Hotel LBI — Hotel in Ship Bottom

This hotel has some (not all) of the worst staff behind the front desk, namely, Chelsea. What a sourpuss— unpleasant, smug, cold, beyond mean, and an unacceptable attitude.

Julie, the manager, is a bit patronizing, especially when she said “check back and check with me tomorrow and I’ll see what I can do.” Knowing full well she intended to do absolutely nothing. Both of these employees should be fired.

If you want someone who is kind and will greet you like they value you, speak with Maddie, Juliana or Ryan, they are truly nice people and wanna help— sadly they couldn’t— but, they were kind in the process.

Context:

We booked a king room with a balcony, when we checked in we were put in a handicap room— which we did NOT book. After being told by the rude Chelsea, who, by the way— shouldn’t be working in the hotel/motel business— that she couldn’t do anything for us. I finally got to speak with the manager, Julie, (Not any nicer) She said she would try to move us the next day: “so come see me.”When I checked in with her the next day she wouldn’t even come out to speak with me, instead she sent that mean, sour face, unpleasant Chelsea to tell me, “we can move you.”

Trust me, if you book a room here, double, no, triple check that it’s not a handicap room. Of course I do understand some people need them, but quite frankly it makes zero sense why the handicap room is much smaller AND has a tub, what??!! AND, the nice non-handicap room is much more spacious and has a large shower. The good news is, you can have this room for mere $600 + bucks a night. I truly feel like we’ve been punked.

Insult to injury, I was told by Julie and the awful Chelsea, “we are at full capacity.” Not five minutes later I was downstairs taking out a bike (nice feature) when a couple walked up to get towels saying they were going to hang at the pool while they find them a room. Wait, WHAT??!! What happened to “we have no rooms, we are at full capacity.” This couple mentioned being told, “ Don’t worry, go enjoy the pool and we will find you a nice room.”

This is so incredibly beyond awful. Well, certainly no way to run a hotel/motel. Seems to me it would be in their best interests to accommodate guests who are staying 10 + days, but Instead, they do not seem to care, or try in any way to correct their mistake. SO, you can only imagine how I felt when the couple come in saying they’re just waiting for a room.

So very awful and upsetting. Will never stay in this place again.

Oh, and let me please mentioned the location— TRAFFIC NOISE NONE STOP. The hotel is located right when you come on to the island, and go off the island— so you get it coming and going. The rooms are on either side of the main road, A COMPLETE EYESORE AND NOISY. I’m telling you— don’t waste your money on their place.

We went over and checked out Daddy-O. While a bit less polished up, it’s definitely more charming, and close to the beach, so way better location. Had this dump allowed us to cancel our other 7 days here we would have moved. Lesson learned— will never stay in this awful place again.

DON’T STAY HERE.

PS I have to give a mention to the very kind and helpful, Jandry— he’s amazing!

PPS the reply to a lot of the reviews states “we are a boutique hotel” this is in NO WAY a boutique hotel. Some of the other reviews say, it’s more like a dresses up motel— thins walls (you hear everything) cheap furniture (no boutique hotel I’ve stayed in would have this cheap stuff.) Cheap pillows, everything is just cheaply made. AND, worst of all, the sink is outside the bathroom— right near the bed— so if there are two of you and your hours are different and you don’t wanna wake up the other person, then you’ll have to get ready in the dark. And again, the location is awful. Oh, and can I mention again how awful Chelsea and Julie are?!!

PPPS in response to the response: we confirmed with the person who booked our room and she was adamant that she definitely DID NOT book a handicap room. New management at this hotel/motel would be nice and Chelsea...

I think this is an average hotel with a facelift. Everything is very aesthetically pleasing - rooms have beautiful floors, stylish doors, stylish furniture, beautiful kitchens, and places like the lobby, the pool, and the fitness center are equally beautiful, but after the initial shock you begin to realize it’s more average than you originally thought. The rooms, for example, have extremely cheap paper products in them (tissues/paper towels/toilet paper) along with cheap towels both in the kitchen and in the bathroom. The free soaps they also give are right out of a cheap hotel too. At an average of $300+ a night it would be nice for those items to feel and be more premium. Also the location, while nice, is kinda in the middle of a highway which makes walking places harder than if you rented a house closer to the water. Then comes the room design itself - you can hear your upstairs neighbors walking, some road noise/hall noise, there is only 1 place in the bathroom to hang a single towel even in a room that sleeps 6, and the shower can only be turned on when inside so every shower starts off cold. Not exactly a premium experience. The pool hours are also questionable. Check in is at 4pm and out at 11am, but the pool hours are 10am to 8pm so if you check in at 4 and immediately go to the pool for 4:30 you have (at the maximum) 3.5 hours to use it before closure since most people aren’t going to go an hour before checkout. Sure if you stay multiple days your access increases, but I feel like they should have it open until 10pm like most hotels. Towards the end of our stay we actually found a sign at the pool with the new hours taped over the old ones so it looks like at one point they agreed and the hours were 6am to 10pm. Strange how they changed them. Anyway, on the positive side the staff is great, many rooms have great accessibly, everything feels and looks clean, the restaurants are nice, the pool has a brilliant layout with a bar, the rooftop is stunning/epic and perfect for weddings, and I absolutely would stay here again. But if you stay please just realize it’s beautiful, but average quality and facelifts...

I wanted to give Salt a positive review because the food and wine were enjoyable, but unfortunately, the overall experience fell far short of expectations.

The evening began with an unpleasant encounter with the valet attendant, Joe, who aggressively insisted that I valet my car. When I declined, he followed me upstairs, into the building, and all the way to the restaurant, which was highly inappropriate. This escalation forced me to call for a manager. A young woman, who refused to provide her name but claimed to be the manager, addressed the situation. However, her demeanor and appearance made it difficult to take her claim seriously. I was then informed that self-parking was not an option and was left with no guidance on where else I could park, despite the hotel being located in a constrained area atop a bridge circle.

Dinner itself was pleasant, and while the staff made an effort to upsell wine, it was within reason and expected. However, the experience deteriorated again when the restaurant began shutting down around us—despite the fact that we, along with other patrons, were still dining. We were informed they closed at 9:00 PM and were directed to finish our wine at the hotel bar.

The bar environment was chaotic, crowded with wedding guests, and the loud music gave the impression we were intruding on a private reception. Seeking a quieter space, we attempted to sit by the fireplace, only to encounter an unwelcoming scene: people with bare feet propped up on the coffee table, creating an unsanitary and unprofessional atmosphere.

To cap off the disappointing evening, the valet service was closed by the time we were ready to leave. After being pressured to valet earlier in the evening, we were forced to return to the front desk and wait for staff to locate our keys.

Overall, while the food and wine at Salt were enjoyable, the unprofessional conduct, poor management of parking logistics, and inconsiderate handling of closing hours significantly marred the experience. I hope the management takes steps to address these issues to better serve their guests...