The Lighthouse Inn at Aransas Bay — Hotel in Rockport

I’ve stayed at the Lighthouse Inn many times since it opened over 20 years ago. It still has the best location in Rockport/Fulton. It still has the best bay views from its balconies. And it still has ample friendly, helpful staff throughout the property. But the property needs some work/refresh in a few key areas based on our stay there for an extended weekend in late July.

First, the room doors are not secure for travelers with toddlers. The deadbolt to the room door is easily dislodged by pulling on the door lever - something our 2-year-old quickly discovered and enjoyed doing. There is no safety hook/bar at the top of the door, nor is there a separate deadbolt higher up. Only that deadbolt/door lever combo. So if you’re traveling with a mobile, active toddler, you won’t be able to ever fully relax in your room. Thankfully the door to the balcony does have a standard deadbolt lock above the traditional doorknob, so we didn’t have to worry about him venturing out there.

Second, while they have both a superb dining area for both the complimentary breakfast in the mornings and functions as a restaurant at night, they have no highchairs available. None. We haven’t encountered that at any other restaurant or motel/hotel that we’ve visited in 2+ years; this was a first. So the first morning we tried to keep our 2-year-old from falling through the gaps in the adult chair; the second morning, we used our stroller for his chair.

Third, our room had significant floor issues under the carpet. When you walked from the window side of the bedroom to the bathroom side, you walked down into what felt like a sagging part of the floor (we had a second floor room, so this was concerning). When you walked from the living area/living room into the bedroom, you felt like you walked up a slight slope, then there was a large seam/gap in the carpet, then down a slight slope. Our 2-year-old tripped and fell a few times making this walk. There is clearly an issue with the floor of this room/the ceiling of the room below.

Fourth, the bed in this room needs immediate replacement. It sagged horribly - clearly it was many months past its useful life. Was very unpleasant for both my/my wife’s backs. And the fitted sheet kept popping off the corners - wouldn’t stay on….it clearly needs replacing, too.

Those were the major issues/problems. There were little issues, too, that were problematic - the room has 2 remote controls that work on either of the 2 TVs - one remote had a channel changer button that was stuck in the “up” position, and the other remote had a non-working “Volume Down” button. Doesn’t sound like much, but with an active 2-year-old who always wanted to watch Mickey Mouse, it was problematic.

For the premium price you pay here, you expect no major issues and you expect them to get the little things right. I’ve never had problems like these before here, and I’ve never had an issue paying the premium price. You’re paying for good value, which they had always delivered. The good thing is all the good is still there - the location, the views, the staff, the pool/hottub, the pier….even amenities like the Library Room that is one of the best “secrets” there. They just need to invest some money back into the property to bring it back up to the standards they’ve always had since they opened 20+ years ago. We’ll look forward to staying there again some time...

We just returned from a two- night stay in a suite on the third floor, on the bay side. Room 61. This was our repeat visit from 2 years ago. We liked it so much then, that we came back. Even though there are some negative aspects, the positives far outweigh them. We will be back. 😊

Negatives:

Bathroom: Aged, dingy grout appeared dirty in corners in shower and bathroom overall, but we think it was due more to age than actual lack of cleanliness. Either way, a good bleaching/whitening agent is in order!

Bathroom shower drain smelled. We were on the third floor, and believe it was from drying out. These drains need to be thouroughly flushed on a regular basis.

Music in dining area was awful. Some sort of pop, weird, mess. Also piped into bathrooms. Just instrumemtal background music would be better.

Dining options are mediocre. Not great but not awful. They seemed to run out of things that are on the menu. Lobster bisque, cole slaw, one of the specialty salads.

Outdated bedspread, decor. Grandma would love it - us , not so much. Hard bed pillows

Inability to see over railing when sitting in chairs on balcony. What's the point of having a nice balcony on the bay, if you can't relax in your chair and see the view?

On the up side:

Dining is reasonably priced and portions are good. The croutons are made fresh in house and are yummy!

The included breakfast buffet is surprisingly good! Scrambled eggs, sausage links, bacon, country potatoes, biscuits and gravy, toast, waffles, juice, milk, yogurt, and more....all fresh and kept stocked by friendly staff.

The decor in the Inn is pretty- very 'inn-like'. Old world, early American flavor. Not modern, by any means, but nice. Clean.

A little quiet sitting/ reading area off the main entrance that's a nice touch.

AC was great. Our Room was nice and cool when we arrived.

We had a suite and the kitchenette includes cookware and all dishes and flatware. You could easily save money by cooking your own meals on an extended stay.

Location on the water - huge plus.

Private pier included a cleaning station for caught fish.

We saw a dolphin playing from the lounge chairs by the water/ the pier.

Lounge chairs on bayside sidewalk provide a breezy view of fishing boats and other private vessels coming and going from the marina next door.

Love all the palms. Well-kept, manicured landscaping. The grounds are very clean.

Great blackout curtains in the room.

Friendly/ helpful staff.

Pool furniture is...

I booked a bayside kingsize suite on the top floor to enjoy the "Very Merry Lighthouse Christmas!" promoted by the hotel (see photo from the LHI website) for my wife and I in mid-October, 2024. We planned to relax and get reacquainted with Rockport/Fulton, but our visit turned out to be a disaster. When we checked in a little before 5:00pm on Christmas Eve, we were informed that the restaurant and bar were both closed indefinitely. The only "service" to be provided by the hotel was the morning breakfast buffet. We were advised to quickly leave for the Fulton Irish Pub if we wanted any supper since they closed at 6:00pm and there were very few restaurants open on Christmas Eve. We dashed to the Pub and were the last couple served before the kitchen closed.

Christmas Day was also a challenge to find any quality dining establishment that offered a quality Christmas meal. We finally gave up, and settled for what we could find.

We also discovered that there were no telephones in the rooms due to wiring issues related to hurricane Harvey in August, 2017 (over seven years ago). Finally, there was no hotel staff to assist with baggage to or from our rooms.

Why weren't we told in advance of the hotel closures by the LHI management; they certainly had our contact information! Terrible performance by what is supposed to be a three star hotel...

We will never stay at this establishment again! We did not receive our "Christmas gift", or the $30.00 food voucher from the hotel, and I would be suspicious of "dining in The Palm Room, try this month’s chef special: Prime Rib served with Au jus, green beans, mashed potatoes and a side salad."...

Regrets, Roy...