The Rockport House — Hotel in Rockport

Firstly, you should absolutely stay here. It's beautifully redone and quite clean (bug free!) and the location in Rockport is awesome. Walking distance to everything. Parking right on sight. It was very quiet in the carriage house with minimal noise from the people above when they rolled in luggage or pulled out a chair. We all slept great here. I just have a couple nit picky things that would make this a 5. Mostly involving towels.

There is no on-site staff, which is made clear at booking. This is fine, however I only had success communicating by telephone. Texts were not answered and requests by text were not fulfilled. My only request was for additional towels. Multiple times. There were three adults in our two queen room (carriage house 2) for 4 nights. When we arrived there were 4 hand towels, wash cloths, and bath towels. This certainly was not going to be enough for a full 4 nights for four adults. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that there was only one hook by the shower for a towel and one small towel bar over the toilet. That is, there was no where to dry towels between uses. While I dont mind stacking my towel under my husband's, he surely doesn't want to stack his under my mom's who was traveling with us. So, we needed more towels.

Because there is no one on site, I think it would be very beneficial for guests to have way more access to clean towels. While there was a small closet in the main house with spare supplies, whether there were towels in there depended on the day. I think a dedicated spot with nothing but towels is probably needed. I called in a request for several bath towels and wash cloths on our first full day and someone delivered one bath towel, one hand towel, and one wash cloth. A couple days later, I sent a text requesting a specific number of towels and wash cloths, but never got a response and no towels were delivered.

After my first request by phone, I left a pile of used towels by the door knowing someone was coming in to drop off more and they did not grab them. Which brings me to my next suggestion: a hamper for dirty towels in the room world be fantastic as no one comes to collect them until your stay is over. We had a pretty good mountain in the bathroom by the end of our stay.

My other note in the bathroom is that it was outfitted with beautiful fixtures. The tile work is beautifully done and you can tell a lot of great care was put into the reimaginging of this carriage house into a usable hotel space. Given that, it is baffling to me that the shower curtain hooks were too small to easily glide over the curved shower curtain bar. Such a cheap and simple fix to replace the hooks with ones better suited to the curved bar.

I will also note that while the room felt very clean and comfortable, there was a layer of dust on the shelves, light switches, and lamps when we arrived. I travel with lots of clorox wipes so took care of this as best I could, but at an average of $375 a night, it seems like dusting between guests should be the standard. I feel the same about mopping the floors, but believe they were probably only vacuumed.

Similarly, one of the doors on our wardrobe had a hinge disconnect from the wardrobe itself, so you had to be careful with it. Again, simple fix I could have done myself if I had a screwdriver. Perhaps it's an issue of communication between whoever is doing regular maintenance and the actual owners.

Finally, there are two small trash cans in the room. Fine as you have access to large trash bins outside to empty your full bins, but a slightly larger bin would be more convenient.

I would absolutely love to stay here again, but I do think there are some quirks and small fixes that could be done to make the experience a true 5 star one.

Oh and how about adding some of those gorgeous coastal hydrangeas to the front...

What a great find we made with The Rockport House! This old and elegant Victorian property is wonderfully renovated and preserved yet updated to be extremely comfortable. The individually unique rooms are spacious and decorated in gorgeous jewel tones that are a huge step away from cookie cutter bland hotel rooms, with many thoughtful finishing touches to elevate the experience. The hotel stocks games for rainy days, their soap and lotion smell so wonderful they’re worth the booking by themselves, and the towels and sheets are soft, fluffy and luxurious.

The restaurants, artisans, shops, and natural wonders in the area are definitely worth visiting, and the hotel website curates a list of several of the best. If you want a change of pace, every room has at least a coffee setup, mini-fridge and microwave, and some of the suites even offer a full size fridge and kitchen stocked with enough utensils that you could make your own meals if desired. You can clean your laundry on premises in a sparkling clean laundry room if desired. The operative phrase is “if desired” - you’re on vacation after all.

The entire booking, check-in and out process was easy and hassle-free. The Rockport House has a remote concierge service that actually works. Whenever we had a question, they texted back quickly. The hotel is perfectly located. It’s a quick walk into town but away from the congestion and noise of the main streets. We loved Rockport as a get-away and we’ll definitely come back to The...

The Rockport House in Rockport, MA. Yes, the bedding was nice, the setting is pretty (I mean, it's Rockport, one of the prettiest places ever), but don't stay at this inn. It's "technology-enabled" which is shorthand for saying there is no hospitality, no personal touches and, indeed, no person. There is, of course, no breakfast, but there is a Keurig coffee maker in the room with paper cups (let's add to the landfill!), no glassware for water (but plastic water bottles to, you know, add to the landfill). There is no charm nor sense of personality. There is no common room nor seating area. It took us a full half-hour to check in and when I went to the "Main House" because I was getting pretty damn sick of sitting in the parking lot, trying to check in, there was--surprise!--no one there. We could have spent $500. and stayed at the upscale convention center in the next town over (Gloucester), but this was half the price, so we booked. What we got was half the price, but one-sixteenth the civility, warmth, hospitality. I have stayed/lived off and on in Rockport for over 30 years and have never felt as cut-off from human contact as I did here. (Good thing I came with a friend....). Do not stay here. Get a motel out on Bass Rocks or even on Route 1........or splurge at the convention center which overlooks Gloucester Harbor. It will be money better spent with more warmth to be had, a lovely on-site restaurant and a...