My siblings and I are planning to gather in Lordship Township, which is part of Stratford,…read moreConnecticut, to celebrate my sister's birthday in January 2025. Our family has gathered here for about 30 years, for holiday dinners at our mom's house, which is in Lordship Township, right on Long Island Sound. For all of those years, those of us who traveled from a distance would stay at Marnick's, a locally owned hotel that's right on the beach near our mom's house. Our mom passed a few years ago and I hadn't returned to Lordship Township since then. On a whim, browsing online for hotels in the area, I learned about The Surfside Hotel. I learned that Marnick's had closed and that a while later Surfside emerged, sporting a whole new vibe. Prior to committing to recommending a sibling gathering there, I spent the night last week at Surfside. I'm happy to report that the upgrade is impressive. While the rooms now cost more than they did when Marnick's owned the place, the prices are well within reason for the area. I took an Amtrak from D.C. (about 6 hours), paid about $12 for an Uber/Lyft from the train station, and arrived to meet Iona at the hotel's front desk. She took my information and offered that she'd been there for about 2 years and the present owners have been there for about six years. All the features of the hotel appeared to be solidly restored and improved upon. I had a second-story room (21) with a balcony looking out to the Sound. There was a complimentary coffee bar with self-serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit, and snack bars. There's a beach-reading library, so I contributed my copy of Rachel Kushner's recent novel, "Creation Lake," which I finished reading on the train ride from DC. There were no downsides. There's a decent efficient fitness center that includes a Peloton and free weights. There's a map of the area suggesting pleasant walks along the seawall, Russian Beach, the Prospect Light House, and Long Beach Gatehouse. There are paths taking hikes of two miles, 3.6 miles, and five miles, and a suggestion for a longer bike ride. The main reason for this visit was to see whether the siblings would be able to stay on site for meals. There's a well-populated bar and restaurant attached to the hotel called The Little Pub (see my Yelp review.) There's also a neighborhood Italian restaurant and bar half a block away. There's a deli and an adjacent pizza parlor three blocks away, where I picked up a single slice of pizza and a portion of carrot cake. The Lordship Corner Market is right next to the pizzeria, and has sandwiches, newspapers, and sundries for days at the beach. For those with cars, I can recommend the Cricket Car Hop, a mile or two inland, for great hot dogs, burgers & fries (it was a favorite of my mom's, and we went there just about every time I visited, but I wasn't in town long enough this time to visit). Things to keep in mind: Surfside is a small business, not part of any chain. Iona needed to know when I was likely to arrive, to be sure someone was available for check in. No one was at the front desk when I checked out (but I received a check-out acknowledgement shortly after 9 a.m. the day I checked out). I believe pets are welcome (I saw a service dog there as I was leaving in the morning). There are no elevators, and my room was on the second floor. The hotel is still using single-use plastics for the shower, and the tub lacked handholds. But the vibe is good . . . we get the aloha and mahalo greetings, suggesting Hawaiʻi roots. The innkeepers report that "Boy knows nothing about running a hotel, but restaurant comes with a hotel attached so it's all or nothing. Boy must convince Girl it's a good idea. Girl is not impressed. Boy breaks into song. Girl is impressed and says YES! Restaurant and hotel are redone, there is singing and dancing, and everyone is happy." True Romance! Mahalo

I enjoyed my stay here for the most part. I booked an oceanfront room with a deck top balcony…read more Lovely room with a beautiful view. The Little Pub downstairs is fun and the staff is great. Having said all of this, the lack of front desk staff is unfortunate. Supposedly there from 8am-8pm but often not present. After 8pm things can get very loud in the hotel hallways. There is no one to contact if there are problems which is disconcerting as a guest.

Great, long stay here. I especially liked:…read more --the workout room --breakfast service --cleanliness throughout --wonderful staff --safe, well-lit parking lot --quiet rooms --fireplace in our suite --fully outfitted kitchen We'll be back in the future

My husband stayed here while in temp Housing for work for 2…read moremonths, a month during that time I was there with him. Everyone single employee we encountered was so nice and extremely helpful. Nicest hotel service experience we have ever had. The only reason to not give 5 stars is the rooms are a little stuffy and to add to that our air would not go below 75 even though we would set to 68 to get it to drop.

Hosted our family reunion in CT and it was absolutely perfect. The staff went overboard to make us…read morefeel welcome. The pool party was a bit hit with everyone. The use of the boardroom for our meet and greet was a great recommendation. Complimentary breakfast is always an added plus. The family enjoyed the options. Would definitely choose this hotel again.

My brother-in-law and I mutually despise each other therefore every time I visit my family in…read moreConnecticut I stay in a hotel. (Yes I have a condo but its occupied) I make a trip out of it and stay at the nicest hotel possible in the most random city In Connecticut (sorry Shelton-ians) Miles was amazingly welcoming when I shlepped in at 2 am to check in. While I was in an Uber during my drive from the airport he actually called to check in on me/my ETA which was really nice considering my own family was sleeping and no check in from them :/ My hotel room was Spacious, Clean and probably one of the most comfortable beds I've ever stayed in anywhere. They have complimentary breakfast apparently that's fantastic but I usually sleep until around noon. Snack shop has essentials where I purchase junk food to sneak to my nephews. Convenient Porte cochere for ride share pick up . Thanks Miles see u soon!

