Surrey Beach House — Attraction in Ventnor City

I booked with SBH through Airbnb. What ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE the host John only initially responded once I booked the reservation through Airbnb. I had questions regarding checking in so I sent a text through Airbnb app that was on Saturday November 9 never heard back until 3 days later on 11/11. The customer service is rude and unprofessional. Paid for this reservation on Airbnb in full so then when I finally did get a hold of the customer service at SBH they sent me an email and when I went to try to go register, they asked me for a credit card, Ive stayed at Airbnb‘s all over I’ve never had to provide a additional credit card outside making the reservation in addition to already paying through the Airbnb app Nowhere on SBH listing on the Airbnb website does it say that you have to provide a additional credit card separate from already paying for my reservation in full through Airbnb. I don’t mind putting a credit card on file with any hotel whatever it doesn’t matter but at least have that in your listing so that it’s TRANSPARENT to potential guest. I love how when I contact them SBH is customer service and I was told well if you know so much then you should know that you have to provide a credit card on file at any hotel, I do know that when you travel and stay at a hotel directly of course you have to put our credit card on file that’s common knowledge, but I went through Airbnb to book at SBH so I shouldn’t have to put an additional credit card on file that’s why I went through Airbnb in the first place !!! I do not recommend staying here. I can’t speak for the room cleanliness or any of that cause we’d actually didn’t end up staying here because SBH decided to cancel our reservation so I can’t speak to cleanliness or any of those things but I can speak for customer service is a 0/0 Communication is from host is 0/0. They also lied about not having my correct email address on file through Airbnb.Funny how the owner responded through Google and Airbnb decided in favor on my behalf in the end. If Airbnb thought that SBH was in the right then they would have decided in their favor, but they Did Not!!! I have all the correspondence and Airbnb requested screenshots of all the texts messages from myself which I provided them. Again Airbnb decided in my favor and The staff sent rude and threatening text messages to me as well to which Airbnb has those texts messages per their request. SBH named called me and I had a right to defend myself from the verbal abuse via text message. Remember this business lies out their asses and requires a additional credit card on file which isn’t the issue but why not put that in your Airbnb listing then? What are you hiding? I would NOT recommend this business to anyone in the community or military community either. I was told by Airbnb staff that they are required by Airbnb rules and policies to put that in their listing on the Airbnb website to which it wasn’t there when I originally booked. Oh the best part is when I received a text message from SBH staff threatening to have me kicked off the Airbnb platform. lol I spoke to Airbnb customer support and was told that’s not going to happen....

I'll start with the good stuff: -They did a beautiful job with the rooms and the rooms are well equipped -The location is great (I say this as a former Ventnor resident) -The place was quiet (until work was being done in the halls which they did not inform guests about).

I paid for two nights I did not stay there because of how uncomfortable and irritated I was, read below to understand why.

I arrived at Surrey Beach House after a long day of travel from the West Coast. I received a text with check in instructions, that I did not look at until I arrived. Once I arrived and opened the link in the text I was taken through an arduous check-in system that required multiple phones with my phone. There was also a drop-down menu for what country your license is from, yet the US was not listed. Obviously the owners did not research this app very well before deciding to use it. This is trivial to what happened next.

The app was not accepting the photo of the back of my license. As I was struggling with this a young woman came up and introduced herself as the "bellhop". She offered to help and repeatedly apologized for my trouble but she could not get it to work either. She started becoming wound up and was repeatedly apologizing. I told her to call the owners to let them know that I would need them to cancel my reservation because I was tired and did not have time to deal with their dysfunctional app. She stood there pretending to dial for a minute. My friend (who has a condo around the corner and came to greet me) asked her what she wasn't dialing as she had the phone in her hand. She became more frantic and started crying and exclaimed "Please don't leave a bad review!". She continued to apologize repeatedly as she was crying. Eventually I got in but this greeting was unsettling and not what I wanted to be dealing with at 9:00 PM when I was just trying to get in my room.

The rooms were very well equipped and nicely decorated. It appeared clean, aside from the hair in the shower drain which I had to clean out myself.

I travel a lot for work and usually stay at mid-range hotels (Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Suites, etc.) The beds and pillows offered no support and were not the quality I find at the hotels I usually stay at, they were the quality I would expect at a budget motel.

There was no communication whatsoever throughout my stay. The internet went down one night, no communication about that. Guys were working in my hallway one day, no communication about that. This is supposed to be a contactless place, but the lack of communication and difficulty getting in because of their complicated European check-in app was inexcusable.

I checked out two days early and went to a nearby Inn which was great. I emailed Surrey Beach House to let them know I was checking out early, there was no response.

They significantly need to change some things - check in, communication, the beds, not having to clean out hair from the shower before I could recommend for anyone...

Really love this place; it is impeccably clean and well-designed and the access to the beach and boardwalk can't be beat. Appreciated the Starbucks Keurig cups and beach chairs and beach tags and many other included touches. We made good use of the two communal porches, especially the second floor porch with the clearer ocean view.

There are a few caveats:

No parking onsite. Not an issue for us, and we found a spot less than a block away, but worth making sure others are aware before booking (you can use the 15-minute loading zone spot when you arrive).

The Primary King had everything we needed, but is a snug space.

We were in unit 201, in the front, and had a hard time falling asleep one night because guests were on the communal porch right outside of our window, talking until late. Ask for a room further back if looking to avoid that.

And yes, the contactless check-in means no employees are on-site. With that said, we had a question during our stay and were able to reach someone with one quick...