Ocean Reef Suites — Hotel in Kill Devil Hills

OH BOY!! WHERE DO I BEGIN!? We arrived at 4PM to check in as the hotel policy stated. Upon arrival, it was clear that the staff was behind schedule in getting the room prepared for arrival. No big deal, sometimes these things happen. We finally get to our room and it's almost 5PM. We inspect the rooms and what we find is that the linens on the bed are dirty and have various stains on them, Furthermore out of all the pillows in our room, only one had a pillow sheet on it.

We went tried to call the front desk, but our room phone wasn't working, so we called with our cellphone but nobody picked up at the front desk. Again, we tried not to make a big deal about it because we noticed that there seemed to be only one person on staff that afternoon. We went down to the beach then came back up and got ready for dinner.

We took the elevator down to the lobby as we did when we went to the beach, and the moment we got into the lobby, the front desk person looked at us very surprised to see us come out of the elevator and the first words to us were "That elevator is not working." So....we got on a malfunctioning elevator and by luck, it just happened to work? The elevator wasn't shut off to prevent anyone from getting on? Anyway, we brushed it off because we made it down safe and that's all that mattered, furthermore we informed her that we needed more linens and specified what we needed. She said she would have those ready for us upon our return from dinner.

After dinner we took the stairs (that are located outside the building) back up to our room. The stairwells were absolutely filthy. It was as if someone has swept all the trash and dirt into a pile, and then instead of using a dustpan to get it up and into a trash can, they just let the pile sit there well into the next day.

After we got upstairs we sent someone from our group down to the lobby to grab the linens that were being held for us. A few minutes went by and then we got a call from the person in our group who went downstairs that there was an angry crowd of people outside and in the lobby. Apparently, there had been a bad leak on the third floor and while the amount of damage is unclear to us, it was apparently enough to cause the motel to deplete it’s entire supply of linens and towels. Other people downstairs were also trying to get linens, and the ones promised to us were given to another room. Apparently, this situation escalated to the point where the police were called in to de-escalate the situation.

So at the end of the night we did not get clean linens and we didn’t really feel comfortable enough to get under the sheets/blankets in our room. We slept on our own personal clothes as makeshift sheets and used our towels as blankets. I used one of my clean shirts as a pillowcase. You can imagine that wasn’t a good nights sleep.

You would think that would be the end of the story, but to top off this experience, the next day the complimentary breakfast was not available because the floor it was being served on was the floor that was flooded. Also, we found another elevator on the other end of the building an thought it was save us from having to walk up five flights of steps each time. Well, that elevator was also not working, not only did it not work, it had no functioning lights or displays to show what floor it was on. It was just wire running out of the unit.

I have NEVER been to a motel that was this bad, and if it was just some minor things, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. However, we paid about $200 (after tax) for this room for one night. For the price we paid, we should have gotten a room in better condition then we got it in. I have NEVER asked for a motel to make this right, but I feel like I need to make an exception.

Our experience at Best Western in Kill Devil hills was...

We were a bit hesitant to stay here after seeing the most recent reviews, but we understood that COVID has taken a massive toll on businesses and that there was new management so we figured we would give it a try! Our stay was fantastic! The hotel staff were all absolutely wonderful from the front desk, to the cleaning help, to the maintenance and assistant managers. When we got there, check out took 5 minutes max and the lady at the front desk was very joyful and welcoming. Our room was freshly cleaned and smelled good. It was bright and spacious. We had the 2 full beds, pull down bed, ocean/pool view. There were no loud neighbors or disturbances, just people having alot of fun and enjoying their vacation! Every person we saw during our 7 night stay seemed happy and like they were enjoying their stay. You can tell the hotel is under new management; There have been some recent renovations. We own a contracting company so it was easy for us to see where recent work has been done, the problems being fixed, and the problems needing fixed. The only issues we encountered were our bathroom door handle was a bit difficult (extremely easy fix with a new door handle) and our Air conditioner didn't have a drainage line installed so it drained into our room when it rained. The hotel staff kindly offered us a new room numerous times but we had 4 children with us so moving rooms is quite the task. We just took care of the water with a shop vac (they offered to do it for us but we just did it quick, no big deal) and plugged in the dehumidifier. Our room was the only room with that issue so it isn't a common occurrence. The maintenance man who came to clean the air conditioning and get the water out of it was amazing! He was so kind, sweet and a hard worker. He told me everything he was doing and what the issue was. He knew exactly what it would take to fix it and the hotel staff planned to take care of it as soon as we left. Their normal room cleaning service isnt occurring every day unless requested to help with the spread of germs and the amount of people in and out of the room; you can request daily cleanings if you'd like if you plan to be out for a few hours! I just asked to borrow a vacuum and vacuumed our floors every couple of days (hotel offered to do it many times!). If you have trash bags or dirty towels, you just lay them outside of your door and they'll take them. I really thought we would have a massive pile of towels and trash eventually but the hotel staff was ON IT! Within a half hour every time our towels and trash were gone and there was a new bag of fresh clean towels hanging on our door! I was actually quite impressed by that considering its a pretty big hotel! Continental breakfast isnt available BUT in the lobby, there is a pretty large choice of breakfast foods every morning from 7am-10am. Bagels, muffins, fruits, yogurts, juices, coffee, granola bars, etc. Being business owners ourselves, we thought this hotel is being ran efficiently and properly. The new manager is doing a great job and you can tell she cares about the hotel. Every hotel you stay at will have minor issues, its about how the staff handles them and interacts with their customers. This hotel gets an...

This has been one of the most miserable experiences I've ever had trying to get a room. When I first arrived at this property, I found another couple waiting in front of the doorway and three others walking up with me. What we found was the office is closed and locked up. The other couple had said they had been there 15 minutes already and they were on the phone with customer service. After another 15 minutes the others that arrived along with me left, leaving just myself in the original couple. 15 minutes after that - after I had been there 30 and the original couple have been there 45, a young woman strolls up, unlocks the door without a word, and walks in. No apology, no explanation of what was happening, she just silently walked in ignoring her guests. When asked what was going on and where she had been, she spoke down to us with a tone I would not have have expected even possible from someone her age. After I called customer service - and the couple along side me was already on the phone with him - to complain, she refused to rent me a room. So after being awake for 36 hours, I had to go find another place to stay. I believe her name was Amy. I have never had such a horrible customer service experience in my lifetime. I used to run an automotive repair facility, and I could never have spoken to any of my customers with a tone even remotely related to hers. I was upset to the point of driving back to that motel in the morning and speaking with the manager. Just to give you an idea of my usual demeanor, I'm not even the type of person to complain at a fast food restaurant when they get the order wrong. I usually just eat whatever comes from the window.

Needless to say, I will never be staying in another Best Western for the rest of my life.

UPDATE:

The following morning I drove back to the hotel to speak with the manager and explain what was going on. She was astonished , and the clerk who was also there that morning had heard the same thing from one of the other people trying to check in at the same time. The manager promised to investigate and what happened, and I received another apology a few weeks later on along with the information that this employee had been terminated. While the check-in obviously didn't go as intended, I do appreciate the follow-up by the manager and the appropriate action...