ICONA Diamond Beach — Hotel in Lower Township

A Fugazi of Luxury Hotels If you only have 30 seconds to spare for this review, just take my advice: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THE ILLUSION OF THIS HOTEL. If you have more time for an in depth review, please read on. The Icona Diamond Beach is listed as a four-star luxury hotel. The website has convincing photography, and the reviews have mostly five stars but it is a lie. The website has a badge declaring it a 2025 Tripadvisor Traveler’s Choice award winner, which now has me questioning anything Tripadvisor recommends. Here is what went wrong:

The Room and the View: We booked the Premium Studio King, one of only two rooms with “front-facing ocean views,” located on the 2nd floor where they store event furniture and linens. The room was old and dirty. There were water stains in the dropped ceiling, stains on the couch, a dresser drawer wouldn’t close. The ceiling fixture over the small dining table had a bulb missing. The cabinet below the sink said “fire extinguisher” but the trash can was kept there instead. The internal door flip lock was held on by one screw and there had been clear damage at the top of the door that had been painted over. The A/C unit was an old wall unit, with the plug exposed, and a musty smell. The view is blocked by the roof of the restaurant that extends below and the roof of an event space in between the building and the beach, catching garbage tossed from higher floors. The balcony is a concrete slab wide enough to fit a small chair sideways. The bathroom had an old, faded, navy blue face-towel stuffed inside the bathmat. My first thought was that they left me a rag to clean the bathroom. Then I saw the toiletries wrapped in another towel of the same poor quality and realized these were the towels they intended us to use. If there was one item I could use to prove this luxury brand was a scam, it was these disgusting towels. The window track for our blackout curtains was damaged and did not close all the way, so my husband had to use a nail clipper to MacGyver the curtains closed. The only charger for my phone near the bed was built into the lamp and broken. My phone was dead when I woke up. The bathroom floor was made of linoleum.

The Private, Oceanfront Beach: Between the hotel and the water was a large pool, parking lot, outdoor event spaces, beach bar, and a large section of sand. It's roughly 500-1000 feet from the hotel to the beach. The private section is stacked with lounge chairs and it's about 300 feet wide. The water itself is framed by storm sewer pipes, so be careful where the current takes you.

The Pool: One of the nicer parts of the hotel, the pool is a decent size and heated. But the towels are no bigger or better than a gym towel you'd find at 24-Hour Fitness. Small, old, used, and gross (on brand with the bathroom towels). You can order food and drinks to the pool, but good luck finding the wait staff and happy hour pricing doesn't apply to the pool, even when Mother Nature sends you winds that make it impossible to use the beach and closes the beach bar early.

The Fitness Center: Is more of a fitness closet, containing one rack of dumbbells, a bike and a treadmill, a large TV (blocked view), and a water cooler (the only good thing).

The Restaurant: Happy hour includes a limited number of drinks and only applies if you're at the bar. Happy hour food choices are limited to "kids' chicken nuggets" and "a hot dog." Breakfast is supposed to go until 2 p.m. but they ran out of potatoes by noon, so I was forced to substitute with fries or order something else.

The Service: 5 minutes after checking, I got a text asking me to rate my stay from 1-10. After seeing the room, I decided I would rate it a 6. Within 48 hours it dropped to a 1, and I vowed to share my experience far and wide to help others avoid wasting their money. If only I had more character space for this review. Just know that the staff knew we were unhappy and never once apologized or tried to accommodate us. I wouldn't stay at this hotel again, if it were free. Don't let the name or...

Icona Diamond earns 5 stars & a diamond from me! My friends and I (total: 4) had a notably amazing experience during our short time (1 night/2 days). We stayed from 6/7-6/8.

Staff: The staff at the hotel were very friendly. They also left us a bottle of complimentary champagne in our fridge to celebrate my friend's birthday (for awareness: did note when booking the reservation that we were coming down to celebrate a birthday).

Some staff to note & give our flowers to were Erika and Marge. Both went out of their way to make our stay much more enjoyable & comfortable. Erika had both checked us in & out of our stay. She was very personable & also asked about our plans proceeded by providing a couple of recs in the area. She was also professional and insightful about the follow up questions we had. As for Marge, I had called front desk at almost 2am to get assistance with adding another car to our reservation. She promptly assisted us by having an extra parking pass ready for when we arrived from our night out & even went out of her way to look at available parking around & on the property. I also ran into her before she clocked out & she was happy to assist us with a late/extended check out. These 2 employees were amazing and left a lasting impression for sure.

Room - Premium Double Suite: The room was good size for 4 people (girls). It was suite style & we were all able to get ready with ample amount of space without having to be on top of each other. Beds and seating areas were comfy enough to relax on & having access to a fully functioning kitchenette was really useful (included fridge, microwave, coffee maker, dishwasher, stove, & other kitchen items). This would have been great if we were staying more than 2 nights. Balcony was a good size area & storage space was relatively okay for the 4 of us. The only cons were the small bathroom and only 2.5 mirrors available to do makeup/hair & check outfits.

