BluFin Bungalows & Marina — Hotel in Chincoteague

We recently stayed here for 6 days for the 100th Anniversary Pony Swim. We were unfamiliar with the area and didn’t know of many of the vacation rentals on the island, so we had originally planned to stay in a hotel in two rooms. I booked Blufin Bungalows for 2 days at the start of the trip (prior to our planned hotel stay) but didn’t see any additional availability. About a month before the trip, I called to see if there was any chance they had had a cancellation and had availability. I spoked to Garrett and he said if we didn’t mind moving units and staying 3 nights in a waterfront and 3 nights in a floating unit, that he could accommodate. While inconvenient for us to move halfway through, it allowed us to all stay together in the same unit for the whole trip, so I agreed.

Check-in, check-out was very easy. We arrived very late on the day of check in, but we had received a code early in the day and had no problem finding or getting into the unit upon arrival. There was a lack of communication on the day that we had to switch units and so we waited around for a while before asking a second time about what time we could expect the second unit to be ready for us, and it was when we asked the second time that they said it was ready. Both the waterfront and floating units have two rooms, one with queen bed and the other with a twin-over-full bunk beds, and a pull-out sofa in the living room. The rooms are a bit tight, but the units can comfortably fit 4 people (6 people if 2-3 of them are children). The waterfront unit had a table and four chairs, whereas the floating unit had a counter built into the wall and four stools. Amenities are basic and simple - coffee pot, microwave, two-burner stove, paper towels, dish soap, towels, basic dishes and pots and pans. If you plan to cook any of your meals, you need to bring everything else (salt/pepper, spices, condiments, etc). There are ceiling fans and mini-splits in the main bedroom and living room; if you run hot you may want to bring a fan for the second bedroom and patio.

Waterfront vs floating units? The waterfront units are angled in their placement on the property, which provides for a bit more privacy from the neighbors and lovely sunset views. We loved sitting on the screened-in porch in both the mornings and evenings. We also had the car right outside the unit, which was very convenient. The floating units on the other hand, all sit even (parallel) to each other so you can see into the other patios next to you. There are three rows of nine units or so, so your individual unit could come with a marina view or water view, or it could be looking only at another unit, depending on placement. We had marina view, and it was nice. The parking is within a short walk, and they have many hand carts to help you get your things to/from the unit. The waterfront units sit higher up on the property and had a bit of breeze, where the floating units are down by the marina and have much less air flow. Although we were very happy at this property, I personally did not care for the floating unit at all. I am a bit more sensitive to movement and felt the sway a lot more than I anticipated, even after leaving. The unit septic/waste needs to be pumped out often, so there were a few times we smelled sewage smells for a few minutes at a time. Nothing terrible, just something we noticed. After having stayed at both, I found that for me the waterfront units are far superior to the floating units.

Activities & amenities: craft activities, live music, pool, beachy area with grills and corn hole, vending machines (sodas, firewood, charcoal), boat parking, electric car hookups, boat/kayak/electric bikes rentals

This property was carefully and thoughtfully planned out, and we loved the simplicity and peaceful setting. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back to Chincoteague again to stay in a waterfront unit at...

We stayed at Blufin a few days after they opened. I knew staying at a brand new hotel would come with ups and downs. We assumed they would be ironing out kinks, but would be greeted with a new resort with an enthusiastic staff ready to help. ||Our stay ended up being so disappointing! I booked a house bungalow on booking.com. When we arrived, they told us we would be staying on a house boat. Apparently, they aren't able to tell what type of place you book when using a third party booking service. You have to walk through the whole marina to get to the house boats, and quite a distance from parking (when you are trying to carry toddlers and your thinks down a dock this is less than ideal). It took about 7 minutes to reach our boat each time. The docks to get to the house boats are not lit at night. If people are walking on the dock, your home sways back and forth - this was less desirable (ecsp since we planned on being on land!) Most of the house boats have no view either - they all face each other - the properties on land have a full view of the bay. There was also still a lot of construction vehicles, cones and dirt left from the construction, which was our view from our porch.||The amenities inside were new and very nice. It was a great use of a small space. (The layout was the same for the land properties as the boats we were told). Our fridge didn't work the first night, and we had several groceries that needed to stay cold. While management did resolve the next day, the immediate response was pretty discouraging - the front desk shrugged said we'd have to go out and buy ice to keep our groceries cold since their ice maker was broken. This was an inconvenience. ||The final night our toilet stopped working. My husband walked down to the front desk, but no one was there. We called the phone number and left a message. No luck. He tried finding something to unclog it, but it didn't work. We had a hunch that there wasn't a clog, but that the tank was filled since we were staying on a house boat, and saw this occur to another boat the day prior.. For the next 14 hours, we didn't have a working toilet. We had to do the 7 minute walk to the office where there was a public bathroom (and plenty of mosquitos waiting) whenever we had to go to the bathroom. That meant it took 14 minutes to go to the bathroom each time we needed to go. ||When we checked out, we told the manager about the toilet (since no one returned our calls) and he shrugged and said that the tank was probably full. If they know this is going to happen, I am not sure why they aren't proactively taking care of it, instead of leaving people stranded with no toilet. ||For it being the first week being open, the staff was so burned out and jaded. No one was eager to help nor greeted us when we say them on the property. We spent far too much money for such a more response from management, not have a working toilet and not get the room type we booked. While I want to say that things hopefully get better as they are open longer, we spent too much time and money on this place to...

There were parts like the location that made the stay worth it, but the parts where there’s constant construction and folks around our bungalow took away the relaxing experience we were looking for. I would have had no problem paying the prices we did if we weren’t interrupted by the construction, beeping of skid steers, leaking pipes, camera installs (one pointed right at our porch, and no sign warning us), a shower broken, and being told that due to the hot water tank only being 20 gallons we should arrange our shower schedules.

Garrett seemed to be trying a lot but there’s not a lot of staff to meet the needs of the opening weeks. The poor guy was always dealing with customers and trying. A soft opening price would have made it easier to deal with but after paying what we did for the 9 days I’m upset at myself and wish I had known all the items taking place and would have tried next year.

Check in was not a positive experience. The lady was training another gentleman, and yes they were training and trying, but the system wasn’t working, then the water sports rental folks are talking over you and you couldn’t hear. Rental prices were mentioned as one price then another customer butts in and says no it’s this price and I just didn’t feel I had confidentially or an experience again for paying almost $3300 for the 9 days.

Overall I know they need to make money and my comments won’t go far, but they really should have listed out we’re still renovating and updating.

The bungalows had no information about laundry, trash, emergency services if needed.

The tv didn’t work and all I was told was it was an IT issue. Maintenance said he wasn’t sure either on how to fix them, but would look at them. We were there to relax and not watch much tv, but again almost $400 a night and on a rainy Friday, no tv to connect to.

The launch experience would have been great, but we had to fight our way through non-customers who filled the lot and stood on the beach to watch. Again, would have been a cool idea to have that roped off for guests paying for the view, but we had to try and get onto the...