The Bellevue House

Unless you are the heir of William F. Buckley don’t stay on this island long your imagined Conservative sensibilities will be forever shaken. My wife found this 19^th Century Salt-​box charmer on Trip Advisor. An unnecessarily large Suburban taxi took us three blocks from the ferry landing for a small fortune. The tranquility of this island is rare and there is no chain restaurant franchise to be found. Every lawn and garden is primed and pruned to anal Swiss standards. A completely preserved Victorian island which is a rare sight in our country. Has a few good restaurants but be picky. The Dean Martin era menus are dated with geriatric salad boats and poorly prepared dishes abound. You might be better off packing in your own food and save a fortune. Summer a usage with French cheeses might really tie you over. Hotels and Inns are picturesque we just struct out on every dinning choice. Lots of predictable fried foods everywhere. Otherwise bring lots of books and shorts and just relax

We had the third floor apt, it was fine, just a short walk from town and really close to the petting zoo and the rose bike rental. We missed the wine happy hour but overall it was the best deal.

Just returned from a three-​night stay at the Windrose House, which is part of the Bellevue House properties. Lovely accommodations, very pretty property with nice and knowledgable staff. Close enough (¼ mile) to walk to and from ferries/​town and easy access to the south side of the island (SE Lighthouse, Payne’s Steps to Mohegan Bluffs and beaches, dining at Spring House or Atlantic Inn). Our room (Oak) was clean, comfortable and nicely furnished. No AC, but lovely breezes and a ceiling fan make up for it (in fact, very few places have AC). Direct TV in rooms but we never turned on the TV. Free WiFi in the breakfast room, free luggage storage after 10 am check out. Lots of adirondack chairs on two big porches and both lawns. Plenty of clothesline for everyone’s wet beach towels and bathing suits. Big bike rack for everyone’s bikes, but limited parking for cars and mopeds (honestly you don’t need a car on BI at all). Complimentary wine and cheese a few afternoons a week. Nice continental breakfast including homemade coffeecake, fruit salad, hard-​boiled eggs, bagels, yogurt, cold cereal, coffee/​tea/​juice and New England Brown Bread, which I haven’t had since I was a kid. Yes, our bathroom exhaust fan made terrible noises and the kitchen/​breakfast room is a little frayed around the edges, but overall this B&B is charming, clean, comfortable, convenient and very pleasant. Will definitely return.

My family rented the main unit of the Sterling House for a week in the summer of ’14.
Pros:
— Good location, quick walk to Old Harbor downtown, albeit up a decent hill.
— Glimpses of the ocean view from the kitchen.
— House was renovated in approx 2007.
Cons:
— Our house had filthy floors, which we asked to be re-​cleaned. They remained filthy. Investigating myself, found the vacuum filters hadn’t been cleaned in ages and the machine was just moving dirt around. Clearly no quality control over cleanings. This theme continues…
— Bathroom fan was caked with dirt and hardly working. Probably the reason there was black mildew on the shower curtain.
— Outdoor tables/​chairs were filthy.
— Outdoor shower was broken.
— Grill grease pan was overflowing onto the ground.
— One exterior door was literally falling apart. The other leaked when it rained.
— Several interior doors had to be slammed hard in order to close.
— Shelf over bathroom sink was missing, but the brackets were left mostly-​attached to the wall.
— Past AC installation included an unfinished paint job sticking out from behind a dressed and an electrical wire (not just a regular cord/​plug) running outside of the wall.
— Privacy — This house has two units, without great sound insulation between their first floors, though they’re completely separated when it comes to sleeping areas. We found ourselves listening to our neighbors phone calls.
— Privacy — We were surprised when we saw a young woman walk by our front door and enter the basement through the bulkhead. Turns out she lives under the living room with her dog. I’m left wondering if this is even legal as she there are no locks on the bulkhead door.

Wrote a more extensive review on TripAdvisor, but overall
Great location, great view (only true from Sterling house), close to town
Good room
Bad problems within room & overpriced
Ugly Avoid the Breakfast it is hideous
Stingy missing ½ the shower curtain, AC cover missing, bugs in room due to lack of screen door
For $ 350 a night expected a little more, will try elsewhere next time
However we met people on the island who stayed in our exact room a year earlier and loved it, so hard to judge. Basically a $ 100 Hampton Inn is significantly nicer & has a much better breakfast, at 3.5x the cost I shouldn’t have to repair the toilet every time I flush it.
But maybe this is normal for Block Island, which would explain why Day Tripping is very common if not the majority of the tourists.

