The Rockaway Hotel

Just wrapped up a great birthday trip for our girl! Highlights: The staff. Huge shout out to Lindsay and Amelia at the pool. You guys were amazing! Chris at the beach was the nicest guy and a really hard worker. Margo for checking in on us and for surprising Mia with her birthday treat at the beach. To everyone’s whose name I didn’t catch - thank you, you made our stay wonderful. The pool was a fun crowd and while it’s not really a kiddie scene- no one seemed bothered by us. Our neighbors even sent Mia a birthday sundae at the pool. So sweet! While the bands are super loud in the rooms, we enjoyed the music and brought even louder sound machines. So all good for us. Anyone traveling with kids might want to avoid concert nights of noise bothers them. We live by Long Beach but are from Queens so it was really nice to be back at the beach we spent many years at before moving to LI. All in all we had a great trip and are already planning to make it a yearly tradition. Thanks Rockaway Hotel!

This hotel for sure has seen it share of traffic. It’s a little worn around the edges but what you’ll notice most is the loud music that vibrates every room from 5 PM until 10 PM every night there’s no using your room during these hours because you can’t even talk with one another

Let me begin by saying that I believe in hotels. I believe in freshly ironed sheets, bellhops who call you "Miss", and rooms with a sense of aspiration. I do not believe in spending over $500 for the privilege of staying in what amounts to a glorified dorm albeit one with better lighting. Which brings me to The Rockaway Hotel. Let's set the scene: we pull up at 9 PM. Emmanuel, the valet, greets us like he's been training for this moment his whole life. He's gracious, warm, and genuinely seems to enjoy the job--possibly one of the only people on staff who does. Ten bucks to him. We immediately thought - this is going to be a great place! Now, the lobby: gorgeous. All moody lighting and curated textures. It looks like someone went to a branding agency and said, "Make it look like we sell $18 cocktails and complicated emotions." Mission accomplished. It smells like sandalwood and startup culture. So far, so Goop. Then we get to the front desk. The staff looked like we'd interrupted a quiet moment of existential dread. Not rude. Just emotionally... dimmed. Like someone had pressed the hotel's hospitality setting to "low power mode." They looked at me like I was insane for asking if they had a gym. Spoiler alert: THEY DON'T. It was 9 PM, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt. But if I'm paying $500 for one night, I'd like at least one person to pretend I'm the main character. We get to the "room", open the door and immediately check the floor plan because surely this is a pre-room, a vestibule, a stylish holding cell for the real thing. But no. This is it. This is the $500 box. It's tastefully decorated in that vaguely coastal, hyper-minimalist way that suggests "serene simplicity," but feels more like "Oops, no one ordered furniture." There's no closet. No dresser. Nowhere to put a bag except the floor and a few wooden pegs that seems less like storage and more like an art piece. There's no complimentary water. Not even a decorative carafe pretending to offer hydration. Just two aggressively chic bottles of water for $10 each, staring at us like: You knew what this was. We bought them (insert eye roll emoji). We were sunburnt, dehydrated, and emotionally vulnerable. There were two sad pillows on the bed (as in ONE pillow EACH) the kind that seem filled with recycled Kleenex. So we did what resourceful people do: we removed the cases, stuffed in the decorative throw pillows (bless you, down feathers), and fashioned ourselves something that at least resembled comfort. No phone in the room. Everything felt vaguely damp, as if the room itself had been out surfing and hadn't quite dried off. The beach is a block away. That's the whole business model. The next morning we took the complimentary bikes out for a spin on the boardwalk and, honestly, it was fantastic. For a minute we were two happy people on vacation. We came back to the hotel glowing--literally sweating--and the morning valet watched us struggle with the door while scrolling on his phone. Possibly looking at photos of people on better vacations. We held the door. We held our tongues too. We had breakfast by the pool. My frittata was unmemorable in a way that felt like a decision. Just sort of... like someone made food with the idea that you're too hungover to care. My husband had the french toast - he LOVED it, but he thinks my cooking is great, so... Our server was gem. Sweet. Gracious. We bonded over her Fabulous nails. Oh, and the pool itself is beautiful. It makes promises the rooms can't keep. When we checked out, our friend the phone-loving valet was still... phone-loving. My husband literally placed the valet ticket on his screen. He retrieved the car with all the enthusiasm of a teenager taking out the trash. He opened the driver's door--and walked away. Didn't help with our bags. Didn't even close the door. It remained open, flapping like a metaphor for this hotel stay. The Rockaway Hotel is a case study in style over substance. You're not paying for hospitality. You're paying not to stay in one of the other local options that look like places people disappear from. This hotel has everything but the basics: no warmth, no amenities, no logic. It's trying very hard to be "a vibe," and forgetting that people are actually staying there. People with bags. People who need water. People who want two pillows. Each. Here's a simple fix: train your staff. Buy some decent pillows. Give us hanger. Throw in a bottle of water. And for the love of all things beachfront, act like you want us there. I won't be back. But someone will. Because it's the best bad option in town. Level set your expectations before booking.

This is the best kept secret in Rockaway. A delightful boutique hotel with tons of class and ambiance. The pool, restaurants and staff are all fabulous. We've been four times. We'll be back, you can be sure.

The Rockaway Hotel forces you into a two-night minimum but kicks you out of the pool at NOON on checkout day. So if you arrive Friday night like most people, you get one real day to enjoy the thing you came for. At these prices? That’s ridiculous. I’ve stayed at tons of four and five star hotels and have never been told I couldn’t use the pool after checkout. Limiting the main amenity for overnight guests — who are paying hundreds per night — is unheard of. Add to that a strict 7-day cancellation policy, unpredictable weather, and the fact that everything is overly policed — you have to check in at the pool, get assigned a seat, and are basically babysat while you “relax.” It’s not a vibe. They’re clearly more focused on cramming in day-pass people than taking care of actual hotel guests. The rooms are fine — thin walls, boring views — but we used to let that slide because the pool made up for it. Not anymore. Lastly, don’t be fooled by their social media — the pool may look like a chic, relaxing hangout for 20- and 30-somethings, but the reality is chaos. Both days, it was overrun with screaming kids. At one point, two parents even let their young children into the outdoor sauna and propped the door open to “cool it down,” ignoring other guests who actually wanted to use it. We won’t be back. You shouldn’t bother either.