When I entered my room at 11:30 pm for my 3-night stay there were 4 live bugs in the room...a stink bug, a fly, a moth and some other flying carpenter ant type of bug. I managed to kill 3 of them in the next two hours but I never could get the fly. It was 4 a.m. before I got to sleep. The next morning I decided to gather up the now-dead bugs in a wash cloth and bring them to the office. I showed the desk clerk. She said they had never had a bug complaint, they don't have bugs and the maid had never seen a bug in any room either. I asked for one night's compensation since I had had no sleep and she said she would call the owner. I left the office and then she called me in my room and said that the owner said since I was unhappy and I was "irritable", the owner said I could be out of the room by noon. I said let me get this straight, you're kicking me out of the hotel. Cindy said "that's about it." I am a single woman traveling alone and to be treated this way is unimaginable. I said I would advise AAA of this and she said "we'll send the bugs to AAA." I will never go back to Ocracke for any reason.

Harborside Motel is definitely not a five-star hotel, and also not on the harbor (lake.) We stayed for two nights after checking out of our rented cottage. It was a great location. The room was clean, but needs to be updated. Everything except the TV was old looking. There was no clock in the room. The a/c worked well. The bathroom was small but functional. There was no hair dryer and they do not supply shampoo, lotion, etc. The continental breakfast was a carb overload: oatmeal packets (I never did find the milk,) bagels and sweet rolls. No fresh fruit, which was a disappointment. The staff was wonderful. There aren't a lot of choices for accommodations in Ocracoke and for the price I guess this is what you get. This is why I would recommend it to a friend. Most of the other hotels/motels were fully booked.

We book a last minute trip to Ocracoke with four teenage kids for three rooms. All the rooms where clean and the beds were soft but not firm. My wife and I got room 9 which was at the end of the building overlooking the road and the harbor. Contrary to the name, the Harborside is not on the harbor but across the street. The pictures seemed to indicate it was on the water. They do have a private dock you can sit on after chasing the birds away and trying to find a non-poopy seat. Internet connection did not work at room 9 but rooms 4 and 5 did get a strong signal, so the router must be in the middle of the building. Their is a continental breakfast but the OJ was completely sour. Rooms had small bathrooms but were sufficient. Our A/C was very loud. All in all, a very friendly couple operating a very clean place conveniently located but this is not a five star hotel/motel, but from what I saw, there are not a lot of options.

Look, this is a "sliver soap motel"...you know these places; the soap is a thin sliver of soap and disappears during one shower. The room reminded my wife of a "cottage", the beds are hard as rocks, etc, but it is clean as anything and it has a good location and is reasonably priced. The best feature may be the dock, across the street. Take a cup of their weak coffee over there around 7am, sit and watch the ducks, the first ferry pull out, the early fishermen take off and, hay, this is the good life. So, don't book this expecting the Hampton Inn so some such; is this pretty bare bones but you have a reasonable night's sleep, wake up to a beautiful morning, go down to the water, watch things for while, figure out the day and then, maybe, you spend another night like we did. And you don't spend so much. During previous visits we have stayed at the Castle which has the best breakfast in town as well as Captains Landing which has the best porch overlooking the water.....both are too expensive for us now and we are fine with Harborside.