Red Jacket Beach Resort & Spa — Hotel in Yarmouth

My family has been coming to the Red Jacket Beach Resort for six or seven years now but this was our first summer since the property, together with the other five hotels comprising the Red Jacket Resorts group, was sold by the family-owned Davenport Companies to New York City-based EOS Investors in November 2021. For those not familiar, the Red Jacket Resorts portfolio comprises the Red Jacket Beach Resort, Blue Water Resort, Riviera Beach Resort, Green Harbor Resort and Blue Rock Resort in Cape Cod and the Red Jacket Mountain Resort in North Conway, NH that was badly damaged by fire in May of this year. The new owners took the opportunity to immediately and dramatically increase the pricing at all of these hotels. Our stay at the Red Jacket Beach Resort was more than $150 per night more expensive than last summer. I state this fact because in the past we have always stayed at the Red Jacket because it offered reasonably good value relative to the alternatives. This hotel/motel has long been tired and in need of significant investment and repair (since we’ve been staying) but the price point was reasonable enough that we were willing to accept its shortcomings. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. The Red Jacket Beach Resort was built in the late 1960’s and shows it. Although we have not stayed at the other “Red Jacket group” hotels/motels our understanding from various friends is that these hotels are in similar states of neglect. I took some pictures during our stay and plan on posting these alongside this review so everyone can see for themselves what I’m referring to. [NOTE: GOOGLE ISN'T SHOWING THE PHOTOS - SEE TRIPADVISOR OR YELP FOR THESE PICTURES] Specifically, take a look at the condition of the hot tub which is located next to the indoor swimming pool. Frankly, I can’t remember the last time the hot tub was actually open during one of our stays. Although in retrospect looking at its dirty and filthy condition in these pictures I’m glad that they had it closed down so that no one in our family was actually tempted to get into that thing. Also, have a look at the tennis court and basketball court. They might as well take a Bobcat to these things and demolish them. These “amenities” look like they have been left untouched ever since the hotel/motel was built 50+ years ago! If you or your kids were interested in playing tennis or shooting baskets during your stay at the Red Jacket Beach Resort you’d better find something else to do as these courts are essentially unusable. Frankly, it’s amusing that they even continue to show these “amenities” on the resort map. It’s very misleading. I have also attached a few other pictures of our room and the hotel/motel’s common areas so that you can see for yourself about its general condition. For the record, I do not begrudge the new ownership for jacking up the rates at these hotels. I more or less knew what we were getting when I made the reservation because we have been there before. Unfortunately, I was caught by surprise by the rate increase and was too busy at the time to look into other options. However, I also think it is important for other travelers (in particular, potential first time guests) to understand what they are and are not getting for their money at the Red Jacket. This is a very tired, 50+ year old, two-star hotel/motel that happens to be a good location. If that’s what you’re looking for at this price point then great. Otherwise, look elsewhere. In our opinion, the Red Jacket is no longer the value proposition that is used to be under the Davenport family’s ownership. There are too many other options these days, including AirBnB properties, to have to settle for sky-high prices and a very mediocre and...

The only reason I'm giving this a two-star instead of a one star is location.

