Surf Inn Suites

I recently stayed here during my trip to Ocean City. For the price, the rooms are pretty decent. The beach is also very close to the inn, which was super convenient! The owner is very welcoming. Overall, it is a nice place to stay, especially if you’re looking for something affordable!

Friends and I stayed here this weekend and Im not sure if it's due to our ages (23), but the experience was odd. Upon arrival, we were told we couldn't have guests unless registered w/13$ fee, which was fine. The next day a friend was stopping by, I went to the front desk to register her, but when I told the woman that she would only be there for about 30 mins-1hr, she said that wasn't allowed and took the registry paper back, scratched out her name, stating the $13 was for overnight guests (per night), not stop ins which is fine, we thought this was what she meant when initially checked in but were confused how they know someone is not staying with us- had she stopped by for 30 mins, left and didn't return, they wouldn't know that she didn't sleep there, so how can you enforce that? Figured that didn't make sense and that we misunderstood at first. The woman said they routinely watch their cameras/check the footage, so I guess they keep track of rooms' guests in/out, which was a bit odd to us. The explanation for no stop ins was it was a busy weekend, making it hard to keep track of guests. Unless I missed another lot, we were the only car there first night, second night 3/4 cars (1 being ours), last night their lot began to fill. We found ourselves heading out of the hotel more than anticipated, spending $$ on rides/outings to see our friend(s) instead of being able to just sit down in our hotel/chat for an hr or two during the day. It's fine but if you stay here, be aware of that rule. I know a lot of people go down and meet up w friends/family. I never experienced/heard of this before and am surprised nobody else can enter your room-even for 5 minutes, or you can get charged deposit $. After, I had spoken to the friend and she was fine with staying, so I went to the office, told front desk she was staying the night, paid. But as time went on she was unsure if she was going to be staying the night, and due to the camera watching comment, my friend and I decided to not have her over out of fear of losing deposit $. Lastly, not bad, check out, we cleaned the best we could, making sure beds were put together, towels picked up etc. but again, as we are younger I wanted to ensure we got our security deposit back and nothing "turned up" with the room check after we left, so when the front desk radioed her coworker to check our room I went back to the room and stood outside on the balcony to oversee the check, my friend waited back. When upstairs my friend told me that the woman asked if I went back to the room-that I wasn't allowed to be in the room when they do the check, policy. I want to clarify I didn't go in the room, I ensured nothing odd happened as it was our first stay here. Knowing this would be an expensive weekend we did a cheaper hotel but the property not really looking like pictures, no closet, didn't see many staff, no iron, hair dryer not working and us being the only guests there the first night, we felt a bit off about the hotel. Wasn't the worst but I wish no non-overnight guests were mentioned on the site, this is more for other people to be aware. Seemed quite strict w/ the policies, which is fair, but made for a bit of a stressful stay, and lonely during downtime back at the place lol.

Rooms are clean but very strong cleaner odors. Decor is very outdated and if nothing else, the bedding covers should be updated as they have been cleaned to the point of noticed disintegration.

Start of stay was ok. Mgmt was willing to move around rooms to out my family next to me seeing as my husband couldn’t travel with me although she reassured me I would be safe (which felt like she was minimizing my concern). The morning after I checked in I realized that my door could be opened from the outside without a key card. Turn the handle and push, and my room was left vulnerable. Contacted mgmt who said they would take a look at the door. Because we had an event to go to, I moved my belongings, as they were not secure, into my families room.

It took nearly two hours for mgmt to call me about the room issue. Originally she checked the door and insisted nothing was wrong and just didn’t call until my family contact them in which our concerns were shared and responses included “there is a no refund policy”, “I told you are hotel was safe” and “let me say this in plain English”.

So here is my thing, this is about principle. I was offered another room but by then, my sense of security wasn’t super solid after the days interactions. When the lady finally called me, she stated that they noticed my room was empty. Of course it was. I couldn’t leave my personal belongings unsecured. I told her that I would not be staying in that room and she told me they were going to clean my room and book it for someone else.

So…they wouldn’t refund me my money for their lack of security. They wouldn’t have lost any money because they rented a room with a broken security lock to someone else.

It was their responsibility to ensure the safety of their rooms which they failed to do.

I’m glad my sense of security and actual physical security was less important to this business than money. It’s a sad world we live in.

**Special note: Do not pay these people more for the “ocean view” rooms. The building doesn’t even face the ocean. Picture of “view” attached.

**Added disclaimer following business response - Please note the tone of the response. This is part of the problem. Please be assured this was not about money, but as stated, principle. The door was in fact broken. Even another guest had asked if we needed help and tried to give suggestions on fixing it to us.

I understand being disappointed in a review. I understand from a business perspective the impact of the review system.

There was no apology for my inconvenience. There was no accountability taken. There was not reassurance provided. Please practice good business principles.