Sea Bay Hotel

No reservation desk at the hotel, instead a note informs you to check-in at sister hotel across parking lot. No notice of this prior to arrival or with regards to weather or effort. My room was the opposite of what I booked. Paid for bayside room with high floor request. Received 1st floor parking lot view. Took 50-min attempt to clear up the problem. Their solution- “pay extra” to receive correct room. Because I didn’t book directly with them all i received for help was “we can’t do anything” answer. They sure know what they “Can’t do” but very little about what they “Could do” or “Should do” to fix the booking issue. Ridiculous. The room itself had one positive, the view, which was my primary reason for choosing it. Everything else was terrible. Run down, dated in below average condition. Only 1-elevator shared by both customers & house keeping so it’s in constant use. Overall in desperate need of a make over to justify the prices. (will post pictures if possible) If I could have canceled & rebooked somewhere else I would have. The coffee machine was stacked on top of the microwave which was stacked on top of the refrigerator just to give you an idea of how pathetic it was. I gave honest review. 1-star for view, 1-star for location.

This was my 3rd week long stay at the Sea Bay. The first 2 years were excellent and Ive left raving reviews and recommended many people who have since stayed. I will say this stay was a disappointment. Our initial stay was from Sunday-Friday. Everything was great until I wanted to extend our stay til Saturday due to the bad weather through the week. Friday morning I went down to inquire about an extra night, the gentleman at the counter was more than pleasant and evaluated the cost to be the best price for me. He stated due to me being a military veteran and a frequent guest that he could give extend me for $235.00 after taxes. I ran up to get my wallet out of the room to pay. When I came back down 10 minutes later he had left and a lady was at the desk. I told her what I was quoted and she said now the managers are here and the best she could do was 250. Why is the price different in 10 minutes and depending on who's working the desk? Anyway I paid it.
So then I took my 2 16 year olds to Jolly Rogers for the day, I gave them the key card she updated for us when I added the night. My wife and I went to the beach. When they came back and tried to access the room the key card would not work. They went to the front desk to inform them the "manager" was very rude to them. She said they were not authorized. They had gotten numerous keycards all week by giving the desk attendants our name and address with no concerns. So my son called me. I had to come up from the beach, my key card didn't work either. As soon as I walked in she got a bad attitude with me telling me if they come back in the lobby we will be kicked out. I explained we had been there all week and never had an issue and I just needed the key cards activated. She continued to berate and argue that it was our fault the cards didn't work. I told her I hadn't had an issue with the cards all week storing them in the money slot on my wallet. She still insisted on treating me like a 2 year old. I asked her to speak with whoever her boss was, she informed me no one is in charge of her, shes as high as I can go. I asked for the owners email or phone number. She said shes not giving me any info to anyone and she was the end of the line. She was still escalating at this point and would not give me my room keys back until I listened to her lecture.she said my son wasnt on the registered list, I explained when I checked in the paper said adults. Hes not an adult. She shrugged and said that's not my problem. She finally gave me the keys and as I'm walking out of the lobby she tells me if I ever come back to Ocean City I'm not welcome at her hotel.
I love this hotel, Everyone is usually so friendly and accomodating. They were this visit as well except for this confrontational manager. The other thing different this year vs. Years past is we couldn't really use our balcony and struggled walking in the hallway. The smell of Marijuana was so overbearing. Alot of guests were complaining about it.
I would love to keep staying here for our annual OC vacation but I will not if the owner doesn't do something with this manager. At the very least maybe train her not to be so confrontational and learn some customer service skills. I would love the opportunity to speak with the owner in regards.

The room was nice enough and it wasn’t dirty or gross or anything and we even had a nice little balcony, but what really turned me off to it is that a male member of staff just came into our room without knocking because he “thought we were a check out”. I had been changing 5 mins prior, thank God he didn’t come in then! We went and brought it to the attention of the front desk and just received a lukewarm apology and was told that there was a “glitch in the system”. I understand that mistakes happen, but I feel like it’s ridiculous that they weren’t more apologetic about the whole situation, especially since it was only myself (a woman) in the room with my 9 year old son, my husband had literally just went to get some ice from the machine. My heart was beating so fast when I heard the door open and turned around to see a man who was not my husband standing there. We still have another night here before being scheduled to check out, and I am making sure to put the latch on the door every time, even if my husband is just running for ice now, my peace of mind is just completely gone. They could have offered me even a coupon or literally ANYTHING as an apology but nothing, just a shoulder shrug and a sorry. Not great customer service if you ask me.

EDITED TO ADD: How kind that in the “response from the owner” they offer a discount AFTER I HAVE ALREADY LEFT. Not when I still had another night left and could take them up on it, or even when I brought it to the attention of the front desk. Seems like it is only in response to me leaving a negative review 🤔

They also said there was a “quick knock”, but if there was, it was not loud enough for anyone to hear! Mistakes happen and that is okay, but this hotel only attempted to make it right after seeing this publicly negative review, not when I complained to the property directly. I left a comment card online on the website of the Sea Bay Hotel AND the parent company Stay in the OC, and never got a response. The only reaching out this hotel has done is on this public platform. Do not stay here if you value your privacy or good customer service.