The Madison Fire Island Pines — Hotel in Town of Brookhaven

I stayed a couple nights in June and overall I liked this place. It was about $700 a night for a weekend stay- Saturday and Sunday night. It seemed a little on the expensive side but I know there are limited options in Fire Island Pines.

I liked:

The rooms were amazing- loved the bright white everywhere and the white curtains. It was relaxing and amazing. Modern and nice everything. Definitely a unique place. Loved the space on the second floor overlooking the pool. And there was a cool area on the third floor with amazing views of all of Fire Island Pines. Was nice to just relax up there for awhile. Had chairs and a table. Big nice beach towels they provided. The pool was amazing. They had redone the decks it looked like so that was nice. Chairs and tables all over were nice to have. Breakfast was very good- and there were more options available than I thought there might be. The second day it took the cook awhile to acknowledge I was there waiting which was a little strange. I loved the lighted pool with color at night- very cool. Loved the little laser light setup at the entrance and the LED lights along the walkway- very cool look at night. Very nice greeting and easy checkin by someone that was waiting in the pool area. Steps away from the ferry dock which was extremely nice given you have to walk to your hotel as there are no cars to take you. Being close to center of town was very nice.

Suggestions for improvement:

I was in Garden room A- I'm not sure where the garden was because I could see the pool on one side (which was amazing) and a small area with some bamboo trees on the other (guessing that was the garden). I noticed on what was the garden side that there was lots of debris from wood construction work (guessing for the new deck). Would have been nice to have all that cleaned out. There were some old stairs that were just kind of laying there. Just not the best view. The overhead lights in the room had half the bulbs out. Not sure if they just burned out or there was an electrical issue going on. There were a couple dimmer switches in the room and bathroom- neither worked and seemed to be missing pieces of the switch. Would be good to have that functional to set the mood in the room at night. Not a lot of storage area/ counter space in the bathroom but I made it work. Some areas needed a little touch up work. It's such a cool space- just needed a little more attention to detail. There were suitcases and just all kinds of stuff in the main living area which was strange to me. Just seemed like it needed to be cleaned out and organized some. The jacuzzi was not working which was a little disappointing.

Overall I did love the place and...

The Madison was everything. A warm welcome from Mike and Lincoln who truly give meaning to hospitality and professionalism. Immediate responses to questions and needs were provided and solution driven. Vaccination Required (for now). Memorial Day Weekend didn't promise sunshine, just rain...and rain it did!! In spite, a quiet and fab weekend away was had! And, lucky me, left feeling the warmth and caring of these two special people who said not to worry that my friends couldn't make it... that, I would have fun and not feel alone. Relaxed at the long communal table, met the guests passing through...all super friendly while waiting for my room. Toured the property admiring how tasteful, well organized and maintained everything was with many special seating areas to enjoy. Loved the private home feeling you get yet you have privacy...the rooftop deck with overlook of large well lit pool and view of the jacuzzi which you pass as you enter property down the winding treelined lit path...very sexy. Garden area w/grill was perfect for some steaks a few of us grabbed one night from the market nearby and had a nice dinner and conversation at the communal table. Mike whipped up a fresh breakfast each day as conversation with other seasonal repeat guests was rampant and fun. The ferry, restaurants, market and retail stores all 5 minutes in one direction and the beach 5 minutes opposite...what more could you ask for! Such a beautiful guest house that felt like home well after I left...leaving was difficult. I told Mike, "the Madison B, cozy corner king, with its modern simplicity and fab linens will be requested again and again by me!! He laughed and said, "we have other nice ones too", I replied, "ok, ok, ok" maybe I'll cheat on my favorite room and...

I booked my stay at the Madison which was a nice experience. I also called tell them when I was arriving. When I did arrived there were two other people waiting to check in. They said that they did not know where the check in staff were. We waited about 35 mins. There was a number indicated on the front desk that we could call if no one was available but it kept going through to the voicemail. We finally found another number as a result of digging through the draws and called it. Some guy answered and he was clearly having drinks at a bar. We tried to explain the situation but he could not hear. So he put the phone down. So we tried calling again. No answer. Then we called again and the guy shouted that he'd be there soon. Then two drunk guys arrived to let us in with no real aplology. Completely unprofesssional and not what I would expect from a hotel where you are paying at least 250 per night for the cheap rooms. When explaining this to the manager, he did not seem to care at all and said the people were busy tending to other properties. I won't be staying here again until I get a proper apology from the managers of this place. Terrible. UPDATE: I'm not sure if the manager saw this review but he said he would give me 10pc off the bill. Hopefully this is in addition to the 10pc already offered when I booked for being a returning customer. I feel a bit of a prick writing this bad review but I think...