We stayed at Old Sea Pines Inn for 2 nights in August of 2011. I had found the place online and thought it was a good price. I booked 3 rooms for my extended families stay.
Calling to book our rooms, the Inn's owner asked our street address. Upon telling him we lived on Chesapeake Dr, he scoffed at it with disdain in his voice, saying something about "how weird someplace in the middle of the country would choose an name like that" (insinuating that the East coast had prior claims).
I decided to not let this flavor my opinion of the Inn as the guy could have been having an off day.
We arrive to check in and find a charming looking Inn decorated with items from when it was still a school. The lady who owns the Inn, gave us keys to our room and gave us directions on how to get there. Our rooms were VERY small but this was not a big deal, we are just going to be sleeping there. One of our group got a more expensive room with a bathroom attatched, their room was more of a decent size and nicely decorated. Our other rooms were in the more inexpensive portion. We had a double bed and shared 2 bathrooms/ 3 showers with I believe 5 other rooms.
Sharing the bathroom did lead me to wait for the toilet in the morning. Both bathrooms with toilets were taken with people taking showers. If there was another toilet I could have used the Inn keepers failed to tell us about it.
Going into our room, I turned the window air conditioner on full strength as it was a warm day. That night the room was only barely cool enough. My husband was hot. Good thing it wasnt a really hot day.
The bed was by far the worst part of the room. It was so soft when my husband and I laid down, I felt like we were hotdogs inside of a bun. The edges curled up around us. It was terrible. You lay smushed next to the person next to you all night, you could not roll to the edges because they were curled into the air. I woke up with painful neck ache. I told the Inn keeper and she relied that it was a new mattress so didnt know why there would be a problem. She was very unsympathetic.
The other problem with the hotel was spiders. One spider here and there is expected but our room was crawling with them. I awoke to find one crawling across the bed. I looked up and saw two more on the ceiling above us. In our two day visit, I had my husband take care of 6 spiders from our room.
Hotel breakfast was nice. Pancakes, french toast, bacon, hard boiled eggs, a toaster (with a few different types of bread), little boxes of cereal, juice... it was very simple yet lovely.
Oh... I forgot until now one other incident that flavored our trip at the Inn. I asked the female Inn keeper about the beaches. I wanted to swim someplace with more interest than a plain flat sand beach. I was looking for rocks or some other interesting thing to swim around (like vegitation). She explained to me that none of the local beaches had that. I was trying to tell her that we would be willing to drive a good distance but she got very snippy and said in an unpleasant disdainful tone "I cant turn sand into rocks!".
Overall, as charming as the Inn looked from the outside, the Inn keepers were burned out individuals who lacked it. Yes, maybe my Midwesterner self has a different standard than someone on the East coast. However, with the bed being so terrible and crawling with spiders, I would never be able to recomened this hotel -even to my cheap bargain hunter friends.
I would have rather stayed at a Super 8 where I could have at least gotten a good nights sleep. I would not stay here again. Yes, it was cheap, but for a little more money, you could get a much better nights sleep.
Room Tip: Dont get the cheapest rooms unless you dont mind waiting for a toilet, a tiny room and a bad mattres...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
22 November 2011
The miscommunicated, the misunderstood and the misrepresented!
Old Sea Pines Inn is a 24 room Inn, 19 rooms with private bath and 5 small rooms in a private corridor with 3 shared baths. We are sorry they did not ask us about public bathrooms anywhere else in the Inn as we have 3 half baths we thought were obvious on the main floor. The rooms with shared bath selected by our August guests from Champaign, Ill., are our most economical rooms. The are enjoyed of our customers who appreciate the simple, old-fashioned charm at a reasonable cost.When reservations are taken we are very careful to describe the various features of each and every room available. This policy insures that there are "no surprises" when guests arrive.
There is no longevity in the Innkeeping business if the Innkeepers harbor (and express)regional and cultural prejudices. In our 30+ years of operation Old Sea Pines Inn has hosted guests from every state and a remarkable number of foreign countries. To us the joy of Innkeeping has always been in the stimulation, knowledge and fun provided us by these diverse travelers. Guests from the mid-western states have certainly been no exception. We have welcomed, and welcomed back many mid-western guests over the years. In taking a reservation our Innkeepers would never communicate "disdain", they did not do so in the case of the residents of Chesapeake Drive ! We are baffled by this accusation.
This apparent failure to understand our intent seems to have continued throughout the short visit of these guests. Upon Arrival they asked to be directed to the nearest beach with a rocky coastline. I explained that Cape Cod beaches are Sandy and Brewster is very well known for its flats, and that to the best of my knowledge the nearest rocky beach is on Bostons North shore. This information seemed to cause great frustration, somehow this disappointment was misconstrued as our insensitivity to meet there needs. (Later in the day when another innkeeper was asked the same question she told them that she understood the disappointment but "could not turn sand back into rocks" meant to be humorous not disrespectful).
Old Sea Pines' main building, Bickford hall' is listed on the National Register of Historical places. Though of an antique vintage, the rooms in Bickford hall have been carefully renovated and are very well maintained. The Inn also has a long standing reputation for cleanliness. The complaints of "spiders and malfunctioning air-conditioner" were never brought to our attention. Had they been, they would have been addressed immediately. (Guests in the same room before and after their stay did not have any such complaints).
The mattress issue was brought to my attention I was surprised that it was found uncomfortable, being a newly purchased and no one else had found in unsatisfactory. Mattress comfort is often an issue of individual taste. We hastened to make another room available to them with a mattress they may have found firmer. The second room went un-rented yet they never tried it or acknowledged the gesture!
So... Yes, a Super 8 would have been a better choice for the residents of Chesapeake drive, less old-fashioned, less personal, little chance to communicate with the ownership and no chance to express your needs directly. But, after all, isn't the opportunity to publicly issue your complaints, 4 months after the fact, an opportunity not to be missed!
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