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| Travelodge Nags Head Beach Hotel Review © Katrena |
Although I created this travel blog, I typically do day trips with my kids. We have not stayed in many hotels; we are on a tight budget. I never notified this hotel that I am a blogger, so I fully believe my family had a typical stay at Travelodge Nags Head Beach Hotel. This was our experience...
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| View from our 3rd floor balcony facing the pool - note the Wright Brothers Memorial near the top center © Katrena |
Location
I had read quite a few reviews of this hotel. I also called the hotel directly and understood that this hotel is across the street from the beach in Nags Head. Rooms facing the beach on the third and fourth floors have a view of the beach. If you walk across Virginia Dare Trl right beside this hotel, you will be in the public beach access parking area that has a boardwalk, including a ramp and steps to reach the Atlantic Ocean. Going to the ocean, listening to the water, and sinking one's toes into the sand was one of the best parts of our vacation. To my knowledge of looking up and down the beach, this particular area of the Outer Banks does not have hotels directly on the beach. There are some beach houses with decks and boardwalks right on the beach if that is your number one goal. For my family, this was a wonderful location.
Our room had a balcony that faced the pool. We could look right out the window and see not only the pool but the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which is about 0.6 mile from the hotel. At night, they light up the memorial. We liked looking out the window at the memorial during the day and night.
This hotel is less than 10 minutes from Jockeys Ridge State Park, Colington Speedway, and Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve. It is less than an hour from Corolla and Currituck Lighthouse to the north; less than an hour from Hatteras to the south; and less than an hour to The Lost Colony, Elizabethan Gardens, and NC Aquarium at Roanoke to the west. Travel time can vary depending on how heavy the traffic is going; these time estimates would be for heavy traffic. Multiple restaurants, shops, and grocery stores are within minutes of this hotel. It was easy to find - if you turn away from the Wrights Brothers National Memorial at the traffic light at the memorial entrance and go down a block, you are a block away from the hotel.
We could see that the hotel staff cleaned the pool every morning that we visited in early July, 2016. It was nice to be able to go out on the balcony and see the sights. The hotel is not right on the main highway, so it is fairly quiet. The swimming pool hours at the time we stayed were 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., so if you are traveling with young ones, it's nice to know that the pool area is scheduled to be quiet at night, which might be a deterrent to some folks who particularly like loud, late parties at the beach.
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| View of the pool from the balcony © Katrena |
Accommodations and Amenities
We had a room with two double beds. Double beds in hotels are smaller than full-sized beds that people might have at home. The mattresses and pillows were comfortable for up to two people per bed. This room with double beds would be a bit small to bring in an extra bed. The air conditioner worked fine with controls to set the temperature and speed of the fan. The hotel room had photos of a lighthouse over each bed.
My family has food allergies, so having a microwave and refrigerator included with the room was a big deal for us. The microwave worked fine and was clean. The refrigerator was already cold, clean, and was larger than a lot of dorm refrigerators that many hotels offer. A small coffee maker and packets of coffee were included with the room, but the only coffee our group drank was from the complimentary breakfast.
The bathroom was clean with a shower curtain rod that arches out with weights in the bottom of the curtain to keep it from blowing out. The shower head had adjustable spray, and there was a grab bar on the shower wall. Our room had a tub, which is nice if you have little ones who are leery of a shower. The towels were thick and clean. The plumbing worked fine - no problems with drains, smells, or mold that I saw. The hotel offers complementary soap and shampoo; there was a note that guests could request additional items if needed.
The pool was clean and pretty with some landscaping. The swimming pool was heated and slightly cool and refreshing. We enjoyed swimming in the evening; the area is softly lighted for guests who are swimming after dark. The first evening (Wednesday), my kids and I basically had the pool to ourselves, which was one of the best parts of our trip. On Friday evening, the pool was a lot more crowded, so I'd recommend considering a trip on weekdays if you are looking for more solitude.
The hotel offers a complimentary breakfast. I'm not the best one to rate the breakfast because my family has multiple food allergies and we are accustomed to packing all of our food. They did have bananas with the complimentary breakfast each morning, and the fruit tasted fresh. I noticed they had a sign over the cereal mentioning they offered gluten-free cereal upon request, which is a great plus to me. They offered a large variety of breakfast items to heat in the microwaves, such as waffles, sausage biscuits, bread, bagels, etc. They also had milk, coffee, and hot water and tea bags. The eating area had several tables and chairs but would not have accommodated a large crowd. We tended to take some fruit and eat in the room as we were getting ready to go out for the day.
