The Dolphin Inn

As we drive up to the rooftop parking lot our ability to park was blocked by three police officers who were doing a sobriety check. This seemed routine to the other patrons as they were yelling form the balocony profanities at the officers «can’t find no marijuana this time» who seemed unfazed at the disruption of peace. The parking lot was small and full and we were told by the front office to park in the ramp/​driveway. As my family and I walked through the dark hallways scared something would be lurking around the corner, we entered the smoky with hint of crack and meth smelling «non-​smoking room».I’m not accusing that someone smoked in the room, but the circular burn marks I’m the coffee table were suspect. We asked for a refund from the front desk attendee who said he couldn’t and gave us a card for the manger who would be there on Monday. The pull out couch had no sheets or pillows. He was able to scrape up two flat sheets because «there were no more linens or sheets».shockingly the sheets were clean. The hallways were loud and disruptive. But this the norm it seems because they are residents, not guests. I honestly feared for my safety. I am from NYC and I have felt safer in the subways at 3 am by myself than I did that night. We had no where else to go and they had our money so after a round of benadryl for my whole family because our allergies were acting up and a few puffs of my asthmatic son’s inhaler we survived. The bathroom and kitchen were actually decent, they appeared recently remodeled. The carpet was old out dated. The tv had a some kind of white paint on the screen. The view was oceanfront but we couldn’t get too close to the railing because something was dripping from above. As long as you looked straight ahead the view was beautiful, but don’t look down because it was littered with beer bottles. I am considering having my family tested for STDs, hepatitis and other communicable disease after this stay. I would like to thank the Dolphin Inn for allowing me to give my children a real life experience as to why you should stay in school and don’t do drugs.

This dump double charged me. I discovered this whem i rebiewed my credit csrd bill a month later. I made a reservation on
, then when i got there the desk clerk said there was no reservation. So, i paid for a room. Well, in fact there was a reservation and they collected their money from it. This place is as shady as it is filthy and run down.

Smaller than anticipated but clean. No bugs seen at all as stated in other reviews. We got a super deal through
so I switched from Marriott to here. I kicked myself after reading the reviews. But don’t let that scare you. We were a family of 6 with teen boys. So the room was a little crowded. Housekeeping came daily but was foreign and we had a communication barrier. But pointed to what was needed. The pool was a rooftop pool with great views but indoor and very small!!! Max occupen u was 12 people. Dimensions on pool were roughly 14’x20’. Our cards were deactivated once for some reason. Our AC worked good but apparently leaked to room below and carpet was wet but I didn’t notice because I wear my sandals in hotels. So gentleman that fixed it was extremely nice and fast. They offered to set us up in other room but we were leaving next morning and decided to stay. The staff was very friendly. Great location!!!

It’s cheap, but there is a REASON it’s cheap! STAY AWAY– GO NORTH, pay more money, whatever you have to do to avoid the disappointment we experienced! Pulling in, it’s SCARY! The parking area is DIRTY, the check in area is shady! You get a bad feeling right away… listen to your instinct! We got an email ONE DAY before check-​in telling us that the pool was closed due to renovation, giving us the option to cancel. The indoor pool is one reason why we stayed here due to having 7 kids with us. It was too late to cancel at that point due to three families traveling together and no other available options in the area by that point– AND they would not give us a discount for this HUGE inconvenience, the GM wouldn’t even talk to me, she passed the message through the desk clerk! The rooms are all under renovation with items, tools, screws, cords, etc. just left laying around everywhere! The OUTER doors are not properly sealed and ALL YOU CAN HEAR IS WIND ALL NIGHT LONG! It sounded like a freight train coming through the room and NO ONE COULD SLEEP! When we complained, they offered to have someone look at it, but they never did– and then offered to move us, but then we wouldn’t be near our kids’ room– We rented two rooms, our kids rooms didn’t even have a mirror in the bathroom– There was a USED QTIP under one of the beds in our room– Oh and there is ONE remote for ALL the TV’s in the entire hotel that someone has to come in and turn on for you– The other guests just added insult to injury– They were throwing beer bottles from their balconies and smoking marijuana right above our room, which was rolling right into our rooms! The cussing and language was awful and I just wanted to cover my kid’s eyes and ears! I felt like a failure as a parent for even bringing my kids here– There was trash everywhere, dirty containers of sitting water everywhere, wash clothes all over the front yard, and the employees made me nervous to even be around my kids and belongings! PLUS, on Friday night there were gunshots right in front of our hotel with police and rescue there all night, while our kids watched– What a disaster! I can’t believe this place is still in operation! Someone needs to SHUT IT DOWN! The restaurant owner across the street said that they pool was closed the week before due to the health department shutting it down! Now I am thankful that it was closed, I wouldn’t have dared wanted my children to get in it! The website is totally misleading. And when you call to speak with Manager, she is never there and NEVER calls you back! This was a NIGHTMARE!

