John Yancey Oceanfront Inn — Hotel in Kill Devil Hills

This was our first and last visit to John Yancey! August, 2021

Our room was only accessible via multiple flights of stairs. Not easy to manage with luggage or multiple bags.

(Friday) We went to put our thing's in the room and before we even opened the door, we could hear the A/C unit making a terrible sound. So much so, that you couldn't even use noise cancelling ANYTHING. We informed the front desk, and they placed us in a temporary interior room in the four seasons building. While the room was "okay", I wouldn't say it was clean. The walls are paper thin, we heard EVERYTHING above and beside us. I couldn't go to sleep until wee hours of the morning. The bed was a brick and I found two ants crawling on me the next morning. Not to mention it smelled TERRIBLE in the building.

(Saturday) The A/C unit was looked at the next day by the maintenance assistant, he said it was fine. I asked to get a key, when into the room and it was still making noise. I recorded the unit and went back to the front desk to play it for the employees. She too admitted that is very disruptive and would have the "head" maintenance guy look at it. The unit needed to be replaced as the monitor was "going bad''. We left for the day while they removed one unit and replaced it with "a brand new one".

(Sunday) The following morning we were greeted by an infestation of ANTS. They were all over the crown molding, A/C unit, couch, headboard and the stand below the TV. We spent the morning killing and cleaning ants. While moving furniture to find the source, we KNEW the room was absolutely NOT clean. After spending the majority of our morning cleaning ants and later spiders, we decided to check out three days early.

While packing, the "new" A/C unit started making the same sound as the original - this sealed the deal.

The floors are not carpeted. While I appreciate this from an infection prevention standpoint, the floors attracted a ton of dirt and sand. This is obviously an issue, as a broom was left in the room. We should not have walked into our CLEAN room and instantly felt dirt and grit on our feet - disgusting.

Zero housekeeping. If you needed something you had to call on your cell or walk to the front. This was evident by the unused package of soap left in the bathroom by housekeeping. You could see the old, dried water stains or some other brown substance.

I have never left a review, but felt compelled to do so after our vacation was ruined. As a healthcare worker, I wanted to get away and relax...this was not the case. If I could leave a zero, I would.

We will be contacting the...

Dog owners or families with small children beware!

We stayed at the John Yancey for the first time Saturday night with our 2 dogs in a “pet friendly” room ($371 after taxes and fees for one night) and it could have ended in tragedy. If you bring your dogs, be sure to bring a crate. If you’re bringing small children, stay somewhere else. Although the pet policy asks that you not leave your dog unattended, the doors are not secure and cannot keep your pet safe whether you are in room with them or not. The door has a lever handle with a lock that unlocks when you pull the handle down, and there is no safety latch/swing bar. This means if you are in the bathroom or asleep, your dog or children can open the door and escape. The door has no resistance, so when the handle unlatches, the door swings open all the way. We left for an hour to go to dinner and during that time, Lexi (one of our dogs) unlatched the door and she left the room. Thankfully, William, the front desk attendant saw her out the window and brought her inside to safety. I have no doubt that William saved Lexi’s life! When we returned to our room, the door was open but our other dog and our personal belongings were still in the room. I had taken the dogs collars off when we left (thinking they were secure in our “pet friendly” room) so William did not know the dog was ours. He called KDH dispatch and Lexi was taken to the KDH animal shelter. Thankfully, I had a copy of Lexi’s rabies vaccine certificate and $50 cash so I could get her back that same night. (KDH’s police and animal control officers were wonderful!) We barricaded the door while we slept so neither dog could open the door and get out again. When I checked out the next day, the front desk attendant said the manager would call me the next day to discuss our concerns and made notes to our account. Three days later, I still have not heard from the manager. Please use our experience to prevent something from happening to your dogs or kids. If you do stay here, keep your dogs in a crate if you are not awake and directly with them. Also, do not take off their collars. If you bring your kids, make sure you bring a door wedge, portable door lock, motion detector alarm, or some other device to...

We booked an oceanfront room in the 4-story building. Our reservation confirmation email said check-in was at 4:00 but then I saw someplace else (maybe on the pre-arrival check-in form) that it was 5:00. I'm not sure what the correct check-in time is, but we weren't planning on arriving until after 5 anyway, so it didn't matter. I had also sent some questions a few days prior to our arrival through the contact page on the website, but never received a response.||We checked in after 6:00 and the front desk staff did not give us any information about the hotel. I got the impression that the guys working the front desk were not the usual front desk crew. They did not explain anything about the hotel. I had to ask where to find the building we were staying in. They also did not tell us anything about breakfast (times, location) and there was no info that I could find in the room about breakfast. I ended up going to the front desk the next morning for this info.||The building we stayed in is older but looks to have been updated. The hallway carpet in this building was soiled from foot traffic and there was a strong sea-breeze scented air freshener scent in the hallways. We had a nice view of the ocean from the 3rd floor, but the view of the beach was partially obscured by the sand dunes. The room itself looks like it had been updated in the past few years and it was nicely decorated. Anything in the room that was made of metal was showing rust, but this is understandable since it is right by the ocean. The hard-surfaced floors were sandy from the moment we walked in, which makes me think that they don't get swept often or well. I also noticed that this room did not have emergency evacuation information posted on the inside of the door. The door was also very difficult to shut without slamming it.||The breakfast, once we found it, was fine for a complimentary breakfast. The breakfast room was very clean and there were plenty of tables.||I think this hotel is fine for an OBX hotel and the location is great, but communication with the guests could be better. Overall, we had a good stay and were...