We tried this hotel for one night. We do this often to find new places that we like to stay while being down on the cape. So I took a chance and I booked the Ocean view room at quite a bit of money per night. We contacted the hotel 2 days ahead of time and told him that we would be there there probably earlier in the day. Is it possible for an early check-in? We were told at that time not a problem. We got to the hotel probably around noon time and we were told that our room was still not ready that they would call us as soon as it was ready As we were standing there, the other desk person took two couples that wanted to check in early and gave them their rooms. No problem. So we decided to leave and explore a little bit and we came back to the hotel sometime around 3:00 p.m. I understand check-in is 4:00 p.m. and check out is 11:00 a.m but when we got there at around 3 :00 we were told our room was still not ready and that check-in is 4:00 p.m. strictly it doesn't matter if the room is ready or not but they will try their best to see what they can do. So they gave us a parking pass and we went and sat on the beach. They called us at 3:55 and told us our room was now ready. (The funny thing is the next day for checkout. They were knocking at our door at 8:45 in the morning to clean it, but yet it wasn't ready until 4:00 the day before.) When we got into the room it is very cheaply decorated. The updates look like they were very stingy on spending any money for updates. Not to mention if you walk out onto the back deck you almost feel like you're going to fall through it. The boards are so thin and old and broken the support going to the roof above. You is separated by at least 6 in and you go into the bathroom and the spout for the tub is separated from the wall. Quite disappointed with a place that is supposed to as they like to say top notch and their front end people need to be retrained on not how to be so rude. We've stayed at many hotels on the cape. The only thing this hotel has going for it is its location. It is tucked right in the cove next to parkers River. If it didn't have that, it wouldn't have anything unfortunately. This is why we try them for one night before we end up booking them for longer stays. My suggestion is before you spend all the money to stay at this so-called resort. Do your homework look at reviews and if you're in the area before booking, maybe ask if you can see a room that you're thinking about staying in. I know many people might think that this is just a complaint, but when you spend over $300 for a night in the off-season you expect better. On last note, I know leaving a review probably doesn't do anything after reading many reviews after leaving this one. It seems like management only tries to say we're sorry. Reach out to us if you'd like to have another experience. Nobody wants to pay over $300 in the off-season and over $ $700 in season just to get an email or a response back that says hey. We hope you'll spend another large chunk of money to try us again and just have the same outcome. Shame on you red jacket resort for doing this. Our next day will be at the hotel down the street. I won't say any names of the hotel but you're well aware of which one it would be. We will try this one out and if that one is better than the experience we had at yours, we will book a longer 2-week...

We’ve stayed at Red Jacket Resorts every summer for the past five years. Our first visit was at Blue Water, and we’ve since returned annually to the Red Jacket. During our early stays, the experience was wonderful. Yes, the rooms were a bit outdated and could’ve used a fresh coat of paint, but that was part of the Cape Cod charm- something we expected and even appreciated in a beachfront property. The food was decent, the service consistently excellent, and the overall atmosphere had a “hidden gem” quality: peaceful, not overly crowded, and easy to find a chair at the pool or beach.

Over the past few years, however, the resort has undergone renovations. While these updates have made the property more visually appealing and social media-friendly, nearly every other aspect of the experience has declined in quality while increasing dramatically in cost.

We’ve stayed in the same oceanfront suite each year, but this time there was a frustrating mix-up with our reservation. Despite calling weeks in advance to change the dates of our stay, and being assured that our usual suite would remain the same, we arrived to find we’d been placed in a much smaller room. It had a king bed and a set of bunk beds crammed into the same space, which they referred to as a “suite.” For a family of four (two adults, a 15-year-old, and a 10-year-old), that simply wasn’t going to work, especially with only one bathroom and very limited space.

To their credit, the staff was accommodating and eventually moved us into adjoining rooms. Still, the situation was disappointing and avoidable, especially considering we typically pay over $1,000 a night for our usual suite which includes a couch, living space, etc that these adjoining rooms did not have. Being expected to stay in what felt more like a dorm room for that price was incredibly frustrating.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only downside. Since the renovations, the resort has implemented a number of changes that have made the overall experience feel more like a cost-cutting operation than a luxury vacation:

Pros: • Unbeatable location, right on the beach • Very family-friendly environment with lots of kids and activities

Cons: • Vinyl plank flooring in rooms looks nice but tracks every grain of sand - carpeting was much more practical for a beachfront stay • Minimal housekeeping during your stay, including no nightly sheet changes • New towel policy requires guests to trade in a card for one beach towel at a time, adding unnecessary inconvenience • Pool cabanas that were once free and first-come, first-serve are now expensive to reserve and the pool chairs are all taken early in the day due to overcrowding • Food prices have skyrocketed despite quality being very average at best • Cocktails are extremely overpriced • 20% gratuity is automatically added to all food and bar tabs, with servers the expectation of additional tips on top of that • Overall, the resort now feels like it’s nickel-and-diming guests to fund its renovations, while cutting back on the service and conveniences that once made it special

We’ve continued to return to Red Jacket because of the memories we’ve made here, but we’re increasingly feeling like the value just isn’t there anymore. Unless things shift back toward prioritizing guest experience over profit, we’re unsure if we’ll continue our...