Wow, this review is certainly vastly different than we are used to seeing in this forum. Anna Marie and I are obviously very upset that experience that these guest’s had was less than excellent. On the surface it would appear that every single part of these folk’s experience was horrible, but I feel compelled to respond to many points. I hesitate to do so at the risk of sounding defensive, but in fairness I must.

1) This is a surprising review given the fact these guests had so cheerfully requested a late check out the evening before their departure.

2) The mattress is a plush-top with a feather bed on top of it. The mattress itself does not sag, but I’m afraid the feather bed tends to give the bed an uneven or even sagging appearance sometimes, as the feathers tend to shift.

3) I personally spent half an hour in this room attempting to fix the volume problem with one of the TVs in the room during the first morning of their stay. My evening housekeeper also attempted to solve the problem when it was reported the first evening. We were unable to get a service tech out during this weekend stay, as I explained to these guests apologetically on the first morning of their stay at the inn. The volume worked, but not in the booming surround-sound way it should.

4) “sub-par” is not a description I’ve ever heard used for our breakfasts. We have a long and proud tradition of serving breakfast in a country buffet style, with a casserole style main entrée and a wide selection of other offerings including a meat side-dish, fresh cut fruit salad, homemade granola, English muffins & bagels with homemade strawberry jam, homemade breads and muffins, hard-boiled eggs and yogurt. During these guest’s stay, our entrees included Broccoli & Cheese Strata, Cheese Blintz soufflé with homemade strawberry topping, and Apple Stuffed Cinnamon French Toast (a bit like apple pie and French toast combined). We routinely receive many compliments about these dishes. In fact, we sell hundreds of our cookbooks, which feature these dishes, to our guests every year. I distinctly recall several guests requesting the recipes that weekend, which I was pleased to provide to them. Perhaps these guests are accustomed to having a single seating, which is served on fine china at an appointed time in a fairly formal setting, as is common in many inns. We’ve always preferred a more relaxed, informal setting with a flexible timeframe and choice of dining locations (any of our three dining rooms).

5) While I can understand these folk’s reasoning about the beach tags, I’m afraid that we are constrained by law in this matter. As I explained to them when they asked about beach tags, we used to provide complimentary beach tags to our guests, but had to cease the practice when the city banned the transferability of the tags several years ago. I would actually prefer to provide them, but we are not allowed to. We go to great lengths to present our guests with everything we can think of to make their stay more comfortable, all included in the price of the room. This includes a full breakfast, of course, afternoon tea with a buffet of savories and sweets, unlimited beverages (complimentary sodas, juices, bottled water, coffee & tea) from our pantries 24 hrs a day, more amenities in the room than I have ever seen in any other inn, and complimentary bicycles and beach chairs, beach towels, etc. Our generosity extends to our guests beyond their stay with us as well, as we always invite and encourage our guests to enjoy all of our facilities after checking out. We strive to be generous in all things, but we do obey the law.

6) Most disturbing to me are the comments about the housekeeping. We take housekeeping very seriously, as would be expected. We don’t vacuum the rooms during our breakfast housekeeping service to avoid waking any guests who may be sleeping in, so our housekeepers need to return later in the day. These guests turned my housekeeper away at least once when she came back to vacuum the room, however, and I’m afraid she was unable to return to the room before her shift ended. We should definitely have managed to accomplish the task that day, however. We instruct our staff not to touch guest property while servicing the room, so it is possible that she found it difficult to vacuum around the clothing and shoes that were lying on the floor all around the room during these guest’s stay with us. In this case she obviously should have tidied up a bit in order to do a better job of vacuuming. I too noticed that my housekeepers had not removed the beer bottles that had been left out on the porch on their first evening and removed them myself the next morning at the time I was attempting to fix the TV. I did admonish my housekeeping staff for not attending to them when they serviced the room. I was pleased to see that our housekeeper HAD removed the bicycles and beach chairs that they had dropped outside the door and returned them to their proper places. I’m a little stunned at the comments regarding the whirlpool tub and trash, as my housekeeping manager serviced this room personally as she was training one of our new housekeepers on the first day of the stay. I believe the “gunk” referred to was a residual of the cleaner that had not been completely rinsed out. My manager distinctly remembers thinking how little was required in the room (no trash to empty, no towels required, etc.), because our evening housekeeping had done such a good job the prior evening during our turndown service.

7) When I checked these guests in, I too noticed a slight odor. Upon their departure I instructed my maintenance staff to take apart the HVAC system in the room and “solve the problem”. When days shift from very hot and humid to cooler (or vice-versa) it is not uncommon to experience a brief damp odor in a beach environment.

8) Finally, this is the first time I’ve ever heard a guest complain about a problem that they did not experience; in this case parking. We actually have 3 rooms that have dedicated parking, by the way. Due to our central location in the historic district of Cape May, we don’t have the land for a 32 car parking lot (that would be a big lot!). Even paving our yard and gardens would not provide for 32 cars, though it would greatly diminish the beauty of the 4 buildings that comprise our inn. As luck has it, however, we are located right on the edge of the residential district, conveniently close to the free, un-metered residential streets. While some of our guests do elect to make a donation to the church next door to us for parking, the vast majority of our guests are happy to park their car for free a block or two away after checking in and forget about their car during their stay. Most guests to our beautiful town quickly discover that you really don’t need your car during a visit to Cape May.