Ala Kai Motel

We were looking for a quiet, clean beach and hotel for our first trip to the New Jersey shore, after hearing some things about places like Atlantic City. This place delivered. It's an old motel that's been renovated into a pretty nice hotel, with two buildings and a pool at each. Our building's pool was quite nice, and the front desk staff were lovely. The rooms are nicely redone, have comfortable beds, and get cleaned daily. There are also several shared spaces for relaxing and spending time together. Even if you usually prefer a typical hotel, I think you may like it here. The beach access is less than a five-minute walk at the end of the beachfront block, so going back to the room for something is easy. I like to sleep cold and had heard complaints about the AC, but I got the room cool by adjusting the settings. We had a long weekend with my girlfriend and definitely think we'll come back.

The pool was clean, and the grounds were extremely well kept. At night it was quiet and peaceful, with lots of families staying there. The staff were kind and helpful, and the rooms had a no-frills, beach-like feel. We arrived before 3pm, and the owner, Jay, kindly let us look at two rooms to decide which would suit our family best. We enjoyed our first long weekend here and will absolutely return next season.

We had a nice, clean room with comfortable beds. The kitchenette was stocked with so many things that we could make breakfast there before heading out for the day. We loved our stay.

We booked four nights but checked out after two because we were unhappy with the stay. The room had lumpy spring mattresses that seemed due for a flip or replacement, and the old window AC units kept cycling on and off through the night. There was sand left from the previous guests that hadn't been swept up. The rooms also looked like they hadn't been updated in decades. We knew we were staying at an old-school Wildwood motel, so we tried to accept the mattresses, figured the AC might have been user error, and thought a little sand was forgivable. But the service turned these issues into a much worse experience. When we told Jo-Ann at checkout that the room wasn't meeting our expectations and we were leaving early, her friendly manner from check-in disappeared. She said our complaints weren't real, insisted the AC was fine, and said we should have raised the issues earlier. When we said we were still leaving, she became irate and confrontational. She insisted we had to come to the office in person to resolve it and have any chance of getting a refund for the last two nights. We were no longer in the area and couldn't return. Jo-Ann said she would check the refund policy with the owner, Jay. Tempers had risen, but it seemed like there might be a path to making things right, until our calls and voicemails went unanswered for three days. We felt ignored, tried calling from another number, and finally got through. That confirmed they had been actively ignoring our earlier calls. When Jo-Ann realized who I was, she didn't try to help. She repeated that our issues were non-issues and told me, “I checked with the owner to confirm the refund policy.... We don’t do refunds.” A painful finish to an abysmal hotel experience. Buyer beware. If you've read this far, just get an Air B&B, or Jo-Ann and Jay, please give us our money back!