank you so much for those great responses!
We were originally planning to do Charleston and Savannah, when we thought we'd have a whole week. Turns out that my husband can only get a 5-day weekend, so we thought we'd just stick with Savannah. But maybe we will be able to see a little of Charleston, too!
Thanks again.

OliveOyl, I know Jim Williams' family is still involved with the place/tour, and think they might still own it..... It had only been up and running for two weeks when we were there, and the guides were still learning!

The family pictures are on display, AND the tour is a bit humorous as they don't want you to discuss what's on everyone's mind!!! The tour is about his hand in restoring Savannah, and his antiques business, and his philanthrophy. If you ask about "THE incident".......... the guides use words like "alleged" and don't want to discuss it, YET there are pictures of the family with Clint Eastwood, Kevin Spacey, and pictures of Kevin as Jim.......... in Jim's office. Of course, there would be no tour if it weren't for THE incident!;-) I was a little disappointed in the inside... of course, it was very masculine. I thought it might be a little "grander." But I did enjoy it!

Yes, I love when you're at the Hyatt, and those mammoth ships come in there. We had that experience once when we were there............. that must have been so neat, living there! I have to say, too, that this time down there, the azaleas were almost in their prime, and Bonaventure Cemetery was STUNNING!! And then we discovered the Isle of Hope, by taking the wrong road. Talk about HUGE magnificent azaleas, dogwood, oaks with moss hanging. We were just blown away. Were you ever there?

blml, you will LOVE Savannah. Be sure to eat at Lady & Sons......... Charleston is magnificent.... you will feel that you haven't had enough time in either! I'm always looking forward to that next trip back!

Also went to the Mercer house, and yes, Jim William`s sister owns it and lives upstairs. She probably needs to make some money for those high taxes. We also enjoyed the house General Sherman camped out in.(the Green Meldrin house). Our favorite place to eat ended up being the Pirate house, but you do need reservations. The Pink House is really nice but you need reservations days in advance to get in. You might just go and have a drink and listen to the piano player. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and it was nice and close to everything. Walking anywhere is easy.

I just came back from Savannah and it was beautiful. I do a lot of research on hotels before I book and I found good reviews on the Hyatt so I booked it. I was so dissapointed I am writing a letter to the CEO. The desk staff was rude, the consigere was indifferent and the room was horribly dirty and run down. As each horrible experience at that hotel happened, we laughed harder and harder and made jokes. We had to our we would have spent our trip being angry. Location was great but hotel was a pit. I have a friend who is the editor of a southern travel magazine and he told me he wished I would have mentioned it to him because he has heard great things about the Hampton Inn, (yes, I probably would have paid $100 less for the room). I wanted to stay at the Westin across the river but my friend said he wanted to stay in the historic district. As we walked down the water side we kept looking over at the Westin and saying "there's our hotel. we should have stayed there". Anyway, I got to meet Paula Deen and ate at her restaurant, the Lady and the Sons. I also got a good recommendation for a Tapas restaurant right around the corner from the Lady and sons and We had a nice lunch at a Irish Pub which name escapes me. Stay away from the Greyline Tours, the driver mentioned how much he wanted a tip several times throughout the tour. I wished I would have taken a horse and buggy ride. We took the civil war walking tour which was interesting. I loved Savannah and would go back, but you can see it all in 2 or 3 days, unless you want to go fishing. It was hot and humid but not unbearable. We went into the Marshall House to get a brochure, the hotel was charming and in a good location but I did see some mixed reviews.

Sandy, when we stayed at the Hyatt, we had some problem with our first room, complained, and we were immediately upgraded to a river-front, higher floor, much nicer one. I think, in general, when hotels are smack on the water, be it river or ocean, the rooms are not as well-kept, sometimes can be a bit musty......... I think the hotels don't go that extra mile because everybody will stay on the water if they can, almost no matter what. I love the location of the Hyatt there...... did you complain long and loud about the room, and they still didn't do anything?

Sandy, I really am sorry to hear your experience with the Hyatt too. I hope you complained while there about issues that could be dealt with, such as cleanliness, and attitude. Your first course of action now should be a letter to the GM outlining everything that went wrong, very specifically. Outline very specifically what the attitude problem was, what was said, how it was said, and specifically what was wrong with the room--unclean bathroom, poorly made bed, etc whatever it was. Then, if you don't get a satisfactory response, escalate it to the CEO level. (And pulleasee leave me out of any mention! Yikes...) That really is the best way to address this sort of issue. The hotel is fairly large, with numerous employees and department heads over each of the divisions. The GM is ulitmately responsible for every one of them but there are times he thinks all is well, or that problems have been corrected when they are not. There isn't a GM in the chain who doesn't care about experiences such as yours. These are critical areas and ones that take almost constant hammering, unfortunately--worse in some areas than others, and I think Savannah is one of he more difficult areas for issues you brought up.

