Paige D.
Yelp
Below is a letter I just sent to the Island Inn in response to their email seeking input. The email I am sending to them (using the reply function) keeps getting returned so I'll just post it here.
As an FYI/background to Yelp users: We stayed in room #51. It is a 2BR townhouse. It has two twin beds in one bedroom, a sleep sofa in the living room and a king bed in the loft master. A word of caution, the king master is accessed via a spiral staircase. It is not at all elder or kid friendly. This upper room is also open to the hall/front door and would not be safe for small pets or children. There is only a balcony, no walls. I wouldn't want a child under the age of 7 or 8 up there. My 70 year old mother also found the climb challenging.
Below is the email I just sent:
Hello Island Inn
I filled out a comment card and left it in my room (#51) when we left on Thursday 7/23. I hope you received it. If so, this will be somewhat repetitive.
I will summarize:
First of all, the front desk and maintenance were very responsive. While maintenance can be a bit gruff, I have no real complaints. Unfortunately, this was the highlight. Our room was barely acceptable. The carpet was stained and all of the finishes seemed extremely cheap. When we arrived, our sliding door screen was off its track, rusted and warped so that it didn't close. We tried to fix it ourselves (it was obviously broken the minute we walked in) but it was clearly beyond repair. We called the front desk and they sent maintenance right over. Maintenance had an extra screen door and replaced it in short order. We were surprised that wasn't done before our arrival, since the appearance and function was clearly not acceptable. No pride in your place??? This lack of pride/care pretty much overshadowed our experience.
The sleep sofa in that unit is completely unusable. They are rarely comfortable, but this one was horrid. We ended up on leaky air mattresses, which were sadly better than the sleep sofa. The king bed wasn't much better. The mattress is so uncomfortable. Even a 15 year old girl commented her back hurt. And this was compared to leaky air mattresses. The twin bed mattresses didn't seem much better, but I didn't personally try those beds so I can't say.
The twin bedroom has no air. The two air conditioner units were barely able to cool the main areas but the twin bedroom only had a small vent located near the front door and that was subpar. I couldn't get the window to work right, although I did give up trying. That room had dead air all week.
The wallpaper on the upstairs bathroom walls was gross. You could see stains and marks. The faucets were leaky, cheap and seemed old. The shower experience was another ordeal. At times, it took FIFTEEN minutes to get hot water. That's not an exaggeration. I experienced it myself. I ended up taking a cool shower because I didn't want to wait any longer and I hated to waste so much water. The water pressure barely rinsed my hair. I had to crouch down and rinse under the tub tap to get my hair rinsed.
We had hoped to use the swimming pool but it didn't seem very clean, and when we saw a dog in it, we were completely turned off.
Generally speaking, I cannot recommend this hotel based on our experience. We come to the Vineyard every year and this was our first time not renting a cottage. We had hoped this option would work, but after seeing the finishes, trying to sleep on those beds and getting used to stained carpets and walls, we sadly can't do it. We have many relatives and friends on the island who were quite interested to hear our experience. It was disappointing to have to give the accommodations a thumbs down. We aren't prima donna's either. We often rent "gingerbread" cottages, which are old and imperfect. So we do not expect a four star facility. But well kept, clean and quality products go a long way. Sadly, the Island Inn fell short.
I am offering this criticism in hopes that you will be interested in resolving these issues. Most are not insurmountable. The grounds of your property are lovely and clearly you are sitting on a gold mine so it would make sense.
Thank you.
Paige D
7/20-7/23/15 Room 51