*WARNING LENGTHY*
I will start by saying we're definitely returning to this location-but with the knowledge from this past experience, we'll avoid the previous mistakes.
We used the app to check-in and pick a room, so that we could use our phone and check in (using our Hilton Honours account). The "waive your phone" in front of the suite door does work, but you can't get into the building doors without a proper keycard-just FYI, unless you only walk around the entire building (from the beach) and go through the front lobby. We did not get the room we chose, but that didn't really matter-or so we thought. We dropped off our bags - including my carryon directly on the floor at the foot of the bed (this comes back to bite me) and headed out to meet friends and family. We were here for our 25th Anniversary and my partner's 50th birthday. We DID notice a mouldy smell in the room, but the AC was on blast and it was still warm, so we figured it had just been cleaned and maybe the door to the hall/outside and brought in the dank/damp smell. We assumed when we returned, it would have cleared. We were wrong.
When we returned to the room that evening, absolutely exhausted from 2 days drive, and meeting up with everyone. We just wanted to pass out and sleep. But the dank smell and the muggy air pumping out the AC were practically choking us. We dialled the AC down (it was still reading 75) and my husband jumped in the shower - which, on a side note, filled to his ankles within minutes.
That's when the ball dropped. I went to pick up my carryon luggage, and saw water dripping off the bottom. I immediately put it on the table and walked around the side of the bed (closest to the sliding doors) and my shoes were squishing water up from the carpet. The room had clearly been previously flooded (storm), and the standing water mildewing in the room was what we were actually smelling. I pulled out my clothes from the carryon luggage and they had absorbed the dark water about halfway up. My luggage was tweed, and also soaked through and ruined. I threw it away when we got home after attempting to save it.
You would have to understand true exhaustion, to the point we were almost delirious, to understand why we chose to lay on the bed and fall asleep despite this scenario. I cried myself to sleep (so hard I got a nosebleed), but with the resolve to address the room nightmare in the morning.
In the morning, we woke to an even stronger stench. The AC at 74F (only 1 degree difference). I put on clothes from my dry suitcase and went down to explain to Isis that our room had water in the carpet, smelled terrible, the AC wasn't working, the shower was clogged, and on the way out I also found water coming out of the refrigerator onto the tile floor at the entrance. She gave me a room key to a different room, but it didn't work. So when I came back to explain that it didn't work, Glen redid the key card and I went back up for the second time, to find a perfectly clean, sanitised room that I would have given a kidney for the night before. But then I had to get a luggage cart and load up everything we had just unloaded the night before. Without my husband-whom I had to force to leave so not to miss part of his birthday week, whilst I promised to sort the room issues myself. That's my own fault. A couple employees came to my room, possibly to address the issues (?) and were absolutely gobsmacked that we were put in the room in the first place-did they know it had flooded from the last storm? They splashed their feet in the carpet and just shook their heads at the smell, etc. They also saw I was overwhelmed having to move 2 weeks of luggage and belongings and called the wonderful Simon from maintenance to my room. I will say Thank God for Simon. He was the only help I received. He was a superhero! Not only did he help get the overloaded luggage trolley to our new room-he even helped me take everything off and put it in its respective place. Simon deserves a raise! I owe that man a drink!
So, after I moved all my stuff and re-unpacked it, so our vacation could actually start in the beautiful Outer Banks. Housekeeping was on top things each day. The rooms could definitely use some updating in spots, but generally clean and in good condition. Breakfast was just lovely for a quick grab-and-go Hilton style, and I loved, loved, LOVED seeing all the adorable dogs everywhere that I got to pet and boop, and with responsible owners keeping up with their potty cleanup duties! Right on the beach, perfect location, including a handy footwash. Unfortunately, Hampton Inn has no control over human guests that stay with them - which was our only other gripe (besides that first night). A quick scan of the license plates in the parking lot may explain it, but the poor desk staff clearly earn their halos when grimacing pensioners come whinging about the jacuzzi temps being too cold,complaining about breakfast, clouds blocking sunrise, etc. read more