Madison Resort Royal Tower — Hotel in Wildwood Crest

So, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. I've stayed here twice... once about 4 years ago, and the second time was last summer (2023). This review and pictures is based off the second stay.

The office staff (whom are probably the owners, though not 100% sure), for the most part, were very nice. No issues with them. The housekeeping staff were equally nice, and responsive. If we needed something and saw them on the balcony, we would ask and they would help right away. Most spoke VERY LITTLE english, but that's fine. We made it work... they understood me, I understood them. Well deserving of good tipping after your stay. The negatives I'm going to list here have no reflection upon the staff, and again the housekeeping staff was wonderful.

The PROS... The pool is nice, heated and fairly big. No overcrowding issues. Also, the proximity of the hotel to the beach is RIGHT THERE. Walk right onto the beach. Sure, the walk down to the water is a fairly long walk, but most of the hotels are like that. Not the hotel's fault.

That's it for the PROS.

The CONS... The pool, while nice and big, was not always clean. As a matter-of-fact, most of the time you had all sorts of stuff floating in there. I don't mean nasty stuff, but like a cup here, and paper plate there, napkins, some stuff I had no idea what they were, probably blown in there. I understand things blow in there, but no one was cleaning the pool (that I could see at least).

The ppol also has this island in the middle. The island is cool, but if you have small kids you need to watch them because you can swim UNDER the island. And, if you're not careful, not make it through from one side to the other, and get basically caught under the island unable to surface. A drowning hazard. Its not terrible, but it is a hazard, and you need to be careful with small kids. Especially if you're the parent that lets your younger kids go in the pool by themselves (no lifeguard on hand).

The hot tub... TERRIBLE. Its supposed to be adults only. There's even a sign stating so. Guests were all hanging out in there like it was the family BBQ (not to mention people sitting around there eating). Adults, kids, couples all touchy-feely and making out... and the water was NASTY. Could not see the floor. I never set foot in it. But, you can see from my balcony view how overloaded it was, and how dirty the water was. This was EVERY DAY.

In the room...

The refrigerator didn't close all the way... all the plugs were loose and worn, making it hard for items to plug in and stay in... the shower curtain was missing some hooks so wasn't holding the curtain well, the shower curtain was also VERY long and would get soaked and then soak tyhe inside of the bathroom floor... the A/C control didn't reall work right, the room never cooled completely, and we even had a water leak from the A/C unit a floor above us that they had to correct... the hallway to the bathroom there was about 2"-2.5" step, and I can't tell you how many times I hit my toe on there... and lastly, a rather DANGEROUS situation, the balcony outside (and you can see this in the pictures I uploaded, there is a corner where the railing turns in and to follow the balcony edge. Right there there is a gao, very large gap, and small child can EASILY fall through. Forget about 1 or 2-year-old toddler, they'd have no chance. But even a small child up to maybe about 7 years old can fall through. Very dangerous. Something the hotel should address.

Overall, its a good budget choice if you need a place to stay and can't find anywhere else to stay. But, I think my family...

So, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. I've stayed here twice... once about 4 years ago, and the second time was last summer (2023). This review and pictures is based off the second stay.||The office staff (whom are probably the owners, though not 100% sure), for the most part, were very nice. No issues with them. The housekeeping staff were equally nice, and responsive. If we needed something and saw them on the balcony, we would ask and they would help right away. Most spoke VERY LITTLE english, but that's fine. We made it work... they understood me, I understood them. Well deserving of good tipping after your stay. The negatives I'm going to list here have no reflection upon the staff, and again the housekeeping staff was wonderful.||The PROS...|The pool is nice, heated and fairly big. No overcrowding issues. Also, the proximity of the hotel to the beach is RIGHT THERE. Walk right onto the beach. Sure, the walk down to the water is a fairly long walk, but most of the hotels are like that. Not the hotel's fault.||That's it for the PROS.||The CONS...|The pool, while nice and big, was not always clean. As a matter-of-fact, most of the time you had all sorts of stuff floating in there. I don't mean nasty stuff, but like a cup here, and paper plate there, napkins, some stuff I had no idea what they were, probably blown in there. I understand things blow in there, but no one was cleaning the pool (that I could see at least).||The ppol also has this island in the middle. The island is cool, but if you have small kids you need to watch them because you can swim UNDER the island. And, if you're not careful, not make it through from one side to the other, and get basically caught under the island unable to surface. A drowning hazard. Its not terrible, but it is a hazard, and you need to be careful with small kids. Especially if you're the parent that lets your younger kids go in the pool by themselves (no lifeguard on hand).||The hot tub... TERRIBLE. Its supposed to be adults only. There's even a sign stating so. Guests were all hanging out in there like it was the family BBQ (not to mention people sitting around there eating). Adults, kids, couples all touchy-feely and making out... and the water was NASTY. Could not see the floor. I never set foot in it. But, you can see from my balcony view how overloaded it was, and how dirty the water was. This was EVERY DAY.||In the room...||The refrigerator didn't close all the way... all the plugs were loose and worn, making it hard for items to plug in and stay in... the shower curtain was missing some hooks so wasn't holding the curtain well, the shower curtain was also VERY long and would get soaked and then soak tyhe inside of the bathroom floor... the A/C control didn't reall work right, the room never cooled completely, and we even had a water leak from the A/C unit a floor above us that they had to correct... the hallway to the bathroom there was about 2"-2.5" step, and I can't tell you how many times I hit my toe on there... and lastly, a rather DANGEROUS situation, the balcony outside (and you can see this in the pictures I uploaded, there is a corner where the railing turns in and to follow the balcony edge. Right there there is a gao, very large gap, and small child can EASILY fall through. Forget about 1 or 2-year-old toddler, they'd have no chance. But even a small child up to maybe about 7 years old can fall through. Very dangerous. Something the hotel should address.||Overall, its a good budget choice if you need a place to stay and can't find anywhere else to stay. But, I think my family...

I dont want to bash the place, because objectively it was a good stay. But there was a few things that really put a bad taste in my mouth:

1 - My reservation said ocean front room, but when i got there was put in the bottom floor with absolutely no view of the ocean, when i asked they said it faces the ocean but the pool and dunes blocked the view.

2- The room was to be honest.... janky. I had one tile of my backsplash missing, and black mold on the wall behind it. The shower head has so much lime build up, about 1/4 of the jets were not working due to being clogged. The shower pan was pitched in the wrong direction so the water would pool on the opposite side of the drain. ( again this doesn't really matter, just goes to show the quality they put into the place) There was a bunch of places where the low grade VIYNL flooring was broken or chipped. There is also a very very odd transition from the bathroom to the rest of the room where there is a 5" tall step. ( We almost ate uk what about 10 times on that thing, ) The bed is not very sturdy, if your a big guy or gal, dont make any sudden movements, because the whole bed is held together by 6 2x4 that have one screw at the top holding it to the bed. I didnt use the cleaning crew, but from watching them during my stay, they did not seem very professional. Im all for having fun at work, but they cleaned the room next to mine and it took 4 of them about 30-45 minutes to clean ( not for new people ) and they were talking and hysterically laughing the whole time. Didn't bother me, just a observation.

3- For the price, I would say i got got. I paid about $375 per night. ( I know this is the beach in the summer, so rates are naturally high) but i travel quite often , and almost everywhere I go, a $180 -$220 hotel room is night and day nicer. I basically got catfished by the pictures online. It was a last minute booking, so i didn't have a ton of options, but i assumed a $375 room would be a tad nicer.

4- If you get a room on the pool deck level**, you will not be able to have your blinds open... its set up so that 1/2 the rooms on the pool deck are in a main walkway for 90% of the hotel. So if you have these rooms, you will have constant traffic that can see all the way through your room, and its not very relaxing when naturally people are looking into your room when they walk. The other half of the pool deck room and in strait shot of the people relaxing near the pool, so if your in the room during pool hours it a bit awkward.

5- I think the most annoying part was the poor walkability. There is maybe 1-2 breakfast joints nearby, but there are not convenance stores or any " real food" selections within a 20 minute walk. So you need to drive or take the shuttle.

6- One awesome perk was they give you chairs and umbrellas for the beach, which i would say was very nice quality. ( they even carry them for you)

7 - The pool was a nice size where its not awkward to be in with other people, but it was way too warm, like a bit past Luke warm not refreshing .

In conclusion: If you are bringing a family, or friends going to party. The room is dry, has AC, and a shower and its enough to have a good time.

If you are going on a couples get away or to impress a girl / guy. I would say it wont impress them, in fact they may get offended.

Again, i didn't stay in the penthouse here, but this is the everyday...