Wayfinder Newport — Hotel in Newport

I only checked the reviews on TripAdvisor and that was a mistake. The TLDR version of this review is that this was easily one of the worst hotel/hospitality experiences I've had in my adult life (past 25 years). Find a different place to stay. Any other place.

I understand that we are still in unprecedented times due to COVID. That does not excuse poor communication and poor attitudes. Those are both items that are always in our control. The combination of poor communication and mismatched expectations made for a bad stay. I'm writing this review almost 1 month later and I'm still hot about our stay.

Here is the list of issues we encountered during our 2-night stay:

Check-In

1. Room was not ready for check-in (we tried to check-in at 6 PM and upon our departure at 7 PM it was still not ready).
2. Reception was harried and did a poor job communicating. They were not being supplied with information to share with guests. This was a trend where those that you could find/communicate with were not management and thus had no information or authority

Room

1. The room door made a loud rattle every time someone used a hallway door.
2. There is no closet. There was a strange hanging rack similar to what you find in a micro-hotel..but not what I would expect at a "resort".
3. Rug was stained

General Conditions

1. Our hallway was constantly a staging/storage area for housekeeping.
2. Some areas looked like constructions zones
3. Other areas didn't look like they were being kept clean
4. Many stained rugs throughout the property

Communication This was the biggest issue. The hotel has built-in automation for the reservation system (looking forward to your stay email, check-in early email, etc). Yet, for all the over communicating by automated systems...they couldn't do any real in-person communication. The phones didn't work. The SMS system they requested you to use (in lieu of the phones) did not respond. The staff that you could find were few, frazzled, and had no answers.

This was made explicit when on the 2nd night we took the “sorry we didn’t have your room ready drink” coupon to Nomi Park. We were going to do drinks and an appetizer before we went for dinner. Instead, we were told that if we didn’t have a reservation…they would not serve us. When I explained that we were trying to use our drink voucher, they begrudgingly said they would serve us drinks but we could not order any food. While the drinks were being made, the employees were complaining (right next to us) that because of “f-ups by housekeeping and the front desk they have to deal with this BS”.

Expectation For a "resort hotel" that was charging a $20/night resort fee, it is selling a bill of goods. As others have mentioned, the place was an old roadside motel. While they have done some things to make it cute & give it character...it doesn't come close to justifying a $300+ rate and $20 resort fee. If I had stayed at the Motel 6 around the corner and experienced this…it would have matched my expectations and the price ($89). I picked the Wayfinder because this was a kid-free getaway with my wife and I wanted to treat her. Obviously, that did not happen.

The final indignity is that on my check-out date there was no manager on site when we checked out at 9 AM. I asked for the manager to give me a call when he got in (they thought it would be around 11). Bryan was supposed to call me so I could talk about our stay but I never got that call. I responded to the automated feedback email from William Rademacher (the GM) last week. Even with the poor marks and feedback, he didn’t respond.

Newport is a lovely part of the country. In prime season, it can be expensive to visit. For those looking, I suggest paying up for an option that is by downtown or having a more economical stay with a national brand (Marriott, Hilton, etc) on Rt 114. I had hoped that The Wayfinder was going to be a nice compromise between the two. Instead, I got a high price and a...

To start, we booked this hotel in Oct of 2023 for our wedding block and after party, with the understanding that construction would be completed by Jan 2024 at the latest. As we got closer, it became apparent that construction would likely not be done. I reached out 2 weeks before our wedding requesting an update as we would need to make alternate plans for our after party, and was assured that everything was going forward as scheduled and that there was no need to make alternate plans. Fast forward to the Monday before my Sunday wedding I was informed that they had "great news" and that we were going to be able to have our after party in the pool area (we were contracted to have it in the lobby bar inside), and there was no alternate space to have it inside if there was going to be rain. I was given a list of some extremely over priced pizzas to order, which I'm sure was just from the restaurant across the street and then up charged so they could make some money off of it. At this point I asked for the resort fees to be waived from all of the guests in our room block as there were no amenities they could use and nowhere to congregate besides the pool, and to have one of our room fees waived. They did waive the resort fees but never even responded to my request about the 2nd room. They also offered to waive 4% of the admin fee on the food for the inconvenience. 4% of an admin fee that shouldn't of even existed because they were just ordering takeout food that I could have just done myself for way less money.

