The Seabird Resort

I want to love this resort. It has a lot of things that deserve a 5* review - location, smiling staff, beautiful decor. But infuriatingly, it also has things that deserve 1*, and unfortunately these things are pervasive and didn’t allow the hotel’s operations to happen in the background. Operational gaps and a few other factors were a constant factor throughout our week-long stay and this review is a reflection of this entirely mixed bag. I’ll start with the cons, because this is what the hotel has to really address. We booked the stay via the AMEX FHR program, which gives additional benefits, including a noon check-in (if available), an upgrade (if available), free breakfast, a $125 credit to spend and a 4pm checkout. We arrived at the hotel well past 4pm - the time for a normal check-in. We had booked a suite, paying over $700/night for the privilege. The room was not ready. It was supposed to be ready by noon given our FHR booking but it wasn’t even ready by the time their normal check in process started. The staff was apologetic and ultimately gave us another $100 credit as an apology. The valet drove away our car before we had a chance to unpack, so we had to wait for them to return the car, making the check in process ever more frustrating. With a 2 year old in tow, these things tend to create more friction for a number of reasons. Despite requesting a crib days in advance, and confirming again the night prior, it wasn’t in the room and I had to call for it. It was brought in but without crib bedding, which I had to request one more time. There were only two full size towels in the bathroom. For 3 people! Throughout our stay, we didn’t get our room fully cleaned, even once. Yes, we were in and out of the room, but this is a resort and so that’s what people do. There were stretches of time when we were out of the room for hours only to come back and see it in the state we left it in. They clearly don’t have enough people to clean the rooms efficiently. We called for fresh towels and for some semblance of turndown service, but while the front desk was responsive and someone always did come up, they’d either just drop things off and not take away old laundry or not clean out the full trash bins or take away/replace dirty glassware and coffee cups. Just frustrating to be in a beautiful, expensive room and have a constant reminder of the lapses in service. The bed squeaked like crazy. It was a very soft bed, which I find uncomfortable, but every twist and turn woke both of us up. We asked the front desk about it and they come in and removed the waterproof mattress cover, which was the root cause of the noise. I hate hotels that put little thought into the one piece of furniture that we all honestly pay most of the money for - the bed. Towards the end of the week, Piper, the breakfast restaurant, was overrun and if you didn’t make reservations the day prior (and even if you did), you’d have to wait a ridiculously long time. One day, we decided to give up our reservation and just get the food to go. It took the restaurant over an hour to get our breakfast order together, and even then, they forgot the drinks, forcing me to go back down and waiting for the manager to make the coffees. While individually these things feel small, they were definitely adding up throughout the stay and I felt that I was spending hours of my hard-earned vacation trying to deal with the hotel’s service lapses. Some things, like the baby changing station in the family bathroom by the pool, are broken and not being fixed. We needed to use the changing table and it actually just fell down when we opened it. Good thing there wasn’t a child yet lying on it! There was black mold on the bathroom vanity, in the dead center, under the wicker basket. Clearly, the staff never moved the basket to dry the surface underneath, allowing mold to grow. I brought this up on checkout and the front desk staff were mortified. I saw them take a note on this issue and they provided some additional credit as an apology. On checkout, I requested a bellhop to come up and help me with the luggage, but after waiting for 45 minutes, he never showed up and I had to figure out how to get all of our suitcases, stroller and other stuff to the elevators and then down to the lobby. Finally, and this is definitely a hard product problem, but this fairly large hotel has only two elevators, both in one location. This means that often there was a long wait to go up or down to the lobby or swimming pool and the schlep to the elevators from the other side of the hotel, where our suite was, definitely felt unnecessary. I am not docking the hotel for the 10pm fire alarm evacuation that was due to some teenage girls smoking in the bathroom in the lobby and pulling the alarm to escape the hotel security, but this is indicative somewhat of the party atmosphere in the surrounding neighborhood. It’s not over the top, but there are definitely people cruising under the hotel windows in loud cars and a certain amount of drunk debauchery. More of a call out, though the windows were insanely good at blocking out all of this noise. I’ll briefly mention the pros, but won’t go into detail: Food at Piper was good, for both breakfast and dinner. And the kids menu was healthy and had solid options. The staff was very nice to us. The lobby bar and lounge was great for unwinding in the evening. The waiter, Mark, was cheerful and after the first night, remembered my order to perfection. I was always happy to go down there and unwind from the stress of dealing with the hotel throughout the day :) The location is perfect, especially if you book oceanfront rooms! And the pool is great for both adults and kiddos. The sister property across the street has a great rooftop pool that has more of an adult vibe and is accessible to Seabird guests. I appreciated that the staff converted one conference room into an indoor playground, giving kids a place to burn off energy when it was too hot outside. The rooms and the bathrooms are beautiful, though definitely in need of better cleaning in between stays. Oceanside is just a nice place to spend time and relax. Despite the myriad issues I listed, we still managed to leave the hotel feeling rested and refreshed. I just wish that they get more people to work there and resolve the issues stemming from this shortage of staff. Oh, and a final parting gift, I never got my World of Hyatt points for the stay. After two weeks, I ended up contacting Hyatt directly to get the stay credited. A very appropriate end to this experience! Read less

If you need service for luggage, pool drinks/food, or breakfast you will be in for a long wait or a never arrival for service. The place is beautiful and a great location. Lack of staff for service was a serious problem. The beach crew was the highlight! That was were all the best service was for the entire stay. They were friendly and carried all your beach items. Set up chairs and umbrellas wherever you liked. The beach was so close! My kids had a great time going beach to pool. It was that close! Read less