Grand Hotel

We recently stayed at the Grand Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland, and while the location and oceanfront views were certainly the highlights, the overall experience fell short of expectations given the price.
In my opinion, nearly all of the value is tied to the ocean view. Waking up to the Atlantic Ocean and enjoying the balcony views was wonderful, but beyond that, the accommodations felt surprisingly average.
The room itself was functional but lacked the comfort and quality I expected for the rate being charged. The bathroom was particularly disappointing—very small, dark, and constructed with inexpensive materials that gave it a dated, budget-hotel feel. Rather than contributing to a relaxing vacation atmosphere, it simply served its basic purpose.
The provided toiletries were another example. Soap, shampoo, and lotion were included, but the quantities were very small and the products felt generic and basic. There was nothing about the room or amenities that made the stay feel special or luxurious.
Overall, I would describe this as a solid three-star hotel. It is clean, reasonably comfortable, and benefits greatly from its beachfront location. However, if you're paying premium prices, be aware that you're primarily paying for the ocean view and location rather than upscale accommodations or amenities.
Would I stay again? Possibly for the view alone. But I would adjust my expectations and understand that this is more of a practical place to sleep than a destination hotel designed to provide a truly relaxing or luxurious experience.

We only had two problems with our stay. Guaranteed check in is supposed to be at 4 but a room was not ready until 5. Thankfully they held our bags for us. And second issue is the hotel restaurant. Staff was not very friendly, the hostess just stood around and didn't seat us until another staff member told them to. She didn't acknowledge our presence. Then our server tried giving us the wrong drinks and gave our 3 year old a glass cup. They were not busy and our server only checked on us in passing. The food is worth the price. Your better off taking the time to go somewhere else to eat. Hotel itself was great. Right on the boardwalk with beach access. The cafe is great to have. And rooms were nice.

Do not get tricked by the amenities. This place is horrid. I beg of you, ignore the amazing spot, because it might possibly be worse than all motels I've been to (and trust me, that's saying something.)

Our party had originally ordered two rooms together, with the door between them. When we came to check in, the front desk told us that we needed to be on separate floors. We weren't accepting that, and negotiated that to the same floor, but not right next to each other. Already bad, but not the worst of it. The walls are paper-thin, but that was also the tip of the iceberg.

We got to our rooms, and there were moths. 4 moths were in our room. And they told us that we couldn't switch rooms, as they were fully booked. However, they did get us housekeeping (who didn't do anything, may I add.) Some of our party ended up switching rooms to avoid the moths. The only reason we ended up next to each other was through the people next door leaving and more negotiation.

The keycards only work for a couple of times. We kept them pretty far from our devices, and they kept malfunctioning. When we went downstairs to address it and the moths, the front desk people were flippant, even though we were trying to be respectful while fed up. The WiFi is also horrible, and when using it, we kept seeing 'No Internet'.

The outdoor pool is extremely visibly dirty. The bar next to the pool had a male worker who was very irritated and was giving us an attitude. I assume they neglected to clean the hotel, as our rooms were also somewhat dirty. They very much do not care, as we also saw at the Grand Terrace (a restaurant in the hotel) a waitress drop a drink's umbrella on the floor and proceed to put it back in the drink.

Don't make the same mistake we did in coming here.