Jon Maiman

We stayed there last week for five nights on points. Check in was easy and the front desk associate told everyone in my family to each select an item from the market as an extra welcome gift (in addition to the platinum welcome gift points). That was very nice and we had lots of ice cream for our first night. Rooms are nicer than your typical Residence Inn. The TV's support Internet TV with direct access to your streaming provider including Netflix, Hulu, etc. which we enjoyed (Netflix movie on a rainy afternoon). Staff was very friendly. Breakfast is served in the full service restaurant area so it is more spacious and better decor than the typical Residence Inn. We especially enjoyed eating breakfast on the outdoor veranda with a view of the ocean each morning. Never had trouble getting a table. Only negative we experienced was the pool had paint or something else coming off the wall/side surfaces. My wife and daughter both experienced the issue so we didn't use the pool after that. Being on the boardwalk and with direct access to the beach, we really didn't miss the pool.

For those who care about surf conditions, they weren't ideal during our stay. Two days the beach patrol posted dangerous surf conditions with rough chop. For context, I grew up on LI and have been body surfing in the ocean for 40+ years and am very use to it. Surf was indeed rough and going in beyond knee height would have been a bad idea. Still very nice to walk on the beach. They also just finished a beach nourishment project but I didn't notice much difference in the beach versus about 1 mile south at Sea Colony (where friends were staying) that opted out of the beach nourishment project. There were shells and larger pebbles in the sand in the surf on the beach in front of the hotel. I am not sure if that was due to the beach nourishment or just a general issue for the area. Some areas had more shells than others. We didn't have any issues with shells and pebbles when we swam at the Sea Colony beach.

I requested late checkout (wanted 2PM) and with some friendly negotiation got 1 PM (which was good enough for us). The hotel did seem to be full on the weekend and was even looking for some people to checkout early (offering 10K MR Points to do so).

There are many restaurants within a couple of blocks walking distance of the hotel. There are many more within 1 to 2 miles drive. Our two favorites were Blue Coast and Off the Hook.

Overall, for us, it was a very nice stay and we would gladly return for another point’s stay (cash rates were $700+ night which I would never pay). Coming from Western PA, it was great to only have a 7 hour drive versus 12+ hours to the Carolina beaches (Myrtle, Hilton Head, etc.).

--Jon