We received the wifi password upon check-in and our tablet worked fine. I had already researched most of the places we were planning to visit and had no intentions of doing online work on my vacation, so we really didn't use the wifi very much. The room had a flatscreen TV and included quite a few channels. We watched TV less than an hour the entire time we were vacationing, but the television worked fine when we turned it on. My family is more interested in experiences than screens, so I'm not a good one to rate electronics at the hotel either.
We stayed on the third floor and were very happy that the hotel had an elevator, which is particularly helpful for anyone with mobility issues. If you have ever had to lug a bunch of items up several flights of steps at a hotel, you know where I'm coming from. The hotel also had several rolling carts on which to place luggage and other items to make it much easier on arrival and departure. One side of the cart works better for steering - they are actually quite simple and helpful to use.
We did not have any pets, but I believe rooms for people with pets are on the ground floor. We never heard any barking or any animals coming in or out of the hotel when we stayed there.
Parking was adequate and right at the hotel. The hotel room had a hairdryer, but we didn't use it. They also had an iron and ironing board in the room - you better bet I didn't even think about using that on my vacation.
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| Atlantic Ocean is Across the Road © Katrena |
Hotel Staff
Scott checked us in, and he was very professional and helpful. He offered a map of the area and pointed out areas of interest and circled them on the map. He was helpful, respectful, and available for any special requests. Other staff who worked the front desk were also professional and seemed highly motivated to ensure that everyone had a pleasant stay at the hotel. Everyone was knowledgeable of the various activities in and around the area and were more than happy to give directions and suggestions. The front desk staff were also willing to respond to any reported issues from guests and followed up to ensure issues were resolved.
The cleaning staff were also kind, considerate, and acted in a professional manner. I thought they did a great job keeping the hotel clean. If you have ever been camping at the beach, you know that it's nearly impossible to keep traffic areas free of sand and such. With so many guests coming in and out of the hotel - I believe I heard they only had one vacancy during the time we stayed, I was impressed at how clean the rooms and common areas were as people were coming back and forth from the beach. When my family would leave to go sight-seeing in the morning, we would take down the "do not disturb" sign. Upon returning later in the afternoon, the room was always clean with beds made, etc.
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| You can see the hotel from the beach boardwalk - it's behind the yellow-colored building on the left © Katrena |
Price
As I mentioned, we rarely go on overnight vacations. My family is on a budget, so this was a big financial stretch for us. I checked prices and reviews of many hotels and found this one to be comparable or less than other area hotels with the same type of rooms. Staying in a hotel that close to the beach carries a hefty price tag. I believe rates decrease when the weather is cooler, but many of the area attractions, such as seeing The Lost Colony, will be closed when the rates go down. I booked about a week before our arrival; several area hotels did not have any vacancies at the time I booked, so you might want to book earlier than I did if you have special requests for a room.
Although this hotel does not have an exercise area, I noticed they offer free passes to the local YMCA that is about 3 or 4 miles down the road. I looked at the web site for the YMCA and saw they offered quite a few activities for kids and adults, so that's a nice included amenity.
If you are looking for a low budget vacation, going during the off season or camping might get you more bang for the buck; however, I was pleased to know the hotel offers discounts for state employees and military.
Weeknight rates are less expensive than weekend rates, which is typical of a hotel. The staff quoted me a price over the phone, and I don't believe we had any unexpected charges for anything. For example, parking was free at this hotel, unlike some hotels where they add on all sorts of extra charges.
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| Relax at the Beach on Vacation © Katrena |
Overall Thoughts
We enjoyed our stay at Travelodge Nags Head Beach Hotel. The room was quiet, was in a nice location, and met our needs. My kids said they would give it 4.5 to 5 stars. My kids would probably have wanted to add a water park to make it a definite 5-star rating, but that's not the style of accommodations in this area. I appreciated the cleanliness of the hotel and courtesy of all those who worked at the hotel. Everyone in my group agreed that they would stay at this hotel again.
Nobody paid me to write this article. I just wanted to share my experience with others who might be traveling and looking for unbiased reviews about hotels.
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