Islander Hotel & Resort — Hotel in Emerald Isle

Two Words...stay away! Horrible experience If I could give this hotel less than 1 star I would. The outside of this hotel is very pretty, which leads you to believe it would be the same inside...not so much. We have stayed here in the past and had issues but decided to give them one more shot. Here is the short version of my experience, pictures included! We arrived on Wednesday July 2. and were told we would be in room 120. I explained that I requested a second floor room and was told that someone tried to call but they had the wrong number. My information is very clearly on the receipt that was emailed to me. Upon arriving, I was a little concerned that the room was very hot, and even though the room had just been cleaned it still was dirty. I called down to the front desk and asked for maintenance to look at the air conditioning. Instead of maintenance, a housekeeper and a boy that looked to be about 14 arrived. They looked at the remote for the air and explained, it's working it will just take a while to get cold. The first problem here is that the remote is indecipherable, with no user guide. Not to mention sitting on the patio was a little hard because the air conditioning unit outside blows constant hot air onto the patio. In 90 degree weather who wants hot air blowing on them? As far as the room being dirty, there was food still stuck on the walls, the drapes were dirty and stained, the bathroom smelled, and a big chunk of the bathtub is falling off. We complained to the front desk and they promised it would be taken care of. Housekeeping did not come to our room Thurs, Friday, or Saturday(until we complained again). We had bags of trash piling up in our room , (we had to ask the maintenance man for trash bags,)as well as filthy floors, dirty towels , and our beds were never made because housekeeping never showed up. The microwave still had food crusted in it and he room had a constant mildew odor that never went away. The first evening my son went into the bathroom and after closing the door, both ends of the door knob fell off, he was locked in the bathroom and we had to maintenance to come fix the door knobs.The maintenance man explained that he has had to fix many of these door knobs throughout the hotel. Perhaps, these should all be fixed prior to guests arriving. The beds are uncomfortable, we like to call them "taco beds" because you fall to the middle after you lay down..When you pay $1400 for a hotel stay you don't expect this or the horrible customer service. After waiting 3 days for housekeeping, my mother decided to go down to the office to complain. She talked to the manager. He was rude and starting yelling at my 70 year old mother calling her a liar in front of everyone.! He was telling her that we had issues last year and we apparently just wanted money back. His resolution was telling her" we should pack our bags and leave." He stated he had documentation that we turned housekeeping down everyday(which we never did, we were at the beach every day). At this point my mother asked for the mgr to bring in the housekeeper that said that, of course, he refused...Then he changed the story saying that housekeeping will not come in unless someone is in the room.. Now , what hotel has this policy? No one is going to stay in their room at the beach and wait for housekeeping to come clean the room. No one asked for money, what we wanted was housekeeping to come to our room and clean! My mother was so visably upset from her encounter with the manager., it took some time to calm her down. What kind of manager treats their customers this way? Finally, housekeeping was sent up . I then called the general manager of the property , and basically received no resolution, however, he did state that he thinks a double tree is not far if we ever want to come back to Emerald Isle . This hotel doesn't have to care about customer service because they know they are the only oceanfront hotel on the island and they will always have people staying there. Trust me....stay far away...

