Wylder Hotel Tilghman Island — Hotel in Tilghman Island

I rarely write reviews. When I do, I try to be balanced. It's difficult to be objective when you are locked out of the hotel and have no means of contacting the hotel staff. When it seems like one's only options are sleeping outside or calling the police for assistance, it tends to color one's judgement. Wylder, why is there no way that guests can get in touch with staff after 8PM? I'll explain in greater detail below.

In short, the Wylder has potential, but as other reviewers have noted, there is an overall lack of care and/or thought put into the guest experience. I'll list the pros and cons.

Pros: Tickler's Crab Shack: I echo the sentiments of others that the food is good, as is the view from the patio.

Location: There is a view of the bay from most parts of the hotel.

Dog Friendly: There were plenty of dogs on the property and they generally felt welcome.

Cons: Rooms: Although our room was updated to provide a nautical feel, the bathroom fixtures appear to be original, the TV is miniscule and lacked basic channels (such as ESPN), and the room was incredibly cramped.

The Pool: For a hotel of its size, the Wylder's pool is very modestly sized, located far away from any restrooms, and was overcrowded. I estimate that there are roughly 15 beach chairs, which were always occupied.

The Service: The reception is only manned from 8 AM - 8 PM, after which, hotel staff are unreachable. The main hotel line is only answered during those hours. If you have a problem outside of these hours (for instance, a toilet clogging, or A/C failing) there is NO way to get in touch with staff. I've never encountered this at a hotel, and it was unlikely to be relevant absent a mishap. Unfortunately, we DID have a mishap.

While most rooms have exterior facing doors, the room to which we were assigned was in the main building above the lobby. When we were taken to our room, we were brought through the interior of the lobby and up stairs. The staffer who checked us in did not inform us of any other methods of entry. We figured that, like most hotels, the lobby would remain open 24 hours. Around 11 PM that evening, we were enjoying one of the firepits outside with our dog. Numerous guests were out and about, but Tickler's had closed and there were no visible staff on the grounds.

Ready to turn in for the night, we found that ALL of the main level floor doors had been locked, leaving us with no apparent way to get back into the main building and access our hotel room. We could not locate any staff on site. The provided room key (or amenity key) did not work on any of the main floor locks. No staff member had come around to tell us that they were locking up the main floor, nor did anyone inform us of any other entry points. Further, there was no main floor signage indicating how to obtain access to our rooms.

Typically, hotels have a security guard or other staffer at the main desk or on the property at all times - not the case at the Wylder.

I called the hotel main line at 11:30PM, found it was unmanned after 8PM and never received a call back. Faced with the prospect of sleeping outside, we were fairly upset and on the verge of calling the police. Around midnight, my enterprising partner, through trial and error, found another entrance (which required going up stairs on the front of the property, going inside through a side building and back out again, through private balconies on the back side of the property and back around to the front side of the property). It seemed that the Wylder had a policy in place of leaving only a hard-to-reach second floor door unlocked for after hours access to our block of rooms. However, we were never informed of this policy and there was no readily visible signage making this clear.

This is unacceptable for any hotel, let alone one that markets itself as upscale (with prices to match). While we ultimately made it back to our hotel room after an hour or so, the experience just underlined the overall sense I got that the guest experience is not a priority...

This is a SOFT-OPENING review.

We had a fishing charter booked with Hard Ball for Sunday morning 4/29/18. We arrived first thing Saturday hoping to beat the traffic and we did. As soon as we got out and stretched our legs we were greeted by a gentleman named John. He was enthusiastic and eager to help. We later learned that he is the new owner and bought the place back in October. He showed us to the restrooms and offered us coffee, milk, juice etc. but we just got off the road and wanted something with a little more punch. He was pickin up what we were puttin down and said "How about two Bloody Mary's?" NOW we're talking! We sat down and he brought them over and said they're on the house. On top of being free they were amazing. When we were ready, he showed us the front office location and where to check in. So far this crew is on point!

We checked in and were taken to our room for the beginning of a great weekend. Over the next two days we were treated wonderfully by John and his still learning but well-trained staff. When we asked about getting a pitcher of Orange Crushes for after the bar closed Sunday night, we were not dismissed or waived off because Katie did not want to deal with it. She asked management if it was possible, what the charge was, how many drinks it would contain etc. THAT is great service and what will set this place apart from all of the chain hotels! When we returned after dinner she had two pitchers, Sprite, cups, straws, and orange garnish in a Yeti cooler full of ice waiting for us in our room. WOW! Kudos to Katie and her attention to detail! Little things like this are why we are coming back when this place is in full swing.