Absolutely worst experience with Customer Service I have ever experience. I booked a room with this hotel through Expedia for a Saturday night and requested early check in. As advertised, I paid for a suite room, which is supposed to include a Jacuzzi tub. When we arrived and checked in, the room was completely disgusting. There were stains all over the couch, first floor accommodations with no view at all, and no Jacuzzi tub. It stated on the front desk you must advise them 10 minutes upon checking in with any issues involving your room or you will not be compensated a refund nor will they fix your issue for you. I immediately walked back out and advised the front desk clerk, Lauren, that there was not a Jacuzzi in the room. She said that ALL rooms were under renovation and that they all had standard tubs now due to leaking issues and jet’s not working. I advised her that I paid for a suite. Her response? They are ALL suites. If that were the fact, I would have paid for a standard room price. Not to mention, the hotel is STILL advertising 4×5 Jacuzzi tubs in suites. I then asked about the swimming pool and hours. At that point, she said the swimming pool was under renovation as well until March 14^th. What a complete fail at advertising or making the customer’s aware. This information should be posted on the billboard or the front door upon check in and made aware when making reservation. When I advised her I wanted a refund and wanted to cancel my room, she stated that I would need to contact Expedia for that. When I did, 2 hours later, and 3 hang ups from her to the Expedia supervisor, they denied my request for a refund and kept my money for the stay as well as re-​rented the room to someone else. I complained again and Expedia compensated my stay on their end due to false advertisement from hotel. NEVER EVER will I stay here again. Worst and most rude customer service I have ever had. NASTY hotel establishment.

Place is horrible.
Smells like smoke, weed and piss
Pool broken down. No one tells u until u check in
Not enough towels. Or sheets.
Everyone is miserable at the place. Everyday I was promised they would adjust my Rate do to no
Pool. They never did.
Never again. There are far better places w same Rate. Wish I did some research!

While waiting in the car in a tiny parking deck for hubby to check in heard a woman standing in the doorway cursing loudly and threatening to «beat a mother fucker to death» turns out she’s an employee who has been asked to clean more then her share of rooms today. When hubby returns I asked how do you get into the hotel? *points* right there between those two dumpsters is the entrance. Room is spacious view is amazing. Dirty Qtip in the middle of living room floor. Sofa ripped. Sand on the desk and dresser. Black hair on the inside of the bedspread. Soap scum I couldn’t scrub off in the jacuzzi tub. I wouldn’t let my dogs swim in that pool. But the sun deck at the pool had a great view of boardwalk and ocean. As a smoker it sucks to have to go outside to smoke but I understand and it does smell better then a smoking hotel. In summary if your not a germaphobe and just need a place to sleep this place is fine. oh one thing I forgot to mention. The compressor for the A/​C unit is on the balcony so you will constantly blasted with hot air.

