Bel Air Motel — Hotel in Wildwood Crest

My $500 room cost $700. Bait and switch pricing is the main reason this review is one star. They charge PER PERSON. Not per room, per person. If I had simply lied and said I was staying alone, we'd have saved $270. When they asked how many guests were staying, I thoughtlessly answered four since one of our friends who had booked a separate room for the following night came down early and was bunking with us. Upon hearing that, they tacked an extra ninety dollars onto my bill on the spot and acted like they had caught me trying to trick them or something. Of course, if I had actually tried to trick them, I would have saved a lot of money! But that would never occur to me because hotels don't charge by the guest, they charge by the room. Just not the Bel Air Motel apparently. I would have been less mad if they hadn't taken an accusatory tone during this interaction, but then again if they had been up front with this information I probably would never have booked this motel. They don't list their pricing structure or their hidden fees on their website. Parking is also extra, but that's perfectly reasonable given the tiny parking lot at this place. But again, when we had to ask the front desk about accommodations for our friends who were driving separately, the woman who I assume is the owner just got all sharp with us. I've never stayed at a motel that was run like this, and I never want to again.

And that's a shame because the building itself is really cool! It's extremely '50s in its design and layout, the rooms have air conditioning but the building was designed without it so the windows all have shade curtains and the doors and windows have hand cranked louvers for letting in fresh air. There are big picture windows, some of which you can see a sliver of ocean out of, and there are even porthole lights, which don't work and seem to have had their switches removed. Every louvered opening has a screen, which is held in with brackets, which are held on with screws, which are all loose so the screens all hang crooked or fall off. Some of the brackets are the wrong size, so the screens don't even fit properly. My room had a kitchenette with a wall mount for a fire extinguisher, but the fire extinguisher was on the floor because the bracket, which was mounted to the stucco wall using anchored screws, had worked its way out of the wall completely. One of the burners on my two burner stove also didn't work. So the building itself is cool, it's just run poorly.

I read a bunch of other reviews from people speculating the owners are brand new to the hospitality industry, and these details along with others I've left out for brevity lead me to the same conclusion. Don't stay here until it...

My family has been coming to Wildwood do over 30 years never had a bad experience with a motel we aren't coming back, to this place and most of the regulars aren't either based on conversations. The new management made it extremely inhospitable and unwelcoming. It's not cleaned regularly and it's overall a very poor experience. When we got there, we checked in early was told maid was cleaning room now would be ready soon the room wasn't ready until after 3 and the manager told us that we needed to pay an extra $156 a night because we added an extra day. This was the cost and they wouldn’t make us change room as originally planned. I would rather of changed rooms than pay more per night for reservation already made The room we get sleeps 6 we had 5 and our invoice included 5 guests. I was told we could park our second vehicle at night for free when complaining about the extra rate charged to credit card and second deposit took morning of check in because we added a night we had to repay a deposit unheard of so basically I said to Owner Lucy your charging us $1000 for one night then her husband jumped out of a door and said yes you have to pay more for each night it’s new reservation I was told I could not obtain a new invoice they didn’t have a printer I asked for email and was told no I would be given a breakup by 2pm I said I would like breakdown at 3pm I had to go to office e to find Lucy who called her daughter in therefore I could not argue with her. That night her husband left me a voicemail I could part my car for extra 100 a night I said I’d rather pay a meter. That I wasn’t paying there unauthorized upgrade price either I had already called my credit card company they laughed. I wonder if their laughing now my credit card company reimbursed for original and only invoice provided to me like I advised them.

Our sofa bed wasn't supplied with sheets, even though we had people who needed to sleep there. There were definitely not enough towels given daily only 3 when the reservation was made for 5 we had to ask for towels. So on top of Having to almost beg the staff for towels, we received maid service once even though we asked for it daily. The office and room had a peculiar smell and very out dated.

The pool was cleaned every morning. They didn't test the Ph, and just poured gallons of chlorine in one corner.

I do not think they know how to run a motel, and the quality of the Bel Air has gone down. We will not be coming back, and you should not come here. It feels like they are trying to pay off motel after the summer with all extra surprise charges for guests after checking in dam well knowing it was hard to find other...

Revising my original review

I came here looking for recent reviews to see if anything had improved from our last stay, but it seems that it has not. I have been coming to the Bel Air Motel for more than 10 years and like the other recent posts I will not be coming back. I did not realize until we arrived that management/ownership had changed.

For years we have come down for multiple, quick two or three day trips during the summer. When we arrived for a one-night stay we were met by a child who was working the front desk. She did not have a room available for us and told us to come back. When we came back later in the day at the scheduled check-in time we were told there was no room available. I then asked to speak with someone else. A very rude woman finally came out of the back. She told me I did not have a reservation, in which I showed her the confirmation email from booking online. She then proceeded to say there was one room available, but it was not ready. We then waited another hour at the pool. When the room was ready we walked into a 1 bed, tiny end room, there were four of us. I then went back to the front desk where I was told that there is another room that had not been checked into, but that person would be upset to have to change rooms. It was the most bizarre, unprofessional, disgustingly rude conversation back and forth about how I didn't have a real reservation, I booked too late, the other customer booked that room, and so on until I had to demand that room or to refund me on the spot and I would go elsewhere.

At some point a gentleman who at least had the common decency to not be outright rude approached and got us the keys for the open room.

I was in such disbelief that the sweet family run motel was taken over by people who have no clue how to run a business or even have a thread of professionalism. I am saddened that we will not be returning. It is an outdated, old motel (like most in wildwood) but it was always clean, the owners were just so sweet, and it is a perfect location, and always a reasonable price.

Truly so sad that the new ownership over the past 2 years has run a wonderful place to stay into the ground. I hope they learn that people stay there for the hospitality. The price has significantly increased and the service...