Skip to Saturday when we go to check in to our 2nd suite before getting ready for our wedding rehearsal (for the wedding parties to get ready in separately). We are told that there is not a 2nd suite available for us and are offered a regular hotel room. Again, these rooms were book 8 months in advance. After telling the person working the desk that this was not acceptable- she made 3 different phone calls (I assume to management), all of which were not answered. She then called the party who had booked their biggest suite on the property, and the party happened to be standing in the check-in area waiting, so we got to stand there and have the awkward situation of the staff asking that party if they actually needed the Wayfinder suite. To which the woman obviously answered yes, stating that she had booked it "weeks ago". Eventually, after me insisting the staff person find a better solution, she assigned us to a 2 queen suite that was not nearly as large as the king suite we had booked, which resulted in my wife's brother being bumped from the suite he had booked for the weekend. At this point I let staff know that I would need to speak with the GM- Dan before we checked out on Tuesday.

On Monday- I reminded staff that we would be there until Tuesday morning and that I needed to speak with Dan before we left, and they reported that he was there meeting with the Fire Inspector but would get to us when he was free. He never came to our room or called on Monday. On Tuesday morning I asked to speak with him again, and again he avoided meeting with us. We sent an email on Tuesday when we got home requesting a resolution and some money back, and were told that the GM tried to call us but was unable to leave a voicemail, not sure why because my voicemail box is certainly not full, and I did not have a missed call. More likely he never tried to call me. They went on to say that as a courtesy- our suite would be complimentary. That was on 7/2 and now on 7/19, we have charges on our credit card totaling to MORE than what we should be and nothing has been taken off.

They are now advertising that the lobby construction is complete, but as you can see from recent reviews, it is being used but isn't even connected to the rest of the hotel. They are falsely advertising, overbooking, and taking...

Pros: Beds were very comfortable

In room Keurig

Nice lobby and cafe/restaurant

The pool looked decent but I was not think it's heated so useful time of year is short because the water is so cold.

Room was ready when we arrived so didn't have to wait.

Cons: Door closers need adjusting to avoid slamming and would improve guest experience.

Sound from the hallways is not dampened at all, the hallways echo making this worse.

Cafe/restaurant not yet up to full speed/ready for prime time. Staff need more training/experience.

Hotel layout is very confusing and disjointed. Decor doesn't really match the aesthetic to provide a cohesive experience throughout.

Parking lot is one way but not very clearly marked so you get cars going the wrong way.

EV chargers not free for guests

The direct surrounding area isn't the nicest part of the Newport area but is close enough to a lot of different places you may be going. Traffic in the area can get a bit crazy though.

This hotel is a weird mix of attempting to be modern beach and clearly still out dated in many areas. The furniture in the rooms were new/returned recently, but the hard items were not, shower tile, toilet, etc. definitely a budget refurb but the hotel is trying to attract more up market clients and it's just not there unfortunately. The staff were all friendly but the hotel had a vibe of disorganization including getting a different bill at checkout than what I had pre-paid and booked 9 months prior.

I believe the staff here is trying their best but there is a disconnect in communication and uniform information and policies/procedures. Event manager seemed to know her stuff. I have never seen a hotel with so many staff members around, but still so much odd disconnect, like they didn't have a cohesive strategy or know what they should be doing etc. I'm not sure if this is seasonal staff ramp up etc. which is understandable just felt...odd...

The way they list the EV chargers as an amenity would lead you to believe they are free to use for hotel guests, and included as part of the destination fee (according to the FAQ on the website) however that was not my experience even when asking the front desk for the QR code that supposedly made them free to use.

Some of the rooms here have better location than others, our room was dark because the only light is one lamp, and we had to keep the window shades closed because our room window was literally in the pool deck. Maybe put some one way tint on these window or something so guests don't have to keep their windows closed and their room feeling like a dungeon.

The lobby is nice and modern beach feel, the cafe and kitchen/restaurant were pretty much brand new so a bit of teething pains, but overall good options. The building exterior could use a glow up, paint/decorate the pool fence, paint the brick and trim, etc. that would make the hotel look newer.

$250ish/night feels ok for this hotel but anything more is too much. And everything is an extra fee/cost tacked on. Extra people? Fee. Destination fee. Late checkout, fee. Etc. etc. I would rather stay at a chain hotel if given a choice, this place has potential but it's just...