Atlantic Sands Hotel - Page 1

The pictures of the hotel lead you to believe it is an elegant and quaint European hotel. It is not. The lobby has motel-like front desk with just one individual trying to check individuals in, answer questions, field complaints. There is a seating area that is nice but as you wait, there are gusts of wind attacking you from the constantly opening and closing automatic sliding glass doors. The hallways of the guest floors have what was likely a beautiful, royal blue carpet. However, the housekeeping staff has been so poorly trained that there are huge stains down the hallways of every floor with saturated black stains at the ends of the floors where the elevator to the garage is located. And, yes, the poor housekeeping extends to the guest rooms. We were afraid to sit on the furniture in our suite. It was just gross. Of course, the floors were not at all better. The pull out couch was in such poor condition, when you sat on it, it went up on the other end like a seasaw. The bathrooms were falling apart. They had a "bath-fitters" fiberglass molded surround and the caulking was coming away so that hair and other things were all stuck between the cracks. The toilet was backed up when we arrived and we had to call for maintenance twice. I was riding on an elevator with a guest and a maintenance worker. The guest told the maintenance worker that his air conditioning was 'still leaking water extensively' when he turned it on. The maintenance worker said, 'Well, don't turn it on." I witnessed a maid using a guest room hand towel to clean the floors of public areas. I asked her if those were different towels than the ones that were in the guest rooms. "No, they are the same. We wash them before we put them back in a guest room though."

The only redeeming quality was that it was on the boardwalk. But that is not enough of a redeeming quality to put out $235 a night. We stayed in a 5 star resort in Hawaii in a suite for $199 a night. The rooms were immaculate and the resort was AMAZING. It was 40 plus acres of pristinely kept grounds on the Pacific ocean. At $235 our view was of a private home's back yard. No balcony. For $199, I was on the golf course overlooking the Pacific with a fabulous balcony for sipping coffee or drinks.

It was convenient and relaxing, a good value for the money. One negative was that there were blotches on the wall like they were going to paint.

This hotel made me feel respected: Because we were late checking in, they put all the info outside and easily accessible. They waited until they saw us up and around before checking with us.

It is a great hotel. I have stayed there every February for five years. I would recommend it to anyone and I would go back again!

We were the only people in the lobby approaching the desk, and we still weren't greeted by the receptionist. Of all the staff members, only 2 acknowledged us; others would barely respond even when we greeted them first. There was no security check when staff changed; we just walked straight in and up to our room. There was a glitch in the alarm system, so they began repairs at 9:30 at night, and continued past 11:00 p.m. with no warning to patrons. One of the beds was so soft that if you moved out of the center, you rolled to the edge of the bed. The freezer was so heavily iced over we couldn't use it. The safe was not operating, but they automatically charge for its usage—you must request the charge be removed at the end of the visit (wasting more time in line). The key cards did not work after the second day because someone miskeyed them. The cell phones did not work in the room--something about a 'security shutdown'. The air conditioner was fabulous in the humid 86 degree heat, but staff turned it off after cleaning the room. The Plexiglas on the balcony was grimy with a toddler's hands (from a prior patron) and never cleaned. We were disappointed in the Plexiglas since it blocked the ocean breezes. The workout room was closed and we had to pull teeth to find out their sister hotel, 2 blocks away, would accept our cards. Our 2 positives: you can't beat being on the beach and the cleaning staff did a decent job (excluding the Plexiglas!). We would not recommend the Atlantic Sands Hotel to anyone who expects common courtesy, respect and manners to be the basis of a pleasant hotel stay.