Amenities : Beach - relatively a clean, small private area past the Start Beach Bar (did not go). The sand is fine & easy to walk on, ocean looked clean from what we noticed. There are chairs and umbrellas for use. We did not get to use it at its full potential as we went very early & the weather was still cold & rainy.

Pool - area was nice & maintained, however could get packed with families during peak hours. Main pool was warm & only body of water we could enjoyably swim in. it also went up to 9ft deep

Coastal Blue Oceanside Bar & Grill: This was one of our least favorite part of our stay at the hotel. For context, 2 of my friends went down to get a table for breakfast around 10am on Sunday then my other friend & I caught up with them shortly after. We probably placed our full order within 10 minutes and had waited 30+ minutes for our food. We had to even ask the hostess who happened to pass by on the ETA of the food because our server was nowhere in sight & we had seen tables that sat after us get their food before us. A woman that looked like the lead server on shift did come over to apologize/explain for the wait then offered free coffee/mimosas which we politely declined because we just wanted our food at that point. To note, not all of the tables were filled around us & we were the last table remaining when we finished. Honestly, the food was okay/mid to have waited so long, so not worth to come back & try again.

Parking/Accessibility: There's ample amount of parking on the property and apparently around the area as well. They also offer Valet. No issues with parking for us.

Close to Wildwood Crest/Wildwood, however we mainly went into Cape May. 15 minutes from Cape May, however you will need to pay a $2.50 toll on the Middle Thorofare Bridge every time you cross into Cape May.

Overall, I would recommend staying at this hotel as a nice alternative to expensive AirBnBs/rentals. If you like the suite style & convenience/amenities of a hotel, this is a great spot to stay at. It's not just a hotel to sleep in but you're able to enjoy a variety of amenities...

If you only have 30 seconds to spare for this review, just take my advice: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THE ILLUSION OF THIS HOTEL. If you have more time for an in depth review, please read on. The Icona Diamond Beach is listed as a four-star luxury hotel. The website has convincing photography, and the reviews have mostly five stars but it is a lie. The website has a badge declaring it a 2025 Tripadvisor Traveler’s Choice award winner, which now has me questioning anything Tripadvisor recommends. Here is what went wrong:|The Room and the View: We booked the Premium Studio King, one of only two rooms with “front-facing ocean views,” located on the 2nd floor where they store event furniture and linens. The room was old and dirty. There were water stains in the dropped ceiling, stains on the couch, a dresser drawer wouldn’t close. The ceiling fixture over the small dining table had a bulb missing. The cabinet below the sink said “fire extinguisher” but the trash can was kept there instead. The internal door flip lock was held on by one screw and there had been clear damage at the top of the door that had been painted over. The A/C unit was an old wall unit, with the plug exposed, and a musty smell. The view is blocked by the roof of the restaurant that extends below and the roof of an event space in between the building and the beach, catching garbage tossed from higher floors. The balcony is a concrete slab wide enough to fit a small chair sideways. The bathroom had an old, faded, navy blue face-towel stuffed inside the bathmat. My first thought was that they left me a rag to clean the bathroom. Then I saw the toiletries wrapped in another towel of the same poor quality and realized these were the towels they intended us to use. If there was one item I could use to prove this luxury brand was a scam, it was these disgusting towels. The window track for our blackout curtains was damaged and did not close all the way, so my husband had to use a nail clipper to MacGyver the curtains closed. The only charger for my phone near the bed was built into the lamp and broken. My phone was dead when I woke up. The bathroom floor was made of linoleum.|The Private, Oceanfront Beach: Between the hotel and the water was a large pool, parking lot, outdoor event spaces, beach bar, and a large section of sand. It's roughly 500-1000 feet from the hotel to the beach. The private section is stacked with lounge chairs and it's about 300 feet wide. The water itself is framed by storm sewer pipes, so be careful where the current takes you.|The Pool: One of the nicer parts of the hotel, the pool is a decent size and heated. But the towels are no bigger or better than a gym towel you'd find at 24-Hour Fitness. Small, old, used, and gross (on brand with the bathroom towels). You can order food and drinks to the pool, but good luck finding the wait staff and happy hour pricing doesn't apply to the pool, even when Mother Nature sends you winds that make it impossible to use the beach and closes the beach bar early.|The Fitness Center: Is more of a fitness closet, containing one rack of dumbbells, a bike and a treadmill, a large TV (blocked view), and a water cooler (the only good thing).|The Restaurant: Happy hour includes a limited number of drinks and only applies if you're at the bar. Happy hour food choices are limited to "kids' chicken nuggets" and "a hot dog." Breakfast is supposed to go until 2 p.m. but they ran out of potatoes by noon, so I was forced to substitute with fries or order something else.|The Service: 5 minutes after checking, I got a text asking me to rate my stay from 1-10. After seeing the room, I decided I would rate it a 6. Within 48 hours it dropped to a 1, and I vowed to share my experience far and wide to help others avoid wasting their money. If only I had more character space for this review. Just know that the staff knew we were unhappy and never once apologized or tried to accommodate us. I wouldn't stay at this hotel again, if it were free. Don't let the name or...