There was a renovation done while we were there, and there should have been another by this time. I know there has been in their public spaces, don't know about the rooms. That, if not done, is pretty much out of control of the GM. Again, everyone of them wants things up to snuff, they'll hammer and plead and beg to get it, but all but a handful of the hotels (in virtually all chains, not just Hyatt) have owners who control the purse strings and whether or not, and when, a renovation is done is their decision. I do know that hotel has a new ownership group within the year and I seem to recall that they planned on putting a bunch of money into it.

Another point I really wanted to make is the Greyline tour problem. Please, I hope no one will turn away from them on the basis of this complaint. Every single one of those drivers is different from the other. Some give terrible tours, some give fabulous tours with each of the companies. Tips should never be mentioned, but that was an individual exercising what he thought was his right. Again, you very definitely should write to Greyline in Savannah and express your displeasure with that aspect. I agree with you that it isn't right, but I know the owners too and I know they wouldn't want their employees saying such things. The buggy tours are charming, but they do not cover the territory what the trolleys do, so I prefer the latter. There are any number of companies doing trolley tours, and truly, one is no better than the other--it all depends on the driver you get.

Again, I'm sorry for your experience. Write those letters!

Sandy...just looked back in my mail for the info on the Hyatt sale and proposed renovation. One of our friends forwarded this to us Jan 3, 2004, from the Savannah online paper:

Hyatt Regency Savannah sells for $50 million

Real-estate company plans to renovate the prominent and controversial Historic District hotel

A newly formed investment group has bought the Hyatt Regency Savannah for $50 million. The upscale hotel located in the heart of Savannah's Historic District will continue to operate under Hyatt management. The McLean, Va.-based Highland Hospitality Corp. announced Friday that it had acquired the 351-room hotel for about $142,500 per room.

It was the fifth hotel purchase that the company, a fledgling real-estate investment trust, had announced since Dec. 16, when it raised $387.3 million in an initial public offering.

Local tourism officials don't expect the sale to affect hotel customers. "We are confident that the ownership change will be transparent to our community and our visitors. The Hyatt will continue providing us with first-class service," said Anthony Schopp, president of the Savannah Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Highland Hospitality has spent $153.5 million so far on upscale full-service and premium limited-service hotels. In all, the company plans to buy seven hotels in its first round of investments.

It's looking for unique and hard-to-replace hotels like the Hyatt Regency Savannah, said James L. Francis, president and CEO of Highland Hospitality.

"This hotel is located in the heart of Savannah and benefits from a stable flow of corporate transient and leisure travel business year-round," Francis said. "Consequently, this irreplaceable asset will produce consistent current returns for Highland and its shareholders."

Local developers Merritt W. Dixon III and Mitchell H. Dunn Jr. built the Hyatt Regency Savannah in 1981 on the Savannah River next door to City Hall, following a prolonged and often-fractious fight over the appropriateness of building a seven-story hotel on and over history-rich River Street.

The original owners sold the hotel in 1998 to the San Diego-based American Property Management Corp., headed by Michael S. Gallegos.

Gallegos could not be reached for comment Friday.

The hotel features 36,000 square feet of meeting space, including an 11,000-square-foot exhibit hall with river views, an 8,000-square-foot ballroom, and a restaurant and lounge with river views.

Highland Hospitality says it plans to complete a renovation of the hotel's guest rooms, lobby, restaurant and lounge this year.

Altogether, the new company owns five hotels in three states, totalling 1,329 rooms.


Highland Hospitality's purchases
The newly formed Highland Hospitality Corp. has bought five hotels since Dec. 22, and plans to buy at least two more before the spending spree is done.

... just a thought about location: find out about the traffic jams to and from Tybee Island - the worst I've ever experienced (speaking as a true urban dweller who has participated in some monumental jams!). Thus, suggest you stay downtown, close to the Historic Section. Places to eat - Sapphire Grill and Elizabeth's (on 37th or 34th ... no matter, quite good). Have a nice trip!

Thanks folks,
Sounds like I need to write a letter to both Hyatt because they are managing the property and also to the new owners. I am sorry but I guess I did not complain enough. There was a convention in the hotel and believe me they had their hands full with that group. i did not want to spend my time raising hell with desk staff when I have sightseeing to do. I did see some construction workers in the hallway but they were nowhere near my room and I did not hear any noise. Thanks for the feedback. I still will never stay at that hotel again but that will not stop me from coming back to Savannah, I thought it was a charming city.