The Palms Hotel Fire Island — Hotel in Town of Islip

The issues were immediate upon our arrival. At 8:30 we arrived to Ocean Beach via the ferry and walked straight to the hotel. Ten minutes later we found our hotel room (Sutton Place); however, could not find where to check in. We ended up calling the main number to the property to find the main desk where we did eventually check in. We checked in with the Palms showing them an e-mail print out of our confirmation reserving the Sutton Place Suite. We were not made aware of any issue with our room at this time. We were told that we could leave our luggage and would receive a call when our room was ready. If we were informed of the issue with our room at this time, we would have had all day to find another option. It was after 3pm and we had not received a call from the hotel. I called the front desk and was informed that our room was ready. We picked up the keys and proceeded to the room. The keys we received opened the stairway to the room, but did not open the door to Sutton Place Suite. Due to this inconvenience, we could not access our room. We called the office at 4:25 and told them the room key did not work. They said they would send someone to assist us; if they did send someone, they never made it to our room. We took it upon ourselves to go back to the bay beach where earlier we had met the only worthwhile employee at the Palms Hotel, Chuck. I would like to thank Chuck for his help and I think if this hotel had more employees like Chuck it would run a lot smoother. Chuck opened the door to Sutton Place Suite but it was not our luggage that was in the room. He called the main office and advised us to go there to straighten this out. We went back to the office and the woman at the desk named Mary said, “that’s what happens when you book with Expedia”. She told us that the room was already booked by another group. In addition, that same group already checked in and that it was an issue on Expedia’s side. No apology. They offered us a different room that they said was an “upgrade”, which cost $1,000 more than the suite we originally booked. While walking to the new room with management, I told the manager that I had called ahead of time to have a pack ’n play in the room. The manager who accompanied me said she would bring a pack ‘n play. By this time, it was 5:00 and our 18-month-old baby really needed a break. No one ever brought one to the room so I had to go back to the main office in order to get one. The new “upgraded” room was far from any upgrade I would consider. The room was street level and had zero view of any water. There was a small patio with a bistro table to eat at but it was literally broken. There were also cans of hot garbage sitting right next to it from God knows where. This room being an extreme disappointment is an understatement. A couple of female employees came for turn down service, to make the beds on the pull-out couches. They made one but did not make the second as they said that the pullout section was broken. They said they would look into it and be back. When they came back, they went into the room with the couch but never made it and nothing was repaired. When they came into the front room, we informed them that TV and refrigerator were not working. They said they would let Chuck know about the TV and refrigerator and left. On top of the broken TV, refrigerator AND pull-out couch, the toilet in the back room could be heard running all night. There was noticeable black mold on the ceiling in bathroom (shown in attached picture). There were not adequate blinds in the rooms, so there was no way to filter or block the light coming in from the street and we were on street level so you really need the blinds because of the neon lights and other lights outside on all night. The gate to the patio was not functioning properly (see pic). I called Expedia and was on the phone for 1 hr and 11 min of...

This was my first time ever coming to ocean beach, at 40+ years old I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t even know it existed. I was referred to this hotel by an associate and was told it would be the best spot to stay. I went online to reserve the room and felt I had read everything and was informed of what I wanted. Upon arrival I was given a room with two full sized beds but I went with my girlfriend so that immediately was a problem. Of course contacting the concierge was of no help and I partially understand that there were no other available rooms to accommodate the mistake but to tell me that your staff has no control of reservations made online, concerns me. Maybe you should change the way that is done so you can review it and also alert people that to avoid mistakes they should call and not make the reservation online, I made this reservation in February so there was plenty of time to fix this based on the fact that I put that only two people were coming. Below are the major complaints I had with the room.

The door was very difficult to open upon arrival, I had to throw my body weight into it to open it and my girlfriend couldn’t even do it, it took until day 2 to fix it and after that it was better, it should've been checked prior to arrival.

The bathroom is too small to operate in at all for tall (I’m 6’4”) people and hardly for her 5’3” height and should be redone to accommodate people properly. The sink is clearly clogged because you can't even run the water without it filling up. The shower curtain doesn't even reach the floor and allows water to soak the floor and since there’s hardly room to move around you are in that water completely because the towel doesn’t even fit in that area with the door also.

Two beds was not ideal for a couple but neither bed was comfortable at all and probably could use replacing more often than I imagine is done. You can feel the springs inside of it.

The kitchenette is outdated and useless, the refrigerator doesn't work right and had a puddle of water in it and is basically wasted space. The cabinetry is useless completely as no one seems to be renting long term otherwise they grab a cottage and not this closet of a room.

The drawers in the dresser were not cleaned out prior to arrival. There were tags from someone else's prior purchases in them. The nightstand is completely useless where it is in the corner at the end of the bed.

There's a metal frame sticking out from under one of the unnecessary beds that is dangerous and painful when you hit your foot on it. That should be fixed.

All in all I was very unhappy with the accommodations and will not be staying there again nor would I recommend it to anyone. It was very disappointing and it seems that there is no money spent on updating the rooms as the style is extremely outdated and...

Keep in mind we're talking about a "hotel" that are retrofitted old homes and was never built to be a real hotel. Consequently one has ZERO closets, they don't exit, no hooks or shelves in the bathrooms for towels or toiletries, amazingly inconsistent guest support. Rooms that every bed ( and we were in 3 different rooms) were old and worn out- Full size mattresses- imagine two adults sleeping in a full. We were moved twice to different rooms due to a maintenance issue. Instead of getting us in our new room same day, we were forced to leave our room in the am and not be able to be in the new room till after 6:30p - so we had no room for most of the day. Spent countless hours schlepping our bags back and forth to the main hotel - and despite their best efforts, managed to lose a bag transferring them back to the new ( 3rd) room. Service was inconsistent. The highlight was probably the free hot breakfast that is served across from the main hotel. However, the service there was highly inconsistent. Most of the help are young adults that are here in the country on work visas and are very nice and kind. But they aren't properly trained. The rooms were literally tiny, by even a NY standard, zero place to hang clothes, the largest storage part of the bathrooms was the toilet tank top. No towel bars or hooks or built in shelving in any of the three rooms. Our first room had a whole floor AC unit so no ability to control the temp for your own space. The second room had wall / window type AC that were literally above the beds- the third room had old and in need of replacement PTAC units that were beyond useful life. We were moved to a 3 bedroom "suite" with an efficiency kitchen. That room sold for $2000 per night. Yes there was a living room, but no place to hang clothes- not one hook in the room. Beds were still only full size and all had old mattresses. The blinds were broken in the main room. The sink in the second room clogged and never drained, the first room apparently had an upstairs guest that allowed water to escape from shower causing large leak into our below bathroom ceiling. Keep in mind $485 a night for a 12X10 room w old mattress, no shelf in shower, no towel rack per night room. |SO.... I would never stay there again for that kind of money. Actually I wouldn't stay there for half of that rate. Quite disappointed. 4 nights of torture. |I was told the old owners sold about 2 years ago to PE group and new managers. With some capital infusion of new beds, some additional built ins, better HVAC, better staff training and some desperately needed remodeling - it might make a difference.|I was constantly reminded that this is "Fire Island" as a reason to expect a poor product. I'll keep that in mind...