Blue Heron Motel — Attraction in Nags Head

We have been staying at the Blue Heron for more than 30 years and always had a great experience.||The Good -| The location is a 10; you just can't do any better. But, that alone is not enough | when there are so many other problems (see below).| New King bed, Adirondack high chairs on balcony are a nice addition. fridge worked really well, lots of hot water for showers, outdoor pools are clean and inviting (I didn't look at the indoor pool), plenty of towels usually available if you trek down to the office.||The Bad -| Queen top sheet on King bed just does not cover 2 average size people.| Bathroom faucet broken - water comes out scalding hot or cold only.| Kitchen supplies are sorely lacking - 1 cereal spoon, 2 big serving spoons, 1 drinking| glass, 1 wine glass. Our camping gear is lots better than what we had at BH!| 1 small furry frying pan, 1 furry boiling pot which we used for everything, no paper| towels. | Housekeeping only on request and guest has to be present during cleaning - not| the way I want to spend my vacation.| The dresser is huge and if open, prevents passage of another person by the bed.| Management doesn't seem to understand what guests need or expect. They never| once asked how our stay was going or if we needed anything.||The Ugly -| Kitchen supplies were filthy. We had to wash everything including silverware,| silverware organizer, and dish drainer tray before we could use anything.| Two dining room chairs - one's seat has broken down (like sitting on the rim of a| bucket), neither fit under the table. One other chair seemed to be an office| chair with rollers. | Terrible reservation system - I wrote, emailed, and texted and never got a response.| Finally was able to book through booking.com. Very frustrating.| Unsecured wifi network. | This place does not recycle even though they say they do.| In closing, the prices have more than doubled since the new owners took over. We| don't expect perfection but as repeat customers many times over, we hate to | see our beloved Blue Heron so run down, especially when the room rates have| gone up so...

After reading good reviews, we booked. As it was the final Sunday of the July 4 weekend, we paid a premium price, $ 320 for a room. $ 320 on peak season, I understand. We chose here because of the kitchen and location as weeks on the road eating at restaurants saw us missing good nutrition for the kids. ||1. Kitchen stove had 4 burners, only 1 worked.|2. Ok, it's a beach hotel and pretty old. The room floor was filthy. Our feet were black after a few minutes of walking on it.|4. Toilet was wobbly, not fully repaired correctly.|3. Our 2 kids needed a shower/bath. We had no water, the entire hotel had no water. No information from the staff on check in. Our kids had a 40 minute bath - only drops at a time from the faucet into a kitchen pot. No choice, at that point it was too late in the evening to get my little ones to another place but for $ 320 a night.... Management said sorry, Home Depot was closed and I'd have to wait, wtf. I'm sure there's a 24 hour plumber on OBX, easy to google. Water came back around 11 pm, bigger trickle and ice cold.||In the morning, I complained about it all. The office staff said sorry and offered a 20% refund back by via Expedia. None arrived after 3 weeks. I emailed the hotel, asked for the refund. the "Manager" reply was again it would be done via Expedia. Expedia was informed of the stay, refund and emails from the hotel. Blue Heron refused even after in person assurance and email. ||We stayed in 36 hotels on our US holiday, some good but all with honest management. We don't complain much but in this case, Blue Heron might be a good place but our experience was less than the value of the room for sure.||I was patient. I emailed politely. Expedia sympathized and apologized even offering me a $ 40 credit because the management was dishonest. Now time to post, not with bad intent...

For being a motel, it was good enough. If you don't plan to stay in the motel most of the day, then this is a decent choice especially if you manage to get it at a waaay cheaper price than hotels. Bring cleaning wipes though.

PROS: All the rooms are beachfront (first and second level views are meh though since you have the little sand dune in the way) Easy walk to the beach Close to Jennette's Pier, a lot of shops and restaurants and wildlife parks Easy parking (though on busy weekends, there might be a chance you will have a hard time finding parking if you arrive back late at night) Efficiency kitchenette was well stocked with basic dinnerware and cookware if you needed to cook or dine in Provided paper towel, dish soap, shampoo/conditioner and bars of soap The staff was nice Following Covid-19 guidelines with wearing a mask inside the office

CONS: Housecleaning doesn't really clean all the surfaces (dust on some surfaces including dinnerware and kitchen appliances, visibly oily hand prints on the wood paneling walls when the light shines on it a certain angle, sketchy brownish red droplet stains on the side of mattress coverings on the beds, sticky arm rests on the chairs, etc) so don't expect a spotless room. Avoid the rooms directly above the indoor pool unless you're ok with super humid and musty nights. The whole vibe of the room is stuck in the 70s, wood paneling, granny curtains and old scratched up dining room furniture. Cable occasionally gets "service interrupted" error messages every now and then. Not too bd though.

Overall our stay was ok. We initially picked this place as a super last minute plan to visit the Outer Banks just days before, and so many other places were already booked. I can't say I'd stay here again but if it was another last minute or last resort decision, we would...