We booked our reservation back in January. They charged the credit card that day. We were scheduled to check in on the 12^th of July. We got there and we were told that there was no reservation for us because the hotel was under new ownership and all reservations were wiped clean. We were never informed or any thing and we were never offered a refund. The lady at the desk said she’d try to get us a room. When she finally did she had the nerve to say that we were lucky she could get us a room. No you’re lucky you got us a room or you’d be giving us our $ 900 back. The hotel was a joke. Once we got in our room I wished that they wouldn’t have had any rooms left so that we could go somewhere else. The parking lot is awful. I don’t know how many cars I saw with damage on the side or front of them because the garage is so small and cars can’t fit through. I don’t think it was a coincidence. The room was okay, but any thing we put in the fridge froze within a couple hours and they kept the rooms so cold we were miserable and there was no way to fix it. We had to call every day because the cleaning service would just come and change the trash. They wouldn’t give us clean towels or even toilet paper. We had call to the office every day and they were out of wash cloths the whole time so we had to use towels. The one day they didn’t come to our room til almost 6pm. There is only one elevator and you’ll be waiting a good ten minutes. Every time we got on it I just prayed it wouldn’t break down because there was no air or ventilation and it smelled like pee. Stay far away from this hotel. The only good thing is it’s right on the beach, but so are the other thirty hotels on the same street so go somewhere else.

Overall, as expected for the price paid.
Pros: excellent beachfront location on the boardwalk, rooms are truly spacious and provide a great view of VA beach and the pier.
It was really nice to be able to park at the hotel for free before checking in and after checking out. Room was ready about an hour early.
The roof top pool was a nice touch. Not clean but great views again! Could watch the music in the park next door at night.
Cons: «smoke-​free» rooms reeked of smoke! The smoke alarm was actually covered by a plastic bag when we checked in and the hotel staff didn’t fix this?! The worst part is one of the hotel maids was SMOKING WHILE VACUUMING! Are you kidding me? On top of the extremely offensive odors, the room was just filthy. :(
Freezer was so built up with ice (hadn’t been thawed in years?) that we weren’t able to use it. Just really poorly managed it seems.

Family of 6 stayed for couple night last week and it was great! The room were clean and spacious! Beds and coaches were comfy, shower is at good pressure (hate it when you got a dripping faucet). View was amazing, but that would be the same for most oceanfront hotels. 3 minute to the water, that would be 2 for waiting for the elevator and 1 for walking to the beach.
Only drawback was the pool was closed due to a storm back in July, and the kids really very want to play in the pool, it is different from the beach, they say…
Will definitely revisit if vacationing with more than 4 people.
Will recommend to friends.

We took a shot in the dark and stayed in this hotel for 3 nights earlier this week. We were pleasantly surprised! The room was spacious and clean, the beds were comfortable and the view was amazing. That is all I ask from an ocean view hotel. It isn’t the newest hotel and the couch showed some wear but who really cares?
The only thing I could complain about were the exterior stairwell doors banging all night. They slammed when anyone walked through them. The pool was also tiny but we had no real plans on swimming in a pool with the beautiful ocean only steps away.
We are already making plans to stay in this hotel again.

The hotel was VERY CLEAN (no cigarette smell), perfect view!!! There is military discount!!! The only problem is that there is only one elevator …& not enough parking !!! (So when you find a spot don’t move your car) The location is right on the beach and is surrounded by all the tourist shops !!!

We walked by and made reservations because a sign said all the rooms were two rooms w a jacuzzi. The price was decent (119) and they offer a 10% military discount. We then looked at the Facebook and Unilocal reviews. .and we were so close to canceling because most of the reviews were bad! We ended up giving it a try. We are so glad we did. The room is very spacious and was clean. The staff was great. The location is perfect. I asked who the manager was and noticed it was different from the one who responded to some of the negative reviews on Facebook. I suspect the new manager has made great changes. In particular, the sofas looked new (many reviews said how nasty the old ones were). The beds were full (a review said they were twin) and the room was clean… and the cleaning staff appeared to be around always working (if not in the rooms, the common area). The reality is this is a 3.5 to 4 star hotel… but, being there are so many bad reviews I felt it was fair giving it 5.

