Where to start. Booked the room 2 months in advance and my card was charged at the time of booking which is unusual for me. In any case my partner and I checked in for a wedding (one night only thank heavens!). After a few minutes in our room I turned on the hot water tap to wash my face and rust coloured water came out. After the water ran clear we realized that there was no hot water. When I complained to the desk clerk, the inn apparently knew this bit of information but said nothing upon check-in, which was probably a sign they did not care since they had my money already. We were told that we could take our showers in the carriage house across the way (What!?). When we asked for the manager, twice at different times, he was "out", leaving the staff to take the brunt of mine and other guests' anger...And I heard other guests complaining to the front desk staff.

When I tried to recoup at least some of the money I paid, front desk would only tell us to go through the agency we booked the room with, which was Expedia. On our return home, I contacted Expedia and to their credit, they offered $100 discount on my next booking or the manager's number. I took the bird in the hand because the way the manager handled his guests I had no hope to get any kind of compensation from him/her/it.

Oh yes, there was a little refrigerator and microwave in the clothes closet, both unplugged. I wonder now if the one cup coffee maker worked -it was next to the 2 coffee cups and no coffee. I guess they expected us to provide our own coffee as well.

Outside of the wedding reception (the food they provided for the reception was good) the restaurant was closed, so no breakfast, no pretense of breakfast, not even coffee or tea. All this for more than $200 for the night. Basically, what we got was a bed.

Comments from guests:
One night, Sept 21, 2008

"The hotel is located at the end of a quiet residential street. The exterior of the hotel looked fine. When we drove around to the entrance, we were surprised to see there was only one other car there. When we walked towards the door, there was a sign stating that the restaurant was temporarily closed due to "electrical issues". When we walked in, the place was very dark (almost spooky...kind of expected Morticia or Uncle Fester to come floating by!). We checked into our room (they had a list of names (maybe 6-7...crossed off with a pencil) on a notepad...I did not see any sign of a computer anywhere.

The room was on the 2nd floor, large and had a nice view of the harbor/ocean. When we came back from dinner at a local restaurant, we both wanted to take a shower. It was also now dark and we discovered the only lights in the room were on the nightstands and powered with extremely low wattage bulbs...only illuminated the immediate bed area! The chair by the desk had one leg broken and one of the slats was no longer connected. However, the big issue was that we had no hot water...period. So no hot shower. In fact, when I turned on the water in the shower, out poured brown, rusty water into the tub. After about 15 minutes of running water and no warm water in sight, went down and spoke to the young guy (looked like a neighborhood kid, not someone who would work a front desk) at the front desk and he said that not having hot water sometimes happens and they send people to the cottage across the street. It was now a little after 9pm and at this point we decided to stay put vs. wander around an unfamiliar neighborhood in the dark.

The next morning prior to voicing my concern, I asked the lady at the front desk when she expected the renovations to be complete and the place to be totally up and running again (ie. restaurant, pub, etc.). She laughed and said "who knows". I asked this questionn first because my suspicion was that the Lighthouse Inn had been without hot water for some time. I then voiced my concern regarding not having any hot water and she did not look surprised."

We were given a room directly over the bar, where a band played until midnight each night. Immediately upon arrival we asked to change rooms because the noise was unbearable. The only other room they had available was a smaller room with a double bed (rather than a queen that we paid for). We took the room because it wasn't quite as noisy -- you could still hear the band and it made it difficult to fall asleep, but at least we couldn't hear every word the band was singing like in the original room. The hotel would not give us a discount even though we had paid for a larger room with a larger bed. At over $200/night, you should expect to show up and get a quiet room. Room was clean, except for the tub which could have used a good scrubbing. Bed was comfortable but pillows were very old. Grounds were nice, pool area was nice but the pool had a lot of leaves at the bottom. Continental breakfast was promised, but all the food was gone both days by 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning. I would not recommend this hotel unless you already plan on staying up until midnight to listen to the band.

Where to start? This could be such a great place but it fails to meet expectations.

Firstly we arrived to be given a key for a room in the carriage house rather than the grand mansion house. The room (having negotiated the poorly maintained worn down entrance area including holes in doors rather than doorhandles) was in fact a store for old mattresses and tvs. After much debate we finally got 2 adequate - not great - rooms still in the carriage house. We did establish that at least some of the rooms in the main house are excellent with lots of space and lots of character.

Outside the carriage house is the pool - green and closed. Across the lawns is the spa - locked and closed, on the lawn (according to the plan in the entrance) is the tennis court - goodness knows when that disappeared.

On the positive side, the staff were helpful and dinner in the delightful tavern was excellent. Although not used I suspect the main restaurant is also very good with a reputation locally.

This property is such a missed opportunity. It could be a great little hotel. It has the buildings, it has the grounds, it has the pool (if open), it has a spa (if open), it has access to a great private beach (though even here the beach attendants were clearly apologetic that "no-one from the lighthouse has bothered to bring their chairs down".

It must have a fascinating past. But that's what it is at the moment - past. Someone needs to get hold of this, spend some cash and sort it out. Get the maintenance done, simple things - water in the fountains, door knobs in place, get the grounds back to what they were, get the spa and pool working, sort the decoration in those rooms that aren't up to scratch. Much of this is simple stuff and when sorted this would be a superb place to stay. But now, stay away, or go wary of the problems and take a peek at what could be.

That said we had, mostly a good time. Sat in the gardens and relaxed (tho using the pool would have been good), used the beach, enjoyed the tavern. And to be fair they did their best to compensate us for the problems we had. Breakfast interesting. No charge but a few slices of danish and a pot of coffee 'til they run out? Go on - make short visit - its certainly entertaining!