The term "resort" is defined by essentially every credible source, both legally and otherwise, to be an establishment which provides something beyond basic accommodation for its guests. The Islander "Resort" and Hotel falls so short of this definition that it almost seems criminal. If having a pool, convenient location, and event room is all it takes to make place a "resort", I've some great news for local roach motels who offer hourly rates. Beachfront considered, Islander arguably doesn't even deserve the title "hotel". A suitable name for this establishment might be "Islander Inn", but even that might mislead guests to expecting a Holiday Inn or Best Western quality stay just to be disappointed. Perhaps most striking to me on an extensive list of complaints that has surprisingly multiplied since checkout is the quality of service provided by Islander. I worked at a $50 per night motel in undergrad, where there was only one front-desk worker on duty. This is the first "hotel" I have EVER been to where guests have to make 3+ calls AND leave voicemails to contact the front desk. At a location that has discontinued all room-contact services, I struggle to understand what other tasks could be keeping the multiple on-duty staff members so busy that they fail to perform at their most basic duty. I warn that you not be fooled by the pictures online. Islander has strategically included photos of their updated rooms on their website to misguide you into thinking that those nice rooms and balconies are the standard when, in reality, it's a losing gamble. Spoken from the mouth of the manager, the staff is fully aware that a bulk of the rooms haven't been renovated; but unlucky guests assigned to these rooms pay the same price as the satisfied guests in nice rooms leaving all the misleading 5-star reviews. My room, which the manager freely admitted had not been updated like others that sell for the same rate, was quite the treat. After walking barefoot on the floor for less than 5min following arrival, our soles were black. This and quick glance around in the room confirmed that this floor had not only gone un-mopped, but also un-swept for months at minimum. There were countless hairs coating the room. Dried up bugs of all types: beetles, roaches, spiders, and flies all freckled the floor with concerning brown stains appearing every so often in between. We had to call 3+ times and leave 2 voicemails before we got in contact. A lady with a damp pad mop who went over the floor, leaving essentially every stain in place. I had to first sweep, and then fill the sink with water and whip up a shampoo/vinegar concoction to mop the floor by hand with bath towels. On all fours, I lathered, scrubbed, and rinsed the floor several times before the water began to even approach clear. That was just Day 1. Not only are the managers aware that they are selling rooms without updates for the same rates, but also less amenities for inflated rates. Islander offers no housekeeping, and everyone is asked to leave their trash and towels in piles outside of their door for (maybe?) daily collection bc "covid". You also can only get towels/toiletries from front-desk staff, conveniently seated right near the phone (which they curiously don't answer) bc "covid". We had to meet staff halfway for a plunger bc "covid", though leaving it at the door would have included no interaction for potential exposure. All a bit odd given that hardly any staff member was wearing a mask at all, never mind over their mouth. Important to note as well: Broken microwave, dirty room/bathroom, broken A/C, foul odor. To make matters worse, Islander staff has only continued to disappoint us after check out. The managerial staff we contacted with our concerns told us they would get back to us and never did. Adding to the already impressive traits of negligent and unreliable, Islander staff also deceptively just blatantly lie. STAY...

I really wanted to enjoy my stay at the Islander Hotel & Resort, BUT... ...Having never been to Emerald Isle, I thought I would try it out. The Islander is right on the beach and that is about the only thing going for them. In the pics and from the reviews I read, the resort was supposed to be quite nice, NOT SO! The furniture is all scratched up (and I am not talking about shabby chic, here, I mean, SCRATCHED UP, PEELING PAINT), the area rugs look like they have not been replaced or cleaned in 25 years & the room has a slight mustiness & dampish feel to it. I had reserved a suite with a kitchenette, thinking I could buy some groceries and not have to eat out every meal, but nope, there is a sign in the kitchen that says "Please no Cooking in ROOMS or on Patios" 😳, then what is the point of offering a suite with a kitchenette?! The condo, while nice, has not withstood the sands of time...the refrigerator has rust all over the front of the door, it had not been cleaned since there were pieces of leaves INSIDE the fridge. There was NO hot water in the shower!! The hottest it would get was a tepid lukewarm, when I told the front office, I was told there was no maintenance staff available, SERIOUSLY??!! On what is arguably the busiest beach wknd of the year-4th of July-there was NO maintenance staff available. I should have guessed, at check-in I was told there was no housekeeping staff either, again...on the BUSIEST wknd of the summer!! Also, in the shower, the grout has black-greenish stuff all over 🤮, wear shower shoes! The front desk had the brilliant idea that everyone should leave their dirty towels on the ground outside of rheir rooms (this is a garden-style beach hotel, so the walkways are always wet and sandy and you want EACH room to stack their dirty WHITE towels outside the door for pickup?!) Needless to say, that Sat morning, towels were stacked up outside almost every door, by the early afternoon they were still there, giving the whole establishment a rather ghetto, kktrashy vibe (I forgot they told us to put trash outside the doors too!!) So, no hot water in the showers, no maintenance people, no housekeeping staff AND every single thing you needed, YOU have to trek down to the front desk (they RARELY answer the phone as others have commented...in 5 calls, they answered ONCE). So, all weekend, we were trekking back and forth with towels, extra blanket, toilet paper (which is the THINNEST ONE-PLY, I have EVER SEEN - word to the wise - bring your own!). I noticed in the room there were an awful lot of flies and bugs zooming around which was interesting b/c there was no food present...well remember all that trash in the hallways? They have bins all over and since the beach is always breezy, the lids fly off & the flies feast, when you open your room door, they enter right along w/you. One of the things I love about being at the beach is sleeping with the windows and/or patio door open so I can hear the surf all night. NOT AT ISLANDER!! NO, here, the patio doors have no screens, so you cannot leave them open. When I asked the front desk if I was supposed to have a screen, I was told "No, you are not because we do not want people to leave their patio doors open. The rooms will get really hot." Um, isn't that what AC is for? 🤔 So, needless to say, you cannot sit on your patio or balcony and keep the door open since the flies and bugs will have a field day in your room!! Bottomline, the Islander is a BUST, stay somewhere else when...