We stayed for a week and paid around $ 2000, including a room in an outbuilding with AC and breakfast. It was worth it, as the island is a fantastic getaway (this was our 6^th time on the island). It is unpretentious but clean, with daily room cleaning and fresh towels. The walls are thin, so we heard the constant cough of a poor soul in the same building, but otherwise, no complaints.
The staff was friendly and helpful, and the breakfast in a sunny kitchen was varied and good.
The Bellevue is a not-​long walk to the main part of the Old Harbor part of the island, where the ferry and most restaurants and other commercial places are located.

Okay, as of writing this review, the Bellevue currently only has two stars, which is wholly undeserved. I’ve found the biggest problem people have with Block Island is they are holding everything here to a different standard. You’re not in Manhattan, there’s nothing swank about this place, it’s about being chill and laid back. Block Island is casual.
With that said, Block Island is also pricy. I’m mean, how did you get there? Either by a boat or by a plane, which means everything got there the same way. So, everything is going to be more expensive, and yes that also means accommodations. A hotel on Block Island will cost more than one of similar quality most other places, so deal with it. With all that said, here’s my actual review of Bellevue House.
I’ve stayed here twice, both in the Spring off-​season in 2008 and 2009. Both times, I had a pleasant stay, which is why it’s my go-​to place whenever I’m thinking about staying on the island or when others ask me for recommendations.
Bellevue House is actually a set of house and small cottages on a large-​ish property. The main house has several rooms, and some of the other building are either single or multi-​unit rentals. I’m not sure if there have been renovations since my last stay, but I know there were units for anywhere from two to six people. There is a kitchen that is accessible to the guests, with various utensils and things that can be borrowed (e.g. to use the grills on site).
I stayed in two different rooms, although things may have been renovated since my last stay. The first one was a simple room with a counter-​type kitchen. There was a sink, mini-​fridge and microwave oven. Pretty basic, but met my needs. My second stay was with two other friends so we got a larger room. This was more like an apartment. Two floors, three beds, small table for eating, comfy couch to chill on, and a full refrigerator to store our stuff in. The one problem was that the bathroom was poorly laid out, but looking at the website, I think they’ve changed things up a bit.
Bellevue’s location is a plus to me. It’s not on Old Harbor like so many places, so you’re away from the noise and traffic and crowds when you are doing the one thing you should be doing in your hotel: sleeping (sorry we’re keeping this PG folks). It’s not so far that it’s inconvenient to get downtown, just a short walk puts you back in the center of Old Harbor.
There isn’t a huge staff here (remember what I said about casual?), but I didn’t have any trouble checking in or out either time I stayed. Sometimes you may have to hunt around for someone, but it’s not really a big deal.
The prices here are within line, or maybe a bit cheaper, for a basic hotel. I stayed with two friends during my second trip, and the cost was less than $ 70 per person per day. That’s a deal as far as I’m concerned.
They’ve got a few parking spaces here, which is rare on the island since bringing cars on the island is frowned upon. But we had one and it wasn’t a problem parking it.
Unless something has changed since my last visit, there are gas grills available for the guests to use, which was awesome for us. We stopped by the supermarket on the island and just got stuff for grilling while we were here. Our unit had a full refrigerator/​freezer, so we didn’t have to worry about where to store our food.
The only negative I had during my first stay was the mini fridge in my room was noisy enough to keep me from getting to sleep. I simply unplugged it at night.
Bottom line. This is a good hotel, just in general, but especially for the price and location and what you’re getting.

2 of my friends and I booked a room at the Bellevue for a weekend. Our room was in the Windrose House which is set back a little from the main house. Our room was pretty small but three of us were able to manage. The bathroom was pretty spacious.
We came on probably the hottest weekend of the summer, not realizing that pretty much no place on Block Island has air conditioning. The rooms were HOT. We noticed that some windows in our house and the other houses had fans, so we asked for one but they were all out. We made do the first night, but the second night, we had to ask again because it was unbearable. I think we’re spoiled because we need AC, but I think every room at this place should have at least one fan.
The breakfast was complimentary but left a little bit to be desired. We got to breakfast around 9am and we found fruit salad, yogurts, juices, dry cereal, poundcake, bagels and granola. It looked like it had been sitting out for awhile but we still ate it.
Overall, we had a good weekend and the Bellevue was decent for us. If we go again, we will probably look for something a little closer to the ferry.

I can’t speak for the customer service at this inn during tourist season, but off-​season it was abysmal. The inn advertised a continental breakfast for guests but apparently do not actually serve breakfast that late in the season, which would have been fine, if I had known that in advance. Most restaurants were closed for the season, but fortunately the grocery store opened at 8. The woman running the office didn’t even show up to work until an hour after we were supposed to check-​out, and literally the only person on the property was a handyman. The only perk was that the place was so deserted, we were allowed to check in three hours early.