If you’re just staying a weekend and you’re barely in your room, then you’ll be fine. Truthfully, maid service is seriously slacking. They could definitely do better. I stayed for my weekend, but I will not come back.

I really like this hotel. It has both pros and cons though. So let’s begin with the pros.
Pros:
–spacious rooms (2 beds, bathroom with large jaccuzi, sitting room with couch and fold out bed)
–kitchenette (coffee maker, dishes, dish liquid included, microwave and mini fridge. Cabinets to store food you may bring)
–beautiful views of the ocean front from every room
–private gate entrance/​exit leading right to the boardwalk (closes at 9)
–location is ideal. In the heart of things but not too busy all the time. Very easy to take a quick stroll to the ocean itself, restaurants, shops, the pier and the carnival
–maids and staff are nice
–pool on floor 8. Heated. Open til 10.
–laundry on site
And now for the cons:
–pool. Crowded. Children left to run wild. No supervision. And once there were no towels to dry off with. Inevitably this is the one time i tossed my towel into the guest laundry
–stayed here twice. During one stay the turntable on the microwave was broken.
–door knob fell off on the inside on the first stay. Had to call repair guy to fix it
–only one elevator. For 11 floors. You May wait quite a while
–parking is a squeeze
–when a storm came up we were all not so politely shooed from the pool by maintenance staffer
–rooms are old (while this is cool with me some of you may hate it)
–touchy thermostat. I was up probably a dozen times adjusting it and going from arctic cold to a little too warm. Finally i left it arctic and put blankets on
–someone (unsure if it was hotel staff (very rudely yelled at me about feeding seagulls when there was no sign prohibiting it. Who wants to explain to a 3 year old why they can’t feed the «nice pigeons»
–doors are hollow, you can hear everyone outside.
Overall:
I love this place and all the cons combined only earn –1 star. I will be staying here with family again this summer. If you aren’t expecting 5 star pristine eat off the floor cleanliness quality then this is a good choice to stay at. I will continue to return annually

My husband, mother-​in-​law, and 5 month old son stayed at this hotel on April 25^th and 26^th. We recieved a wonderful price (mainly because it was still off-​season and the middle of the week) but we were happily surprised at the amount of people at the beach. In the evening, the boardwalk and main strip were relatively busy for being chilly and the end of April.
The hotel is a bit older but the rooms were spacious – you would walk into a kitchenette including a microwave, sink, fridge, and sink. To your right was a bedroom with two beds, next to that was a bathroom with a very spacious jacuzzi tub. Continuing to the living room was two large sofas (again, a bit dated), a desk, a kitchen-​type table with two chairs, a coffee table, and a sliding glass door leading to a balacony with a beautiful view of the beach.
We stayed on the 10^th floor and the view was incredible. I am slightly scared of heights and if you are as well, I would suggest asking for a lower floor because when you get off the elevator, in order to walk to some of the rooms, you have to walk past a balacony overlooking a parking lot and 10 stories up is veryy high.
One of my biggest pros of the hotel was the staff. The were so friendly and accomadating! We left our house at 2am putting us at Virginia Beach around 9am and surprisingly, the front desk allowed us to check in! A hotel allowing people to check in early (significantly earlier than their website-​stated 4pm) is amazing when you have been traveling through the night!
We didn’t bring a crib and the staff was quick to bring up a pack-​and-​play for us to set up and my son slept perfectly fine in it!
And I am unsure of the price reguarly during the beach season but we paid $ 75 for one night. Overall I was very impressed specifically with the friendly and helpful staff as well as the spaciousness of the room and gorgeous view from the balacony. We will absolutely be staying here again!

Older hotel. Spacious. Maid service mediocre.

Nice 2 room suite, separate bedroom with 2 double beds, large living room, 2 tv’s, nice location, right next to the 17^th street stage, staff at front desk was nice, clean, only thing is you get to your room by walking through the garage.