The WORST WESTERN Flagship
Written: Jan 23 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The Outdoor Pool
Cons: Just about everything else
The Bottom Line: With its rundown facilities and high prices, this hotel is simply a waste of money and time.
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| mrhonda's Full Review: Bw Flagship Oceanfront |
I recently took a trip to Ocean City, Maryland with my parents and three of our friends. As usual, I was put in charge of making the travel and hotel arrangements as I usually am whenever I take trips with friends or family. I have gone to Ocean City many times and have loved it each and every single time. Whenever I go, I usually like to stay down along with Boardwalk. This time, my Dad had a special request whenever I was booking our hotel rooms. He wanted to stay further up the beach at the northern end of the boardwalk or up off of the boardwalk because he thinks it’s too busy and noisy towards downtown where I usually like to stay. I went onto expedia.com to see if I could find a good deal in that neighborhood, and the best deal I got was the Best Western Flagship Hotel which is located at the northern tip of the boardwalk on 26th Street. I got efficiency rooms for $179 a night for three nights. So I booked. In other trips to Ocean City, I had passed this hotel along the strip many times without even giving it a second glance.
The day came to leave, so I picked up my parents, we met up with our friends, and took the 3 hour drive from our hometown in the suburbs of DC/Baltimore to Ocean City. We finally pull up to this 4 story swimming pool blue u-shaped motel building with the traditional “Best Western” sign on it and another sign below is saying “Flagship Oceanfront”. You could already tell from the outside that this was an older building, but it appeared to have been renovated in recent years. We entered the lobby the check-in and I loaded our luggage onto a luggage cart. The lobby had high ceilings and you could see up to the second floor hallway. It was basically a non-descript lobby. It had a small sitting area, a check-in desk, an ATM, and brochure racks. There was also a door off to the side to access the indoor pool, a hallway that led to the restaurant “Jonah and the Whale” (which I never ate at), and a single elevator in one corner. The lady at the check-in desk was very friendly. While I was checking-in, I immediately took notice that the window between the lobby and the indoor pool looked like it was in good need of a cleaning. It was foggy and dirty and had a spider web in it. So far, I didn’t have a good first impression of the place. But I figured, what the heck, I can’t be troubled with little things.
After checking-in, I went to park my car in the lot which is located on the north side of the building. The spaces were tight and I just prayed that nobody would give my car door dings. I came back in and met my parents who were waiting in the lobby with the luggage cart to go up to the room. We proceeded to go to the elevator and when it arrived, it made a big rumbling noise as the door opened, and it was so small that it could barely accommodate the luggage cart. There was only room enough for one person along with the cart, so I went and my parents took the stairs up to the third floor. The elevator was slow and creepy and when it arrived at the third floor, it stopped and then took about 3 seconds for the door to open. I vowed then and there that after I took the cart back downstairs that this would be my last trip on this elevator.
My parents met me on the third floor at the door to the elevator and we proceeded down this long and extremely narrow hallway. The hallway was musty and moldy. There were windows facing the street and the looked dirty, milky, and cloudy. As I mentioned earlier, the hotel is a u-shaped building. The top of the u faces towards the ocean, with the outdoor pool and the tennis court in the middle. Our rooms were on the south side. Our friends were in the room right next to my parents and me. I swiped the keycard to open the door. When I got the green light to open, I then noticed that the door was clearly in need of some WD40 because it was sticking big time! I had to kick it to open it because it was so tight. When we got in, I noticed that the room was small. It had two double beds with a nightstand, a dresser with a small TV on it, a table and two chairs, and a small kitchenette. The Kitchenette was pathetic. It looked like something out of the 1950’s. It had a small sink, a 2 burner cook top, a microwave, and a small refrigerator. Yes, it sounds useful, but it was disgusting. Not only wasn’t it visually appealing, it was rusty, and not very clean. The room also had a small balcony with two chairs that faced the outdoor pool and if you looked to your right, the ocean. All in all, the room was decorated in bright and cheery colors, and some of the furnishings looked new, but physically it was showing its age with sagging floors and cracked paint in areas. There was also a fishy smell because our room was right above the kitchen for the restaurant.
So far, none of us were impressed with this hotel. But we weren’t going to let it wreck our vacation either. It was late afternoon after we had checked in and we decided to go for a swim in the outdoor pool. This is where this hotel gets nice. The outdoor pool was oceanfront and right next to the boardwalk. There was a bar where we got drinks and plenty of areas to lounge by the pool in tanning chairs and in tables under umbrellas. There were also some potted palms around the pool. The water was also nice and warm because it faced directly into the sunlight. I didn’t like much about this hotel but I sure did love this pool!
We came back that night from eating out and being on the boardwalk and decided to get into the indoor pool. I had read in the brochure that there were hot tubs by the indoor pool and was looking forward to a nice long soak in the hot tubs. When we arrived at the indoor pool, we discovered that the tile and concrete around and in the pool was old and cracked. And the hot tubs were no where to be found. I went out to the desk to ask where the hot tubs were and they told me that the brochure was outdated and they had gotten rid of them. This all seemed very silly to me. I went back and swam in the pool for a while. The indoor pool was ice cold so I only stayed about 15 minutes and then went back to the room and changed clothes and went back out on the boardwalk for a while.
The next day, we got up and did the usual beach routine. When I showered before going to the beach I noticed that the bathtub was rusty around the drain area and was extremely small. I sat down in it and I was almost too wide to fit! I am not that big of a person either! The bathroom itself was very small and very old looking anyway with poor lighting and a loud fan. Also as with many hotels, the maids shortchanged us on towels so after I showered, I snuck out in the hall and saw the maid down the hall cleaning. When she wasn’t looking, I swiped extra towels off of her cart and ran back into my room.
On the second night of our stay, we came back from dinner and the boardwalk and I swiped my keycard and it denied me entry to the room. So my Dad tried his and it also denied him entry. Our friends next door we also being denied entry to their room. We all went down to the desk to complain that we couldn’t get into our rooms. They took our cards and pulled up our info on the computer and said that there was a computer glitch and the keys were only programmed for two nights instead of three. We had to wait at the desk for 15 minutes while they reprogrammed our cards because the desk was understaffed and the phone kept ringing.
The third night and the fourth day couldn’t have come sooner for me. I usually hate to leave Ocean City but after staying in a hotel like this, I was ready to go back to my own house. I don’t know how such places stay open. The hotel was just too old and rundown, and too far north on the boardwalk for my tastes. If I want to stay this far north, for the price I paid, next time I’ll go back to the Quality Inn on 33rd Street. If the rates were cheaper, say around $75 a night, I wouldn’t be complaining at all about this hotel because this is what I would expect for that price. But it certainly isn’t worth $179 a night. The hotel’s owner, the Harrison Group of Ocean City has been tearing down some of its smaller properties like this one and putting up large upscale hotels. I hope and pray to God that this one is next! This is the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at in Ocean City, and the second bad experience that I have had at a Best Western. I don’t recommend this hotel or Best Western to anybody. What’s so BEST about it?
Check out some of my other reviews:
Best Western Williamsburg Westpark Hotel, Williamsburg, VA – “The Bates Motel, bugs included!”
http://www.epinions.com/content_172839898756
Ocean City, MD – “Fond memories of the Seashore!”
http://www.epinions.com/content_171701669508
Quality Inn Beachfront, Ocean City, MD – “Imagine if this place was on the boardwalk!”
http://www.epinions.com/content_103666912900
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
mrhonda
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Member: Dan
Location: Maryland, USA
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
I'm a bargain hunting travel buff who enjoys beaches and cities.
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