Never again. The thermostat only seemed to control the mane room, one bedroom hot, one freezing.read more

4 weeks I've been here for work in four different rooms, and 4 different experiences:…read more Day 1: Room is beautifully large with a partial kitchen, clean dishes, many essentials; such as Palmolive dish soap, replacements for all paper towels, toilet paper, and Kleenex, dishwasher detergent, and sufficient space for conducting work business. HOWEVER- staff completely ignored me upon checking in. Her coworker had to tell me that the woman I was trying to check in with was a bubblehead who doesn't pay attention to anything. So he had to intervene and take over (I am not entirely sure of the professionalism in completely throwing your coworker under the bus, lol). I had to call the front desk to have my bathroom cleaned. It had a black ring around the tub and there was extension hair behind the toilet. I mentioned this to the front desk agent and she asked me if I wanted the whole room cleaned. My response was "maybe we should if the bathroom looks this bad!". She laughed and acknowledged that her laughter was an inappropriate response. The room was not addressed until I called a second time after noon. There was rust, mold, dust, and an overall appeal of a hotel in desperate need of attention and refurbishment. But they have free breakfast! Week two: missing essentially all of paper products, and soap upon check-in. Tub does not hold water. Rust on nearly all fixtures. But they have a pool! Week three: I have noticed that I say "good morning" to staff every day and they are buried in their phones. They do not acknowledge customers coming in and out. They definitely have issues with parking as every day I have tried to exit for important work matters and have been met with a delivery truck or shuttle directly in front of the hotel with not much of a way for customers to get their cars out. Week 4: I'm so over this place. Fights have broken out during my stay. The fire alarm has gone off. Police have visited on a separate occasion, not related to the second issue... One woman in particular was causing trouble for many of the hotel patrons. Staff were informed many times, but nothing was done about this particular woman who was causing massive disruption and physical abuse to others. This is close to being the absolute most ghetto place I've ever stayed at. ...but they have a gym! :::shrug::: Location is prime, however. You decide, lol. Inconsistent, unprofessional, outdated... but they have a fitness room (obviously unimpressed at this point)! Definitely not a pleasant experience during the entirety of the month. This place needs an extensive overhaul of staff professionalism, service, support, cleanliness, communication, and appeal. :::This concludes my four week diary:::

Trashiest hotel I've ever stayed at for the money. $170. Place is garbage literally. See the…read morepictures. It's 10:08pm as I write this and I can clearly hear the guy in the next room Arguing with god knows who. It's been 20 minutes now. Walls are paper thin. Don't stay here unless you're desperate like I was looking for a place to stay

This hotel offers basic accommodations. There are plenty of restaurants nearby. Situated near…read moremajor highways. There is ample parking.

I needed to stay in the area for a single night for a meeting and chose this Marriott property, as…read moreI'm a Titanium member. I got there around 3PM and checked in swiftly. The lady checking me in was friendly and professional. The room was decent; it appeared to be a mix of old and needing to be refurbished with partly refurbished. An example would be the bathroom had the new style shower that replaced bathtubs, with has the barn style glass door and long floor drain and is in modern textures and colors, but the rest of the bathroom is brown - Thus the entire room is very mix-matched. The bedroom had scarred furniture which was old, but the bed was comfy. Why does this matter? Because when I'm staying in a hotel it needs to be at least as nice, comfy, clean, and appealing as my own house - it should always be better. These places that are dated aren't appealing. The location is decent... I'm pretty sure I've stayed here years ago when I used to go to events at Yale for several years, as I stayed in nearly every Marriott property in the area back then. It's close enough to highways, New Haven, etc. It's just over an hour from BDL too. Will I stay here next time I'm in town? Doubt it.

Room was well-appointed but smelled like mold or mildew upon entering. The tiles in the walk-in…read moreshower are slimy. The Bistro restaurant is closed indefinitely and this was not displayed during the reservation process. Parking lot smelled heavily of marijuana. This is really one of the poorest examples of a Courtyard Marriott I recall. This brand is going downhill. Only upside is that it was very quiet.

This place has bedbugs and roaches. Everything is outdated. very disgusting in the walls are super…read moresuper thin. You can hear what's going on in the next room and underneath you people are all constantly running around so always and it feels like someone's about to break into your room and you're gonna get robbed.

omg there were babies being born in the room next to me, that was the worst night of my life, they…read moremade me help deliver it. there were COCKROACHES on my bed.on my toilet i found old poop, the sheets were stained with some weird substance, and underneath the bed there were creepy pictures. I found pills under the bed spilled.

This hotel probably isn't used to capacity crowds, but last weekend's storm has left so many New…read moreEnglanders without power that hotels for miles around are filled with power-outage refugees. The result here is a full-to-brimming hotel, which makes the thin walls and echoey hallways especially problematic. Without the mobs and their noise, this is a fairly standard no-frills hotel. Comfortable enough, but stripped-down amenities and loud heater/AC unit in the outer wall brand this as a low-end place. (In fact, paying north of $100 for this feels wrong.) I've seen complaints about the Wi-Fi here, though it's working just fine for us. Repeatedly having to click "I Agree" gets tiresome after a while, but for free Wi-Fi, it's doing the trick. The hotel gets three stars instead of two, though, on the strength of this morning's breakfast-room staffer, who quietly navigated the overstuffed space, dodging slow-moving elderly guests and fast-moving children (and their bouncing rubber balls), efficiently stocking and restocking the muffins and bananas and waffle-maker supplies. She rocks.

I recently stayed here and it was a positive experience. I found a coupon online and it helped me…read moresave on the fare. The room and the bathroom was clean, and the service was pretty good and I slept pretty well on their double bed. In the morning, there was a lot of free breakfast to be eaten- French toast, eggs, bagels, pork sausage, cereal - I ate it all and enjoyed it! I would recommend this hotel to anyone that is looking for something a notch above your Knights Inns, Super 8s, Howard Johnson's, and Motel 6s. Make sure you shop around online for coupons prior to booking to get the best value!

The place was worn out. Everyone who worked there was nice absolutely everyone. But the place…read moreitself, smelled of damp and looked like this. Would not recommend

IT HASN'T BEEN UPDATED.. that's what I meant to say... but they were very accommodating..read more