Sandy Shore Motel — Hotel in Westerly

The good and the bad:

We arrived on Monday. The girl in the office at check-in (Gabby) was very nice but they provided no information as far as the restaurant, wifi, parking, rules, etc. This is usually provided at check-in or is in the room.

The room smelled clean and the view of the beach was great! We had a 3rd floor king room directly facing the beach but every room has a view. Let me say that location is this motel's best feature.

We saw a sign that said no coolers on the beach. I asked a housekeeper for clarification and she was really rude. I guess you can't bring alcohol on the beach because they have a beach bar. Just hide your drinks and walk a few feet over toward Paddy's. Alcohol is allowed there. I will say though that the beach at Sandy Shore is MUCH cleaner than the beaches nextdoor where people don't hesitate to litter.

When we were getting settled in the room, we noticed a couple of things: they don't have phones in the room, which wouldn't be a big deal except it means you don't have a direct line to housekeeping or the front desk. They also had no tissues in the room. I googled the hotel's number and called from my cell and was told they didn't provide tissues but could give us extra toilet paper. Great. Pretty cheap. I have never seen this before.

About the room: Upon initial inspection, it seemed clean, but as our stay continued, I noticed cobwebs on the lamp and an accumulation of dust and hair between the bed and wall. They need to do better. Yuck. And the housekeepers solicit tips via an envelope that has clearly been reused (as we come out of covid).

The room was spartan and required minor repairs such as replacing trim, repairing dings in the bathroom wall from the doorknob, cracked floor tiles; nothing major though. Everything worked. The bed was actually pretty comfortable and the shower was fine. The vanity was very small so it's hard to do makeup and such.

Fyi - parking and wifi are included but breakfast is not. Parking is very convenient and wifi is ok for a motel.

The first night, we had dinner at the restaurant across the street, which they own. This is where they advertise their breakfast. At check-in, you get a 5% off coupon for this place. Wow. The service sucked. See my review of Gino's by the Beach. The lobster bisque and quesadillas rocked. The clam chowder didn't.

That night we went to their beach bar. It was AWESOME! Prices were not outrageous for a beach bar. Drinks were really good and bartenders were better! Thanks so much to Ash and Joey for the fun time! This is their strength.

My only complaint about the bar is the music. It's a beach bar. They should be playing beach music. Instead, they let customers request music which may bother other customers. I got really sick of hearing Metallica. There are plenty of beachy playlists. I urge them to use them.

Day 2, housekeeping took our dirty towels but didn't replenish them. They also didn't replenish our toilet paper and I had to ask for more.

We went nextdoor to Paddy's Beach Club for dinner, which is highly rated. Granted it's the beginning of the season, but it mostly sucked. See my review of them as well.

Day 3, we spent more time at the beach then went to dinner at Andrea's. Food was good. Service was ok. See my review for more.

On the last morning, we had no problems checking out. The bill was accurate.

Please note: other people have complained about the noise. In our room, you could hear a lot of road noise, but we were right above the intersection. We could hear the waves through our front window, which was lovely! But we were there before 4th of July weekend so this tells me that, busy weekends, you will hear people. The balcony is shared and people like to sit outside.

All in all, we stayed here because we wanted to be on the beach. It was fine. It's nothing great but it's serviceable if you want to be AT the beach. I would go back, just understand that this is a motel. It's not luxurious, but it's convenient and we had fun in spite of sub-par dining...

We stayed in the Economy Apartment (Room A6) at Sandy Shore Motel with our family — a toddler and two adult sons. We tried to stay optimistic and make it work, but overall this isn’t an ideal spot for families — at least not right now.

The location is great — you’re right on the beach. And the kitchenette actually saved us, since so many nearby restaurants were closed or not serving food yet. The full-size fridge was a big plus, and the Samsung oven was surprisingly nicer than the one we have at home.

But there were some real issues:

-No hot water when we arrived. It kicked on about 15 minutes after we called the front desk. Later that night, the shower went ice cold mid-rinse, then blasted scalding hot. There’s no tub — just a shower — so this was a serious safety concern for our toddler.

-No phone in the room to contact the front desk. You have to walk down or use your cell, which is a first for us in any hotel/motel.

-WiFi didn’t work inside the room — only when standing outside.

-No chain lock on the door, and the window locks looked broken, which made us uneasy, especially being just steps from the ocean with a little one.

-When we arrived, someone said, “You must be our family,” which told us families aren’t typical guests here.

Checkout isn’t until 11, but we left around 8 AM — I just like to get up and go on the last day of a trip. There was no one in the office when we left, so we dropped our keycards in the box and let a kid working outside know we were checking out. It was simple, but still felt pretty informal.

That said, the bartender was kind and accommodating — she played a few songs we requested and said the closures were due to weather. She was one of the highlights of the trip.

🏖 A Broader Note:

This isn’t just about Sandy Shore Motel. It feels like Misquamicut as a whole is still struggling to bounce back — maybe from COVID, maybe just a slow season — but a lot of places were closed even right after Memorial Day weekend.

To be clear: that’s not the motel’s fault, but it does impact the guest experience. It makes it harder for the places that are open to deliver a full vacation vibe.

We also noticed the ice cream shop was closed at 1 PM on a beautiful beach day — disappointing after telling the kids we'd get ice cream. The nearby “convenience” store had very little stock, especially when it came to cold treats. It's another example of how the area's limited offerings affect even the simplest parts of a family trip.

🌊 Final Thought:

Despite the setbacks, I still had a great time. Being with my family near the ocean meant more to me than any of the frustrations. At times it felt like the area was conspiring to ruin the trip — but I didn’t let it. I was just happy to be by the beach with the people I love, and that made it...

DO NOT STAY HERE

Don’t normally share negative feedback about a business, especially a family owned business. I have never experienced such gross service from a hotel. My boss and I travel weekly and are accustomed to staying in hotels of this price range.

At first glance the hotel was what you would expect from a Misquamicut Beach Hotel, it didn’t appear super clean. My boss and I were there for a business trip so we decided to stay and check in since we had already paid for the rooms we were staying in.

When we checked into our rooms things quickly went down hill, my room smelt like feces and a multi legged, cooper colored bug scurried and the bed was concave. Nicole’s room had a strong marijuana odor.

Within a few minutes we decided the rooms were just too gross to stay so we went back to the office where we encountered the same receptionist that checked us in. While she was kind, it quickly became apparent that she could not help us, there was no manager on duty during check in hours. She explained only the owner could help. He had just left so she called him, this is when the experience became downright awkward. The owner was obviously mean to her and hung up the phone on her. She tried her best to help us, she called him a number of times and finally he said he would turn around and that we would have to wait for him. We waited almost an hour.

During that time the receptionist offered my room to another guest.

When the owner finally arrived he couldn’t have been less professional, he wouldn’t shake my hand and would only address my boss. Won’t get into any assumptions on why he wouldn’t talk to me, at first I tried to shake his hand, he glanced at me and then directed his attention away from my hand. He refused to issue us a refund and demanded we leave.

The rooms were smelly and bug infested, they re-sold my room and refused to give our money back.

All in all, this experience was nothing short of unprofessional and negative not to mention the unsanitary conditions of the rooms. Would recommend staying far away...