JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The anticipation is palpable as the city prepares to welcome its newest hospitality landmark: the Hilton Jacksonville at Mayo Clinic.
With its grand opening set for Oct. 1, this 252-room, full-service hotel is more than just a place to stay - it’s a testament to partnership, innovation, and community spirit.
For Jayson Zimmer, the hotel’s general manager, the journey to opening day has been both exhilarating and demanding.
“We are, in fact, opening a Hilton in two weeks. October 1 is the opening date,” Zimmer shared. “We’re a 252-room guest room hotel, and it’s a full-service Hilton Hotel, and it’s being managed by Concord Hospitality. This hotel, we’ve been under development for two years. The groundbreaking was actually June 28 of 2023, so it’s a long time coming.”
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The Hilton is the result of a unique partnership. “Mayo Clinic is actually a partner in the hotel, and so they wanted to build a Hilton Hotel on their campus. They wanted a full-service hotel, but particularly Hilton, because they wanted a strong brand that they know that their guests would love, but they also want to use it for their own meetings,” Zimmer explained.
The hotel’s design reflects its dual purpose: to serve both Mayo Clinic’s patients and the broader Jacksonville community. “We’ve got a 10,000 square foot ballroom, 21,000 total square feet of meeting space, and so they have already booked events with us. That’s training seminars, dinners, holiday parties, things like that that are in-house Mayo, as well as some seminars that they’re having people come in to attend,” Zimmer said.
The need for such a facility was clear from the start. “If you think about Mayo hospital, they’ve got a lot of people that come internationally to do research, to do education, to do joint, you know, surgery type related items. And then, of course, you’ve got the biggest need, which is the Mayo patient,” Zimmer noted. “We do believe we’re going to get a large percentage of Mayo patients here, and that would be one of the biggest needs of why they wanted to have a hotel here.”
As opening day approaches, Zimmer and his team are focused on the final details. “With two weeks left, it’s just all of the finishing touches, right? Our team coming in and cleaning everything and getting all the guest rooms ready. So, you know, putting in all the guest supplies that the guests use during their stay, activating the TVs, activating our front desk computers. So all the little details that go into making a great Hilton full service at home,” he described.
Building the right team has been central to Zimmer’s approach. “I told the team the other day, we just hired 130 hourly employees. We did a big job fair, we did a big new hire orientation, but when we did that, I made a comment to them. I said, you know, when we started that, they were very fortunate to have been chosen. We actually interviewed like, you know, hundreds of candidates, and came down to those 130 so we individually interviewed each person with the mindset of, we want to have a particular kind of service. Here, we want a service that can connect with people, that can be friendly and more personal, and then really create, like a family type service, feeling with our patients, individually as well as families’ needs,” Zimmer emphasized.
The Hilton stands out not just for its location, but for its amenities. “Our pool and our pool area is actually very unique. It’s one of the largest pools that I’ve had at a full-service Hilton. We’re not necessarily a resort, right? But if you look behind us, there’s a beautiful lake right here. And so we are waterfront in addition to being on the Mayo campus, but our pool area is just beautiful, and it’s got cabanas, and it’s got, you know, plenty of lounge seating, and then we have a great pool bar outside of our Coastal Kitchen restaurant,” Zimmer said.
The hotel’s restaurant, Coastal Kitchen, is another highlight. “Our chef, Andrew, he’s coming from the Omni in North Carolina, and so he’s a really innovative young chef that thinks of, you know, creative recipes that he can put his spin on it. He loves to barbecue, he loves to use his smoker, and he also likes to infuse a lot of healthy ingredients into his food. And so we’re excited to see what he does when we launch this menu, I think that the community is going to love it,” Zimmer added.
While the hotel is designed to meet the needs of Mayo Clinic patients and their families, Zimmer sees a broader appeal. “We do believe we’re going to get the business traveler that wants to stay at Hilton that trusts the brand, their Hilton Honors members. And so we’re going to get a large percentage of those people as well. And then when you talk about your leisure traveler, I think that’s where the part of Jacksonville that’s really taking off. A lot of people are coming to Jacksonville for tourism. They’re coming to see our beautiful beaches, come see the zoo, watch an event in downtown, shop, go to St. Augustine, all these different things that are to do around here,” he said.
The excitement for opening day is building. “We already have reservations. We’re actually planning the celebration for the first guest. We want to make a big deal about it. I think that something this special in the community is really important to celebrate. Like I said, it’s the first full-service Hilton, it’s the first, you know, big full-service hotel that’s opened up in Jacksonville in a long time. And so we, we believe the community is going to love it, and we want to support the community,” Zimmer concluded.
As Jacksonville prepares to welcome the Hilton at Mayo Clinic, it’s clear that this hotel is more than just a new building—it’s a symbol of growth, partnership, and the promise of exceptional service for all who walk through its doors.
You can hear Zimmer’s entire interview with host Kent Justice on this week’s edition of the podcast, “This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition.”