Beachwalk at Sea Bright — Hotel in Sea Bright

This was our first stay at Beachwalk at Sea Bright. We stayed 4 nights. The first day we arrived at 1pm with the understanding that check in wasn't until 4pm. We were already prepared to find something to do until our room was ready but wanted to see if it was by chance, ready early since we were already there. Our room was not ready so Sam kindly handed us our pool bracelets and told us to enjoy the pool while we waited for our room. We went to the bar in the pool area where we were greeted by the friendliest bartenders, and enjoyed drinks by the pool while we waited for their text. When our room was ready, we were very pleased with it! The views are INCREDIBLE! Lying in bed and watching the ocean in the morning and evening, what more could you ask for? As far as cleanliness, I am a neatnik so by choice I re-cleaned the room even though it had already been cleaned. I even cleaned it before we left lol! Everything is remodeled on the beachfront side so the room appeared new and fresh. That being said, and this isn't a complaint, we didn't have maid service once our entire stay. Typically at a hotel/motel you go out for the day and come back to fresh towels, the bed being made but, we later found out, you have to request this, it's not automatic/included. I didn't mind at all. When I did need towels, soap or anything, the staff were fast, eager to help and super friendly.

I felt bad for the staff at times. They were absolutely great yet, often as we were coming and going, there were people in the lobby complaining about literal nonsense. One woman was angry that she couldn't check in early. Never EXPECT an early check in anywhere. If it happens, great! But when did people become so entitled?

Everyone that works at Beachwalk was kind, friendly and accommodating. Sam, Aiden and Kenny were all amazing to go to with any issue or question. If you're expecting a five-star, luxury HOTEL experience you should not stay here. I gave this place 5 stars for an amazing stay, because of it's location and the staff are amazing! And, it's a cool, boutique MOTEL. Perfect for anyone who wants a laid-back vacation in a modern, clean room with a chill and friendly experience.

There is a breakfast place called Alice's right in town which we didn't get to try this trip, and also a coffee and a pastry shop called Almost home, all just 4 minutes from the hotel. Daily we ventured a little further into Long Branch to Amy's which I highly recommend. It's a very good breakfast and lunch restaurant. We also tried Finagle bagel in the same shopping center in Long Branch which was pretty good, and Caputo's bakery for the best black and white cookies! They are like pound cake with scratch made chocolate and vanilla icing!

In the evenings, it's only 10 minutes from Beachwalk to Pier Village in Long Branch for a fun night out. 14 minutes to Red Bank for a day of shopping and really good restaurant choices. So much to do!

We are already trying to book our room for next year but they don't have the rates available yet for the week that we want. I will be booking a full week here as soon as I am able! We are SO SO...

I wish I read these reviews before spending $1200 for a 3-night stay at an alleged "luxury" hotel. This is NOT luxury. This hotel is filthy, run down, and falling apart. I've stayed at cheap motels that were better than this. I don't know why they call this luxury other than a great marketing gimmick and so they can charge more.

HOUSEKEEPING: They never came once during my 4-day stay. When the maid didn't come by 5:30pm on Day 2, I went to the office and asked for clean washcloths/towels so I could shower (I spent the day at the beach). They said they'd send housekeeping but never did. I tracked down the maid. She told me she didn't have any in her cart but she'd bring me some later (this means the few rooms she cleaned never got clean linens either). Long story short, I had to use the same dirty washcloth and wet towel for 4 days, living like a pig.

ROOMS: The room was filthy when I checked in. There were dead insects all over the walls in the bathroom, hair on the floor, etc. The smoke detector (or CO detector?) on the wall was removed. There's no garbage can (nor are there any outside), so you have to throw all your garbage on the floor in the room. The rooms have microwaves and refrigerators, but no table to eat your food. You have to eat on the bed. The floor was covered in sand, which tracked into the bed. Between the food crumbs and sand, the bed became filthy after several days of no housekeeping.

There were ants constantly in the shower. Every time I took a shower, I had to kill all the ants and rinse them away.

The walls were filthy, marked up, peeling, and falling apart. They were in severe need of a spackle and paint job.

There are no overhead lights in the room. They only have two small lamps. This makes it very difficult to see inside the room.

There is no dresser or place to keep your clothes (like most non-luxury hotels have). They have a small bin inside the closet that you can fit a few folded shirts in.

OUTSIDE: The ground was littered with garbage outside my room. What do you expect when they have no garbage cans?

The vending machines and ice machine are in an area that closes at 9pm. This is the same time their restaurant closes. After 9pm, good luck getting a soda or a snack. BUT, the vending machines and ice machine were all broken anyway. No surprise here.

See my separate review on their restaurant.

OVERALL: This is NOT a luxury resort, as falsely advertised. Even basic, low-end motels have daily housekeeping, garbage cans, a table in the room, lights in the room, and working vending machines. The owners here clearly have no desire to spend any money on this place. This is just a money grab for them and they provide nothing in return other than a dirty place to sleep. The ONLY good thing about this hotel is the scenery, which I can't even give the hotel credit for.

The Department of Health needs to intervene and shut this place down. I will be...

We came in a large group, and received a variety of rooms.... Not all are the same that's for sure. The room I had was good, separated small living space with bedroom and large bathroom. Our small group really enjoyed our room. It turned out we must've had an accessible room. Which is funny, because the most elderly person in our group who would've needed the accessible room ended up with a room which was dangerous for her. It was only a shower, no mat of any kind, no place to put soap or anything, and was afraid of slipping and falling with nothing around to hold on to. We would've switched but she was in a single room and we were two in ours. The rest of our party seemed happy with their rooms, with decent views.

Continental breakfast was a joke. Their sign said: "tea, coffee, fruit, muffins, pastries". There was no tea, there were zero pastries or fruit, not even a napkin in sight. The jug for hot water (and probably tea) just poured out cold water. Only food available was a chocolate or blueberry muffin, and coffee. It's continental yes, but poor execution given the sign stating options they were supposed to have and just didn't. If we knew beforehand we would've been able to find somewhere for breakfast instead of wasting our time. As a big group, it's difficult to get in places short notice. One of our party brought this up to the receptionist but they said there wasn't anything they could do. Of course it's not their fault, but they should've at least brought this up to their manager given the price paid for the rooms and that breakfast was included.

The private beach is nice, but then again it takes away from the public who could otherwise use the beach so take your pick on that. The private pool looked nice but had no shade so getting burnt is a given. Their restaurant was okay, but insane prices and the lobster had no flavour. The rest of our group had good food. They had this sort of thatched/open awning over the seating as there wasn't really any indoor seating, that gave the illusion of shade. But, I discovered I had a horrible sunburn after being out there only an hour or so. The illusion of shade had me thinking I'd be okay.

Given our large party paid thousands for three nights, this hotel was sub-par. The hallways were hot and had no air con, although the rooms were nice and cold. There was one ice machine but it was quite a ways from most of the rooms sort of tucked away. We had to ask to find it because we couldn't when we went looking. The location of this hotel is fine, it has good views of the ocean but is in no man's land, so you can't walk to a local pharmacy or supermarket as there's nothing for miles. The restaurants are all miles up or down either side, so you need a car to get to them and cannot walk. The closest brunch spot was about a 40 minute walk. If you like beach walks that's what you'd be doing to get anywhere. Will not stay here...