The Inn on Pamlico Sound — Hotel in Hatteras Island

Terrible experience with customer service and owner over policy. Perhaps I should have read and considered MV-Luv's review before calling to book our July 2021 stay. (Although, all-in-all this did look like the best option for staying in the area.) After the rude response and flat out lie from Steve stating that I have posted several untrue reviews, I have decided to reduce my original 2 star rating to a 1. I had called to talk to someone several months before our 1 night stay to make sure the rooms that I was booking were side by side and on the first floor. Our group wanted to be able to enjoy the views on a shared first floor balcony together. My father does not do stairs well and I made it very clear during my booking with Hunter. Then a bait and switch happened upon arrival moving my parents to another building on the 2nd floor. 1 of the 3 rooms (all paid for by the same cc and same email address contact, was switched to a different building and 2nd floor) What a bummer!! While I do understand that it was policy that they could do this, it was not brought to my attention on the phone call reservation, even after my thorough explanation that we wanted to stay on first floor and be together for patio enjoyment. My suggestion to the owner and staff for future stays was to make sure that during the conversations for over the phone bookings was to make sure that the customers know about this policy prior to booking. (Which at the time was received well by the staff, but based on comments from owner, they do not plan to do, which is another reason why overall I am leaving this posting this for others planning a 1 night stay can be aware of the experience) Had this been known, our group would not have booked or perhaps we would have decided to book two nights for the guarantee. At minimum, I would have thought we would have received a phone call in advance advising us of the room change. The behavior and attitude of the owner was not great during conversation. Both myself and my mother felt Steve was rude and condescending to us, which made matters worse. I was really upset over the situation and ended up in tears at one point in the conversations. Shortly after tears I decided to leave the conversation and asked if my husband and Steve could continue without me. Shortly after Steve offered a bottle of wine to help. Yes, it was a nice gesture, but certainly didn’t and wasn’t going to help smooth over the situation. We wouldn’t have stayed for our dinner reservation, but they said we would be charged if we cancelled so we gave it a go. Dinner was expensive, but overall good as was the service. The rooms were clean and our room/bed was comfortable. The building and décor are getting a little dated, but overall close to what we had expected. We didn’t try the jetted tub. The views were great from the 2 of the 3 rooms. The room in the 2nd building I was told was alright, but power went out that night just in that building for a little bit. We tried a complimentary cookie, but it was not very good/stale. It was the last one on the plate, so maybe it was sitting a while? Complimentary breakfast? ($10 charge for the two) was good. It was nice to have it delivered to our room and enjoy the sound views on the patio. During our stay we checked out the property and was not impressed with the beach area. It’s pretty much two chairs and very little sand, so nothing super special. The pool is small and water wasn’t clear/seemed dirty so we didn’t end up going swimming. The dock/pier seemed like a good idea to go and check out, but also small and really couldn’t comfortably fit more than a few people. Based on my experience and the owners response to criticism I would not recommend this establishment to anyone looking for a special boutique...

Our recent wedding at The Inn on Pamlico Sound was quite simply— heaven. Absolute magic from start to finish and the entire process from planning to execution was handled masterfully by this incredible staff. As a couple, we are considered by many close to us to be “dreamers” but this experience was well above and beyond anything that even we had imagined. Our families and friends continue to rave about the beauty of the venue, the landscape, the kindness and thoroughness of the staff, the supreme quality of the food and the overall unique nature of such a truly memorable weekend. Just some of the things our family and friends have said: “I have never seen a wedding like that before!” “That was the best wedding food ever!” “I can’t believe you had such great weather in November!”

