WaterColor Inn & Resort

We had the best time. A friend referred us to this resort. It really was amazing. A great room over looking the ocean! Very roomy - we loved the fresh baked cookies which were amazing every evening. The added amenities such as the Treat Suite and the bikes were the icing on the cake. All the staff were super friendly. I will be coming back and referring others to this resort.

My family of 4 (husband, myself, 3.5 yr old, and 3 month old) wanted to take a trip before maternity leave ended, so chose WaterColor. We'd never been before (though had stayed at Rosemary the past 3 yrs), and had an incredible experience. Our room (the most basic, 2 queens on the 2nd floor) was phenomenal with a great view of the pool and ocean, way better than pictured online. We loved everything about the room and the balcony and house keeping did an incredible job keeping it clean. We found all of the amenities (treat suite with amazing coffee maker in addition to waters, ice cream, etc; beach bag to use; cookies delivered to room; snacks in room upon arrival, etc.) so refreshing. It's so rare to stay at a nice hotel with so many amenities nowadays (usually snacks are displayed with a price tag, which to me is more annoying than anything). The staff were all terrific and tried to accommodate any request we made. We drove down in our electric vehicle and had some difficulties charging it when we arrived after a very long 8hr car ride with two young children... staff helped us charge in a Seaside spot which saved our trip and avoided an expensive tow. Our 2nd floor room was perfectly located - we loved being close to the treat suite and so close to the Fish out of Water restaurant, which we ate at 2x (once while leaving the kids in bed asleep with our baby monitors on). We were a little needy this trip with the two little ones, and the hotel was so nice and accommodating, we really appreciated them and will definitely return when the kids are a little older. The ONLY bummer was that we left a Hatch (white noise machine and night light for kids) in our room and it wasn't ever located. We similarly left a puzzle at the Fish out of Water restaurant and when we returned the next morning, it hadn't been located. Not a huge deal (our fault we left them), but would've been nice to have them located and returned, especially the expensive Hatch. Other tips for families traveling with young children: Camp WaterColor is a short 4 minute drive away and we were able to find parking (I believe it was $25 for the day). We had planned on taking the advertised trolley, but you need a carseat for kids <5 yrs old. It would've been a 20-30 minute walk. Beach Club with 3 pools (2 of the 3 are kid friendly) was close and wonderful and kid friendly (especially the lowest pool), as was the pool at the Inn. 3.5 yr old loved Camp Watercolor as well and we could do the large slide together which was fun. Thank you for making our trip as fun as possible!

Staying here was a definite splurge for me, but I left feeling it was money well spent. Gorgeous rooms, great amenities and a beautiful beach. Just wish the food options were a bit better.

The good: warm, helpful staff; beautiful beach; on-site restaurant was top-notch; higher-end finishes + clean rooms; walkable area; delicious cookies! Randy drew us the sweetest anniversary card and hooked us up with a yummy desert <3 He was never rushed and helped us with everything we needed. The bad: The aggressive biting flies were truly awful - we were fending off attacks from our first evening through our last morning, and it was especially stressful given that our baby is so little. I did some research and found that the EPA specifically recommends 20% picaridin based repellants to deter these biting flies (the brand "Off" has a couple formulations with this ingredient) and fortunately we did find this to be somewhat helpful - but not completely effective unless we re-applied frequently. It would be nice to warn guests of these flies and provide this specific repellant if needed. Our first room was lovely and quiet, but we couldn't enjoy the patio due to the flies. We requested to move to a higher floor, and I wish I had thought to ask for a room on the quieter side of the hotel - I had no idea the pool pumps run all night and morning long. We couldn't fully enjoy the 4th floor room, either, because of the constant mechanical noise. It was admittedly really, really disappointing since our baby is too young to spend much time out at the beach. I ended up turning on ocean sounds on the TV, laugh/cry. I understand the pumps need to run continuously during operating hours, but I hope the hotel will reconsider leaving them on all night long. It would be wonderful to be able to enjoy a beach sunrise and hear the waves instead of the pump. I wish I had thought to ask them to turn it off before our last morning - I bet with enough notice they would have done whatever they could to make it happen. Housekeeping staff were lovely to interact with, but I would have appreciated if they'd spent more (any) time cleaning up lovebug carcasses from the patio, and less time winding up our phone charging cables and re-arranging our personal belongings. In retrospect, we should not have paid $50 per day for the beach chair set ups. For that price I imagined more space and comfier chairs, and we weren't able to use them since we also had our baby with us and she needed more shade than the small umbrellas provided - not to mention the biting flies! We paid $200 to use the chairs for a total of five minutes - not a great ROI.

The staff are exceptional and we love coming to Water Color. One of our very favorite trips, we look forward to it every year.