Trailborn Surf & Sound — Hotel in Wrightsville Beach

Originally I planned to give the Blockade Runner 2 stars, but decreased to 1 because after the email I sent to Kristin Jones below, I even left a follow up message with the front desk asking her to call me and never received a call back.

Email sent to Kristin in late July: Following up on your email soliciting feedback, please also forward to Mary Baggett Martin as I initially intended to send this note to her.

I am writing as a follow up to our extended weekend (to celebrate my Birthday) stay at the Blockade Runner last weekend July 23-26. My husband and I had been anticipating this trip for months, and the beauty of the grounds did not disappoint. The property is even more beautiful than I remember it when we toured for a possible wedding venue.

The service however, was seriously lacking, overall. We are aware of the difficulty in hiring in many industries now, but it did not seem as though the employees were rushing around, working hard to overcome staff shortages, instead it appeared no one had a sense of urgency and they- quite frankly- seemed to not really give a damn. We dined at other restaurants on Wrightsville Beach and in Wilmington this weekend and had great service. Here are several examples: -Each time we ordered drinks/food at the pool bar we waited an incredibly long time for our order to be taken. -Sunday morning while dining at East, we watched several tables who were seated after us receive their drinks and place food orders before a server even came to greet us. -The worst experience was Sunday evening when we made dinner reservations at East. The restaurant was not busy and there were no apologies from staff for delays. The hostess seated our family of 4 with only 3 menus and 2 place settings. It took about 15 minutes for anyone to come to our table once seated and we did note several tables that had been seated long after us, being served before us. After multiple requests of the hostess and our waiter for extra silverware, we finally got 2 additional sets after we were finishing our appetizers. We had our two young sons with us and the delays were extra difficult as they were very hungry. We contemplated simply getting up and walking out (yes, it was that bad) but due to our children being with us, decided it would probably be quicker to stay and manage through the service delays.

We spoke to you a couple of times during our stay when you came around to be sure we had what we needed on the beach, etc., but did not realize that you were the owner until the end of our stay, or we would have shared our concerns with you during our stay. Now, in reviewing our stay at Blockade Runner in retrospect, we feel that we paid for an experience and level of service that was never received.

Unfortunately, based on this experience, I’m not sure if we’d return to Blockade Runner as guests if nothing changes. As Raleigh residents, we will surely secure future beach vacation plans but it is difficult to imagine any reason we should pay for a minimum three night stay at Blockade Runner, when we expect disappointments in utilizing the property service amenities, based upon past performance. Further, we have numerous Raleigh based friends who were asking about our experience for planning their own beach vacations, and we cannot in good conscience provide a glowing review for Blockade Runner. Clearly, as a premier beach hotel property owner, I imagine that your goal is to not only secure new business customers and to retain your existing customer base. As you may be aware, most will not take the time to notify you of a poor experience, they will instead leave a negative online review, or simply never come back.

I am hopeful that this is helpful feedback for you, albeit disappointing. I look forward to...

I've stayed here four or five times over the last 12 years and have always had a great experience. The recent bad reviews gave me second thoughts about my booking but I'm so glad I didn't change my plans. We traveled with our parents and had separate rooms. There was an initial glitch with my parents' room assignment which put them on a higher floor when they needed a lower floor. We gave them our room on the 2nd floor, but there wasn't a comparable room to move us to due to us staying 3 nights and them staying 2. We were moved to the 4 story wing in a balcony room. Previously, we had only stayed in the other wing with the Juliette balconies. Our room was clean and more recently updated than the rooms in the other wing. The bathroom was a bit larger and new, as compared to the older bathrooms in the other wing. We really enjoyed having the walk out balcony and new bathroom. In the future, we will always book a balcony room. We overlooked the beautiful grounds and had a nice view of the ocean.

