D M.
1/5
I can type a 10 page essay but I’ll try to summarize. We know the most about this sham of a business. We have stayed at the Ashore, Inn at the Discovery Coast & Adrift over a dozen times in the last 10 years. Btw I have been in hospitality my whole life so I know just how far you can use covid as an excuse to increase prices while reducing amenities.
Years ago they started adding a resort fee to their sham of properties, which is a joke in itself, being Long Beach & Seaside, which is not Hawaii or any tropical island with beautiful accommodations and luxurious amenities. Then a few years ago they actually doubled the resort fee from $7/night to $14/night, all in the while, reducing the amenities.
They used to have complimentary coffee in the lobby as does any hotel, motel or resort, and they used to have nice local ground coffee in the room to brew many cups each day. They replaced the free lobby coffee with an espresso shop, where you pay for coffee, and they replaced the coffee machine and grounds in the room with 2 coffee pouches, which are like Sanka tea bags.
We mainly have continued to give them another try once or twice a year when we get a great Flash Deal offer and we are in the loyalty program so we have a couple tiny perks through that. But we have been highly disappointed more and more to the point that we are just saddened and then quite livid.
They never apologize for their shortcomings. When there saunas are not working, when the pool is closed for the entire morning/afternoon without a days notice for what they knew was scheduled maintenance, when their pool heater is out and the heated pool is not heated, the most that they offer is to take 50% off of the $14/day resort fee!!!
We experience other issues, like the front desk employee at Ashore wanting to leave the premises over an hour before posted time without informing the guest. We planned on ordering food like 45 minutes before the kitchen closed. But she closed 90 mins beforehand, making us have to venture out in the nasty cold weather to look for food. If she sent a text to the few guests that were there a couple hours prior, we could have adjusted plans accordingly.
Never had we gotten a decent apology for any screw-up. Upon checking out after a 4 day stay at the Discovery Coast, I question the room charges. They said it looked like you doubled tipped. The menu you look at from your room does not mention gratuity is already added and you generously then added a 30% tip on top of, so I will have my manager call you tomorrow to adjust this. But the next day when I spoke with the manager, she rudely said those charges are already batched and I’m not willing to adjust them now.
We have been fools, absolute suckers, going back to this scam of a business. I have plenty of good reasons to sue them.
Before you consider ever going, triple check that the amenities are actually working. They will say Oh Yes the pool and sauna are open. But when you ask why is the “heated pool” cold, they say the heater has been out. In other words they tell white-lies.
Most recently, we planned a 2 day birthday escape at Ashore. Based on recent reviews, I called twice and even stopped in twice over the prior week to ensure the sauna and heated pool was fully functioning. I would have made back-up plans if they said they were having intermittent problems with them. But nope, they lied to my face and said No Problems, they are both open. After I received a text one mere hour before check-in that the pool heater was out, I drove down there to inquire. After several questions, and citing 2 week old reviews, it turns out that “ The pool heater has been out for the last few weeks ever since they resurfaced the pool, but they were really hoping the heater was going to arrive that morning”. WOW. That was the last well-overdue straw for us.