The Island Guest House Historic Inn — Hotel in Beach Haven

We recently returned from our annual stay in LBI, but this year we discovered a gem! If you are like us, and have never stayed at a Bed and Breakfast before, definitely let The Island Guest House be your 1st experience! That’s the short review :)

ROOM We stayed 4 nights in the Heritage room, which had just enough space for a SUPER COMFY King size bed, two small end tables, a dresser, a desk with chair, luggage rack, mini fridge and TV mounted to the wall (We never turned it on) along with a few hooks on a wall with hangers in lieu of a closet. Key word, CLEAN. I was able to lay out my yoga mat which was the exact floor space distance from the foot of the bed to our ensuite bathroom. Our bathroom was on the small side, but served its purpose. Ladies, you will not be able to shave in that shower unless you get pretty creative! So be sure to shave the legs before you arrive if you can (thankfully I did!). However, the water pressure was phenomenal! Think Kramer from Seinfeld, the Shower Head episode, ha! Challenging to not hit the curtain or the side walls while washing your hair in the stand up shower, but the shower pressure more than makes up for any short comings on space! Clean towels, linens and two bathrobes are all provided and they even had full size shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the shower. The Heritage room is located on the 1st /main floor, right next to the kitchen. We enjoyed being on the main floor as it was quick & easy to come and go, esp with our bags. Proximity to the kitchen for morning breakfast or afternoon snack, can’t get any better! Quiet during the night since no one has to pass your room, but you’ll start to hear the folks pass as they come in for breakfast. No concern to me, as I am normally an early riser but for some reason that bed kept me sleeping till 8am easily, if it wasn’t for the passer byers heading to the kitchen I’m not sure I’d catch breakfast, which ends at 10! We did sleep with ear plugs because we were not sure what to expect in terms of foot noise above or around the property, but there are quiet hours from 10pm to 8am so honestly we really didn’t need them!

LOCATION Cannot be beat! We normally don’t stay down on this side of the island, in more recent years we have usually stayed in Ship Bottom, Surf City, Brant Beach etc. I was concerned it would be noisy at night being so close to everything but surprising it was of no issue! In fact, we ended up loving the location! We could walk to the beach, which was not too crowded either! We were able to walk/bike to everything! We hardly had to move our car!

INNKEEPERS Wow, just wow. The week we stayed, we were told Mark and Joanne were spending time with their grandchildren (they live in the adjacent house to the property, we saw them intermittingly/occasionally), so we had their daughter Victoria, and Brenda hosting us that week. Absolutely amazing cook Brenda is! Every breakfast and afternoon treat was wonderful and delicious!! I’m officially addicted to blueberry bagels and strawberry cream cheese now! Victoria is extremely hospitable and super friendly! I honestly can’t say enough wonderful things about her, she just has a beautiful soul but this review is long enough! They just truly MAKE the place, your stay absolutely wonderful, welcoming and like you are sharing in their home. We were able to chat with Mark when we checked out and what an amazing soul and human being he is. We left feeling like we just found the best kept secret gem on the island!!!

There is probably more I could rave about but I'm limited to 4k characters lol so I hope for whoever is still reading this review, it has helped you :) Enjoy your...

I can not recommend this place for a wedding. It's taken me two years to write this review because I have so much to say and I don't know how to say it all but I have to say something! We should have booked through VRBO where we found the place. Aside from a racially insensitive comment by Joanne, she was mostly amenable but Mark was actively rude to my guests. We were a big party (over 100 guests) but we were told by Joanne to go ahead (when Mark answered the phone he repeatedly told me they couldn't do what we had already discussed with Joanne) We were asked to sign a contract with them instead of through the VRBO website which is against the VRBO terms but being pro small business and assuming they take a cut I agreed. DONT DO THIS, VRBO has protections that you will need later. When we arrived the place had dust and crud in the corners but (as I told my little cousin) it's the beach! Of course it is not pristine!" Over the week the linen service we paid extra for did not even bother wiping bits of sand off the bed before remaking it meaning we had to undo the bed to ensure there was no sand. Again- it's the beach, sand gets EVERYWHERE. 😂) After our stay I had to badger the owners repeatedly for our deposit check which they removed some of for cleaning despite the fact that the place was not clean when we got there. I was overwhelmed and trying to plan a wedding so I was not in any place to take pictures when we arrived. The contract signed said "Security fees will be returned within 7 days after the Island Guest House and garden are checked for damages or loss." Yet we were charged $280 for cleaning despite all of us cleaning up (shout-out to my mom who did the Lion's share!) and jumping through hoops before we left. My friends and family made a beautiful reception space and the owners took pictures Of their hard work now being used on the inn website. We had a beautiful & fun wedding despite the fact that I wish we had looked for another venue. Another note that is useful is that the room list they send when you rent the whole inn does not match the list on their website. This meant I had to rework my room chart upon arrival to account for a missing room. The list they sent lacks pictures or descriptions so you have to refer to the website but beware of that pitfall! Edit: you used the pictures from our reception on your website after, if that rings a bell. I have a pretty distinct first name so I can only assume the dismissal is to avoid addressing any of the points here. I understand the experience as a B&B sounds lovely but I can’t recommend as a wedding venue. I’ve included the only picture I did take prior (to remember what...

My husband and I stayed here for a long weekend. I will start with the positives. The location is amazing, in walking distance to lots of restaurants and shops. Christina, one of the daughters, was soo nice and seemed genuinely concerned we we had everything we needed. Now on to the negatives. The website is extremely misleading. It states that Joanne makes the breakfast fresh however the pastries are frozen and the "hot item" is cooked the day before then just heated up in the oven. The complimentary beach chairs and bicycles are old and rusty. We took the bikes out for a ride and immediately turned around because we thought the wheels were going to fall off. One of the beach chairs broke at a rust spot while we were using it. When we brought this up to Joanne she said "it happens, that's why we buy 100 of them". We tried finding a nonrusty beach chair and did not succeed. While hanging out in the courtyard one afternoon we overheard a conversation Joanne was having with another guest. She openly admitted that she and Mark will turn away families with young children or young couples if they call. I feel like if we didn't book online we would of been turned away. They definitely cater to an older clientele. We stayed in the balcony room with a private bathroom. The bed was comfortable. The air duct was dusty, the air conditioner was so loud we turned it off because we thought it was going to die, and the carpet is so old and dirty I don't want to think about the last time it was properly cleaned. I could go on about the things we did and didn't like but I'll stop. I really encourage people to read all the reviews because I think they delete bad reviews. One last thing, when you check out before you can even tell them how your stay is Joanna just writes what she wants. She asked how things were then before I could say anything said "I'll give you a smiley face". I would not give this stay a...