Carousel Hotel

We have been coming to the Carousel Hotel in Ocean City for over 20 years and have always considered it our hidden gem — a place full of special family memories. Over the years, I’ve recommended it to countless friends and family because of the unique amenities that make it such a fun destination for kids.

However, during our recent holiday stay, we were very disappointed. Check-in isn’t until 4:00 PM, yet many of the main amenities — including the ice skating rink and indoor pool — close at 6:00 PM. For families who travel to get here, that leaves very little time for children to enjoy the features they came for and look forward to all year.

We understand that the rooms and décor are somewhat dated, and many of us are willing to overlook that because of the hotel’s great amenities. But when the hot tub has been out of service multiple visits and the pool and skating rink close so early — especially during a holiday — it takes away from the experience.

It’s clear that families are traveling from all over the country to enjoy what made this place special years ago. We simply ask that management consider extending amenity hours and maintaining the facilities so families can fully enjoy their stay.

Please keep the focus on creating memories, not just managing costs. The Carousel has meant so much to our family over the years, and we hope future families can fall in love with it the same way we did.

BEWARE: If you are considering reserving a room at the Carousel Hotel...don't do it!!! They ripped us off for $400! We had planned a family vacation over this past Christmas to the Carousel. They required that we give a deposit of $100 for each of the 4 rooms in order to reserve. Unfortunately, I contracted Covid 2 nights before the trip and we had to cancel. (I certainly wasn't going to go on the trip and take the chance of spreading my illness to family and everyone at the hotel. We contacted the hotel and were informed that, although they had provided no service whatsoever, they would not offer a refund for the $400 nor would they give us credit toward a future trip. This is unfair business practice and we are in the process of filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Also, please know that the ladies handling reservations will not give out contact information for the owner/President, Michael James. It appears that he is unreachable, no matter what the issue may be. I will be seeking legal action as well.

We stayed at the Carousel for a hockey tournament, and that part was great for the kids, which is why I gave an extra star. The gentleman Tom who runs the beach bash is great. The hotel itself, however, has a lot of cleanliness issues. Upon checking into our room, we found a roach which my husband killed and got rid of. The fridge was not working, so we called down to the desk and they sent maintenance up who was able to fix it. On our third night, upon retuning to our room after a late game, we noticed a strong odor of what smelled like sewage. We investigated and couldn't find the origin of the smell, so called to the desk to ask if they knew of a problem. They just stated they would send maintenance up. The maintenance worker immediately pulled out our fridge and found a dead mouse stuck to the back of the fridge on a trap. He said the smell was most likely from the mouse being heated up from the back of the fridge, disposed of it and left. No type of clean up. We gave the smell some time to clear, but it was very strong and we didn't feel comfortable going to bed. I went down to the desk and explained that unfortunately we would need a new room because of the strong odor. She showed no expression on her face, picked up the phone to call "Jenelle" who did not answer, and told me she could not give us a new room until she spoke to her. She told me to go back up to our room and wait. At this point it's after 11pm and we were exhausted and annoyed. They finally got us a new room, which we were able to sleep in for about 5 hours before needing to be at our next game. As we were talking to other members of our team, we heard about a lot of other cleanliness issues in their rooms as well. It's been 3 days and still waiting for the call back from management that was promised, but not holding my breath.