Spray Beach Oceanfront Hotel

I’ve stayed here four or five times for the October LBI kite festival, usually on the third floor facing the beach for the view. It’s generally quiet that time of year, aside from the occasional wedding, and things usually wind down by 10 pm. The hotel has made a lot of good upgrades over the years, and it’s still clean and a nice place to stay. I’m here to sleep, shower and get out to enjoy LBI. This visit, though, I found the new windows can’t be opened. Maybe it’s for insurance, who knows, but I come for the ocean breeze while I sleep, so I’m really bummed. That’s a big reason for my three-star rating. Some people may like keeping their room shut up, but I don’t. The pool was also closed for the first time I’ve been here. I don’t know why, since I’ve used it before and seen others use it too. Maybe the wedding reception had something to do with it. My last visit was in 2023, and the price has doubled since then. I get it, but wow. It is what it is.

We arrived to check in at 7:30 pm on September 28, and there were bags of dirty linen, towels and trash piled right in front of our door. It was multiple bags, and we had to step over them to get into the room. There were other bags left around the property as well. The cleaning crew had gone home and wasn’t working on it. The trash stayed there overnight. We told the front desk clerk we couldn’t stay because of the unsanitary conditions. He understood and said a manager would call in the morning about a refund. At 9 am the next day, the trash was still there. I have a time-stamped photo. Someone called the next morning and said we’d been refunded, but we hadn’t. They had charged us for incidentals and the night in a room we never stayed in, then refunded only the incidental charge. The room charge remained on our card. I spoke to Jamie on October 2, and she said she’d talk to a manager and get it resolved. Nothing happened. As of October 8, the charge was still there, the hotel wasn’t answering the phone and nobody was calling us back. The conditions were unacceptable and unsanitary, and they tried to pull a fast one with the billing. Stay far away. Edit: The owner says the trash was left while the hotel was actively being cleaned. That’s a lie. They also say we were fully refunded and it might take 7-10 business days. That’s also a lie. The incident was September 28, and it’s now October 10, well past that timeframe, and we still haven’t been refunded.

The location is fantastic, just steps from the beach, and it has a very family-friendly feel. The room was clean, the fridge was cold, and the AC worked well. There’s a huge parking lot right outside the room. Town, with plenty to do, is only a short drive of a few blocks away.

For the off-season, it felt too expensive. The rooms were dated, and paying top dollar for a motel in late fall, when the beach barely matters, didn’t feel worth it. Service only comes every three days, so our beds weren’t made at all. Our room was right outside the pool, too. I wouldn’t want to find out what that’s like in peak season.