This phenomenal team they have assembled feels like a family in the way they ebb and flow together and have each other’s backs— all with the singular focus of making a memorable, magical day come to life for their guests. We gave this great team numerous challenges and they rose to the occasion time and time again. First, we had only about 4.5 months from when we selected the venue to the big day. Our wedding was in late November (the weekend before Thanksgiving) and we wanted to do it outside right along the water, so we need contingency plans in case of weather (though the weather ended up being gorgeous!) We wanted a mic’d ceremony so everyone could hear, 2 separate live musicians, as well as a DJ for the reception. We used a combination of local and remote vendors who all needed to collaborate closely to ensure everything went off without a hitch. Everything came together perfectly and we could not have asked for more. Each of these team members is a consummate professional who remained poised, calm and confident… even in face of a rather short turnaround wedding such as ours:

Meredith was detailed, precise, kind and a calming presence who inspired confidence every step along the way. Melissa was incredibly welcoming and patient in helping us accommodate guests coming everywhere from San Francisco, to Salt Lake, to Madrid, to Baltimore… Dallas was not only a culinary artist, but one of the friendliest, most helpful people you could ever hope to meet. And Steve, Natasha and the entire team ensured that IOPS lived up to the promise top to bottom. And then some. We also selected several of their preferred vendors, all of whom knit perfectly right into the fabric of this well orchestrated weekend.

We booked the “wedding weekend” package in order to reserve the entire Inn for our guests, a tremendous value that enabled us to also hire amazing photographers and videographers to help capture the entire wedding day. We could not recommend this venue more. An absolute gem. If you are “considering” The Inn on Pamlico Sound for your wedding, I invite you to ask them for my direct cell number and I will not let you off the phone until you are convinced this is the only place for you! :-) Literally if a unicorn had flown across the sky behind us during the ceremony I don’t think it would have been any more magical than what transpired. We will never forget it. Our friends and family will never forget it. And we could never thank the amazing staff at The Inn on Pamlico Sound enough for all that they do. Endless gratitude to Meredith, Melissa, Dallas, Natasha, Steve and the entire IOPS team!

We will never forget you and we WILL absolutely be back soon. Much...

I typically give 5 stars to any place unless I have a truly horrible experience. I know how much reviews can impact a business and I do want to say that for the most part, I had an enjoyable time.

However, there were some things that I did not particularly enjoy about my stay.

they ask in the reservation section online if you are celebrating anything. We said our anniversary and not once did anyone say "Happy Anniversary" that is really small though, but it just makes me wish they didn't even ask because I honestly was expecting something.

The walls are paper-thin. During our stay, we could hear other couples quite clearly. The first night no one was in the room above us and then the second night they were and we could hear everything from footsteps to zippers opening from their bags. The view was very pretty though and since we were not in our room often this is something I could get passed.

We decided to do the rose petal turndown service because it sounded really nice. I was extremely disappointed with it. Their exact description is "Enjoy a romantic end to your day with rose petals strewn across your bed, candlelight and a seasonal floral arrangement that is yours to take home." This would be something I assumed would be done during our dinner reservation or later in the evening. Instead it was done before 2pm and there was no candlelight and no rose petals. Instead they used white carnations petals and a couple of little purple flowers. It was on a white bed spread so it was barely noticeable. The arrangement was pretty, but overrall was not happy when the price is $55. I am not sure if they are worried about stains with putting red petals but honestly would rather see them not even offer this because it was done wayyyy too early in the day and honestly was very disappointing. If I had known what I was actually going to get, I would have opted to save the money.

Movie theatre is run down looking and needs an update. Game selection in that area also needs an update. Scrabble was even missing a couple letters. I would love to see some more modern games and games focused more on couples instead of games generally played with more than two people.

Things that I did really enjoy

Staff was very friendly. Cody was our server for our anniversary dinner and breakfast the next day and he was attentive and nice.

The view from our room was very beautiful.

There was a lighthouse nearby and a very nice beach to walk on.

There was a dock you could walk on.

There were a few dogs on the property. The French bull dog that greeted us was adorable.

All in all I mostly enjoyed my stay, but my husband and I tend to have a great time anywhere we go haha. If I were to go back I would seriously reconsider what room I picked (try and get something on the second floor) and would leave out the romance package items as they weren’t very romantic and didn’t add much to our stay.

I really hope the owner reviews this and makes changes where possible. The inn really is a beautiful little space and I could see it being, with some improvements, a really romantic...