I could go on and on about each experience but it would exceed the character limit here on Google. Below are my highlights from this soft-opening.

*FREE bikes to use if you want to ride around the island. We took two for a ride Saturday morning and went down to the point and back. As a cyclist I noted that each was perfectly tuned and comfortable for the average rider. *FREE kayak, paddle board, and two-seater canoe for you to use. *FREE firewood peppered across the estate for you to use at the multiple fire rings. This is really cool since it allows you to mingle with other guests as you're sipping cocktails or exchanging fishing stories from your charter. Also, John made sure that the fires were lit by the time we came back from dinner and I also saw him lighting one for another couple. Great service yet again! *The food, while limited due to the soft-opening, was delicious. We sampled their crab cakes, fried oysters and burgers. Everything was tasty and you can expect more to come from this chef in a few weeks. *If you sail your boat here you can dock it for free as long as you are spending a night in the hotel. I can't wait to do this...leave Havre de Grace in the morning, sail to Tilghman Island, grab lunch at Bar Mumbo or Ticklers Crab Shack when they open up, then sail back Sunday afternoon. *I am fairly certain they said that there would be a raw bar opening as well. So for food they will have a full and more formal menu at the bar inside, an outdoor crab shack on the deck sitting on the water, AND a raw bar with oyster selections in the sun room?! I can't wait... *They have a beautiful secluded in ground heated saltwater pool with refreshments at a small tiki type bar.

Overall this place is doing great things and I can't wait to see them succeed once everything is up and running. I am trying to talk the fiancee into coming back in June just to see the changes. If John can execute what was expressed to us, this will be THE destination to go to on the Chesapeake.

I was told that the grand opening should be ready by...

The marketing team for this hotel deserves a raise for how well they catfish people. I booked a two night stay for my partner and I to celebrate our anniversary after seeing the website and social media posts thinking this would be a cute and relaxing getaway. The most relaxing part was checking out early and driving home.

The rooms: I paid over $600 for a queen bed with partial water view. The room was tiny and I am still convinced the bed was a full (we sleep on a queen every night and this was noticeably smaller). The rooms also did not feature a luggage rack, mini fridge, or coffee maker, standard for most hotel rooms. As soon as we walked in, we had to kill two mosquitos and a moth. The bathrooms were visibly dated and the shower was practically a shoebox. I am 5’6 and not a big person and I couldn’t move around in it. The shampoo and body wash were very obviously watered down to try to extend their lives. The shower curtain was stained with mildew, and this was the biggest shock of all—there were NO towel hooks in the entire space. Besides one bar for drying one towel, there were literally no other hooks to hang towels/swim suits/anything on. A mystery to me as the hotel is on the water and has a pool? The room was also located next to the stairs/door which very loudly closed every time someone opened it.

The pool: From the pictures, the saltwater pool looks large and accommodating. It is not. Not to mention, there is a big shortage of chairs despite the fact that there is plenty space for the hotel to provide additional chairs/seating/umbrellas. When we got to the pool, there were no seats available—parties and families were having to sit multiple people to one chair and my partner and I literally laid our towels on the grass so we could go for a swim. Yes, this is a waterfront property, but you really can’t swim in the bay off the property—only kayak or paddleboard. So, if you want to cool off from the heat, the only option is the pool which was way too small to accommodate the amount of people staying at the hotel. Not to mention some guests were there playing music loudly and disturbing other guests.

Ticklers: We went to dinner at the restaurant on site. We had a reservation and were sat in a timely manner and greeted by a server who took drink orders and then we literally didn’t see her again for at least 25 minutes. We ordered a draft beer and a lemonade—not any fancy cocktails or blended drinks that take long to make. The food was great, but again took forever to arrive—a server even came over to apologize that it would be longer because they dropped the steak that we ordered and hade to remake it. The final straw was really when we ordered a slice of cake to go so we could eat it back in our room as we were getting eaten alive by mosquitos and we were completely forgotten about—we waited for another 30 minutes before someone finally brought it out to us after asking to check on it with multiple servers. There was no offer to comp the cake or anything for that matter and to really seal the deal, when we got back to the room to enjoy the cake, they didn’t even provide utensils or a napkin, so we had to eat it with our hands.

We slept there that night and as soon as we woke up, checked out a day early. It wasn’t even worth the $300/ night to stay there another night.

Avoid like the plague. Bad rooms, terrible service, the only redeeming quality was the water view but not even that was worth $600. I’ve stayed in motels that are nicer. Beyond...