All of the staff we encountered were wonderful. The young lady that checked us in and moved around room assignments was professional, friendly and helpful. It took some time to get it all worked out and she could not have given better customer service. Our early check-in request was honored, and when moving our room, she made sure our new room assignment was far from the elevators as originally requested. Ron was very friendly as well and helped us with our luggage. He and the young lady at the front desk represent the hotel very well. I dropped my toothbrush when unpacking and a young man at the front desk was very kind and gave me one to use. The housekeeping staff honored my request for extra towels each day.There are a lot of complaints in the reviews about the hotel being worn and dirty. Beach hotels are prone to rust and corrosion with the salty air and hard water. It's also over 50 years old so it does show its age here and there, but our room and my parents' rooms were very clean. It's a very high humidity climate and there are water spots on some of the ceiling tiles from the air conditioner dripping condensation, but it isnt dirty. They have made efforts over the years to update the decor, but there's really not much that can be done to older metal door casings and such other than totally renovate. Scuffs on walls and baseboards don't mean the hotel is dirty. It just shows it is a bit worn like an old house. The furniture is a bit dinged up here and there but this happens when guests don't treat it as they do the furniture in their own homes.

I understand that renovations will occur at the end of the year and I only hope we won't be priced out of being able to stay here. I wish the hotel would bring back the buffet breakfast they had years ago. There never seems to be many people using the restaurant anymore and I wonder if it's because the food seems a bit expensive. The buffet could be priced into the room rate or offered as an add on. I really miss it. It was wonderful! Complimentary coffee in the lobby would be a welcome addition as well for just a few extra dollars per day on the room rate, as would an urn of lemon water.

The water at Wrightsville Beach is very hard, as it is at most beaches. I don't know if the hotel uses a filtration system, but if not, it would be helpful for showering. I was amazed at how clean my bathroom was considering how hard the water is here. The housekeeping staff must work hard to keep the shower doors looking good.

Give this place a try and hopefully you will have a good experience. Just know it's an older hotel and has some wear here and there, but the location cannot be beat. I recommend booking directly with the hotel rather than a...

We have been coming to this location for years when it was the Blockade Runner. The physical renovation of the space is gorgeous. The rooms and lobby are beautiful and the amenities (like the beach bag you can borrow) are great. It’s also an improvement that you no longer have to rent beach chairs or umbrellas. You also can’t beat the location, which may be the only saving grace considering the issues we had with our stay. The staff just didn’t seem to know how to handle anything as they all seemed very young and inexperienced. For context, we arrived on Father’s Day and left that Thursday.

During our first full day (a Monday) we had rented a cabana near the pool. This was great until they closed the pool for the rest of the day for cleaning around 1PM. While they ended up refunding the cabana for the day, why on earth would you close the pool during the middle of the day during peak season?! The pool was cloudy, but to the best of our knowledge there wasn’t a biohazard situation. The manager who came out and spoke to us was also the food and bev manager? Where was the hotel manager???

Our hotel room, while nicely appointed, never dropped below 77°. We said something at the desk and they sent a worker up who checked the AC temp and said it was an old building with bad circulation and that he couldn’t do anything. They gave us a box fan for the rest of our stay, but didn’t offer any other kind of compensation.

The food offered on site was another issue. While we were there, there was NOTHING for kids on the lunch menu. While I would love for my kids to eat chicken skewers with green goddess dressing or baba ganoush (both of which were delicious when served correctly, which was a whole other issue…) that just isn’t realistic. No chicken nuggets, no hamburger, and the only grilled cheese was one designed for an adult. We had cranky, hungry kids nearly every day.

The lunch service was another pain point. Each day we rented a cabana. That used to come with a cooler of ice, waters, and a dedicated server. Not anymore! After waiting a half hour or more for food, it would be left to sit on the bar counter unless you noticed it and retrieved it. We ended up eating chicken skewers and baba ganoush every day as they were very tasty, but the skewers were just plain grilled chicken - $12 for maybe a third of a chicken breast? The best part was the green goddess dressing, but they were out of it multiple days and it came out with store bought ranch. Yuck. Another day they brought out just two skewers (instead of three) until I asked where the other one was. Come to find out, for the same price, six are served that way at dinner…

Finally, and perhaps the final straw, was an experience my in-laws had on their last evening. They ordered a vodka soda while enjoying the sunset by the pool, but it never came. No big deal. Par for the course given the rest of the stay. However, when they went to leave they were handed a bill. When they protested that they had never gotten the drink, the bar manager got aggressive and angry, accusing them of just trying to get a free drink - refusing to either provide the drink or remove the charge. Our family had literally spent thousands of dollars over the week between rooms, drinks, and food and you’re going to pick a fight over a vodka soda???

At the end of the day, this hotel has the best location in the area, and maybe all of these problems will get worked out as the new owners settle in. The food and Bev manager even told us that chicken nuggets were coming the following week. However, I think it may be too little too late for us,...