Sea Horse Motel — Hotel in Long Beach Township

Our family has been coming to LBI for the last 6 years (1 week in June and several long weekends in July/August/ September, generally around 20 days) and have always had an amazing time our son learned to surf there, and we love it! We did have an issue last weekend and it has not been resolved. I put down a deposit of $350 to hold the room on 6/24 at the Sea Horse Motel. We showed up at 8:45pm on 6/30 to check in. My wife and son unloaded the entire car while was checking in, I gave our 9-year-old son the room key so they could put everything in the room. He immediately came back to the front desk and told me it smelled horrible. I went to the room, walked in, and was overwhelmed by the smell, the room smelled like old smoke and cleaning supplies. I then went back to the front desk and told them we could not stay in the room. They did not offer to change our room, so I asked for a full refund for the $386.96 I had just paid and the deposit of $350.00. The woman at the front desk said she would refund the $386.96 as it just went through but could not refund the $350.00 as owner would have to do that. I spoke to the owner on the phone, she said that she had to be in the office to refund the $350.00 deposit and she said she would process the refund Saturday send me an email confirmation. We ended up having to pay $579 per night down the street at the Mariner Inn because it was after 9pm on a Friday night and there was nothing else on the island available, so we had to pay $1158.00 for the 2-night stay. We are seeking $350 for the deposit2, $386.96 that we paid upon check-in, and $421.04 the additional amount we had to pay for the other hotel. We have yet to see any refund...

Updating this review as to the owners response. SHE DID NOT REFUND ME FOR THE SECOND NIGHT LIKE SHE SAID SHE WOULD !!!!!! AND I NEVER CALLED HER AT 2AM. AND I DON'T DRINK NOR DO I TAKE ANY DRUGS!!! JUST READ ALL THE REPSONSES TO NEGATIVE COMMNETS MADE ABOUT HER PROPERTY........ VERY POOR BUSINESS PERSON NOT TO MENTION A LIER. AND ALSO HER ACCUSING A PREVIOUS CUSTOMER OF BEING A DRUNK OR DRUG ADDICT ON SOCIAL MEDIA GOES TO SHOW HER CHARACTER...............

BUYER BEWARE. DON’T PREPAY IN FULL !!!I booked a room for two nights and prepaid for it prior to my arrival. I contacted COVID five days before my arrival and called to cancel my reservation. I was told by the owner that if she found someone else to take the room she would refund me for both nights. Normal policy is only one night. I honesty didn’t trust her because I read a prior review from a women who’s son had cancer and they had to leave early because he needed to be hospitalized. She received ZERO refund. And I’m sure the room was rented. I had my son call the next day to check availability and he was told they had no rooms available. I called the next day and was told them same. When I called the owner and told her she got PISSED at me for checking. As of today I’m still waiting on my refund for the second night. Terrible customer...

On our last night of a three night stay, we were awakened at 12:49am by a Fire/Carbon Monoxide alarm siren. We called the emergency phone number posted on the office door and were told by Elena the owner "it is probably a false alarm". Not the most reassuring answer when Carbon Monoxide can kill people, but we hoped for the best. At 5:45am the siren went off again, and this time I noticed water pouring in under the wall. We luckily were able to get all of our stuff out of the room before it got soaked. The owner arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and told us the pipe burst in the office next door to our room. Unfortunately instead of enjoying a relaxing last morning on the beach, we had to evacuate a flooded room. I requested a refund of one night due to our inconvenience. Elena (the owner) agreed to a 50% of one night refund but then when she kept trying to explain that the false alarm in the middle of the night was not her fault, and I kept trying to tell her that it doesn't matter whose fault when your are awakened, she hung up on me then emailed saying she changed her mind and decided to not give me any credit for our inconvenience, and that I should "Do whatever you need to do". So posting this warning to future guests to beware is exactly what I needed to do. Great location, but lousy...