The Admiral on Baltimore — Hotel in Rehoboth Beach

First off, let me state that out of all the hotels and even airbnbs I've stayed in, this place was probably my worst experience. This is including a bed and breakfast in Cambridge where the owner was very vocally a UFO conspiracy theorist. He at least cooked a damn good breakfast and was interesting. We arrived about an hour early, which I didn't expect anything for, and I went to let them know I had arrived. They took my number down to let me know when the room would be available. So I came back after 3pm, and I was told it would take some time until the room was ready, maybe around 4:30 at the very latest. We even joked about it being fine, as long as it wasn't something crazy like a 7/8pm check-in. This happened two more times, and the actual check-in time was around 7:10pm. So after a 3 hour drive, we had to wait an additional 4 hours in order to have access to our room. Why, you ask? Well the manager was kind enough to tell me personally, via phone-call, that all but one of their hospitality had quit recently. That or only one person was available to clean, while maybe others were on the books. It was strange and definitely unprofessional. I would expect a manager to take more accountability, and be there doing what has to be done instead of having phone calls with guests. I asked what could be done about it, but the most they could offer was a late check-out or possibly another night on the house. The free night seems like a great offer, but if you have a job that doesn't always work. Prorating the room would have been a good offer as well, but I guess that wasn't a possibility, or so I was told. Around midnight, I heard a scratching sound at our door, which was a little concerning. Apparently that was one of the staff (or the manager) sliding an apology note through the door in an envelope. I guess the note was supposed to make up for the issues, but it could have been delivered in a far less creepy way. But regardless of all of these issues, I decided we would just take the late check-out time. Apparently this was already in their system when I checked in, but that didn't stop one of the staff from knocking on the door, and when we told him that we had late check out, he proceeded to open the door while I was laying in bed. I told him, again, that we had a late check-out. He responded by saying he was unaware... I have never had hotel staff do anything like this before, and people with less patience probably would have flipped out after having staff enter after being told not to. Then we decided to walk around on the boardwalk, and when we came back our keys wouldn't work. So we had to talk with the reception desk to gain access to the room again, since it's automatically turned off. My only advice is, stay away from the place. The rooms don't seem fully clean on top of all of this, and the beds didn't even have the correct pillow sizes: I guess they ran out? The room reeked like weed for the first hour, especially in the bathroom. If the room was empty for a few hours before, then I guess the staff must have taken a break in there. I've been watching a lot of "Hotel Hell" recently, and this place has the same feel. Be warned. For $385 you'd expect a decent experience at least, and this left a lot to be desired. I will never return, regardless of anything the hotel offers or any "heartfelt"...

I really liked this laid-back hotel. The staff was very friendly, we had a great view from outside our room, the location is excellent, and the rooms are undergoing some renovations, so a lot felt really new.

The traditional furniture is being replaced with more contemporary and clean furniture, and it's a huge improvement. The floors in the rooms are a nice looking linoleum instead of a grody carpet. We didn't hear other people in neighboring rooms. While we were leaving, we noticed that during our stay, new railings had gone up, and we never even noticed any noise or anything. New sunshades look like they went up during our trip, too. The property and the rooms were very clean, as well, even during this phantom construction.

Some people have posted pictures of rusty stairs and the like, but this is an old building with stairwells exposed to the elements just a handful of feet from the beach. The wear (and sand in the elevator, etc.) was, for me, expected and didn't detract from the experience for our family. Plus, it seems like the property is undergoing renovations, so these things might be improved soon (at the fast rate they were working when we were there).

Rooms were family friendly with a seating area outside the door and inside by the window. Long counter space is available with the new furniture, and the room has a nice size refrigerator and microwave. The bathroom vanity looks like it's part of the old set of furniture, so it may change, but it had an expansive counter and a long generous shelf below to hold all of our toiletries. The bathroom was absolutely standard. The beds and pillows were comfortable and the linens smelled fresh and clean.

We wished we had brought a few things with us. First, the linoleum floors in the room were perpetually coated in sand: a floor mat to clean up our feet or a little broom or even some slipper shoes to wear in the room would have been awesome. Second, it's an older property, so while there were more than enough wall plugs, it would have been so much more convenient to bring a power strip so everyone could charge phones, Bluetooth headsets, etc., at the same time (and without unplugging lamps). Finally, there was a little shelf in the vanity area, but no hangers. It looks like the room used to have a wardrobe, so that may be added later, but we had to hang clothes from the shelf, which worked perfectly fine, but we only brought a single hanger!

Some last tips: There was a hose in the second-floor parking area in which you could get all the sand off your beach toys, shoes, etc. We didn't realize this until the last day, but it worked really well! It was a proper hose with a multi-nozzle spray gun and worked very well. And the elevator can take a very, very long time and you have to kind of wait in the way, so just start off taking the stairs. The stairs are an easy climb with...

This hotel’s location is perfect and the beds are very comfortable but I would not recommend it for families staying longer than a day or two. The manager is very rude and they simply are not equipped to handle the work load. At check in our room was not ready, as was the case for other guests, they offered a discount for the inconvenience which was greatly appreciated. At check in the attendant gave me instructions on how to request maid service and told me that I could ask for it everyday, which was ideal since it’s a beachside hotel. The next day I requested the service but when I returned from the beach it was not done. The maid told me that service is only supposed to be every other day. I explained that I was told I could request it daily but she said that was untrue. She was nice enough to quickly sweep out the room and rinse the tub which I was very grateful for. The next day I requested the service and received it. As per the maids instructions I waited a day and requested service. I returned late in the day to find the room still dirty. I went down to the front desk to complain because at this point my room had only been fully cleaned and had the sheets changed once for a 5 night/6 day stay. The attendant was very apologetic and even came up himself to take dirty towels and change my garbage while I swept the room (which was the second time I had to do myself during this stay) He told me he was going to leave a note for the manager and I could speak to him at checkout the next day. At checkout, the attendant said the manager was busy and wouldn’t come out, so I left and went back a little later. When he came out of the office he was immediately agitated and a bit aggressive. When I began to speak about only getting one day of maid service he cut me off and accused me of lying. He said that because the maid had swept and rinsed out the tub, I technically had service twice therefore I was lying. I reiterated that I was told that I could have service every day but regardless of wether or not that information was true, I was due to have my room cleaned the previous day and did not receive it. One full cleaning for that long of a stay is not sanitary, nor is it comfortable to have sand everywhere in your room. He began to yell at me and tell me that I needed to understand that all places are having trouble. I tried my best to be understanding and patient during the week when it was clear I had been given wrong information but he spoke to me as of the hotels shortcomings were my fault. If I were just rating the hotel, maid and the desk attendant who strived to be as helpful as they could, I would have given his hotel more stars. If I were just rating the manager and the capability of the staff to handle the work load would give this...