This is a long post, but hope it helps anyone considering the Fleur…read more
Our stay here in August '22 was our second year. We were so impressed with everything we just had to come back.
Like everyone else has said, staff is very nice, from the front desk to the maids. Especially the latter, they even set my younger son's stuffies in different positions each day after making the beds, so it's become something he's fond of and wonders every day what they'll do next. They do come around very early -- by or before 9am when we're still making breakfast, hey we like to sleep in on vacation!! -- but I've never felt that they were put off by it, we just put the "service required" sign on the door, go to the beach, and it's always been very thoroughly cleaned by the time we come back for a late lunch.
The room (type "E") was on the 3rd floor again as I had requested the year before, and they even moved us down closer to the shore end of the building as I'd requested this year! These rooms are very nice as you can see in the site pictures. But it's the things you wonder about, whether they are as good as you could hope -- double beds are super comfortable (memory foam it seems, with good support for my creaky back), AC/ventilation is great in both front and bed rooms (we keep the fan running as my wife and me are used to fans and the noise helps us and the boys get to and stay asleep). Bath is great, never had problems with water/temp/pressure, and even though it's a little cramped it's still fine. Plenty of towels! Clean! Nice hardware!
They provide plenty of pans/pots/utensils for making basic stuff, but I suggest bringing your own metal grill spatula and tongs to save having to borrow one from the front desk each time (which they happily will do). Their grills are great. The cooktops in the rooms work great too, and the fridge is plenty big enough to hold everything we need for a week. They provide both keurig and drip coffee makers (including the paper filters), just bring your own coffee.
Nice big LG TV screen with DirectTV, plenty of channels, but who needs TV when there's the most beautiful beach, wonderful salt water pool, bike rental just a couple blocks away, several restaurants nearby, and that fantastic boardwalk a few more blocks away.
The MonsterCone ice cream truck always visits the block each night, best (and reasonably priced!) ice cream you'll find other than Kore Bros on the boardwalk. For breakfast or lunch, the Tangiers across the street is really good. The Crusader next door is also decent. I love Mexican/tex-mex, so several short blocks away is Bandanas, HIGHLY recommended. For frou-frou food, I hear Alosi's at the Pan American a couple blocks up is nice (but expensive). The Do-Wop breakfast/lunch joint is also within walking distance, not to be confused with the Do-Wop restaurant on the boardwalk (which is really good btw).
So, now for the ONLY thing I've had an "issue" with when staying at the Fleur the past two years mid-August: there is a group of families who've rented out several first floor rooms, and they seem to stay at the hotel all day in the pool area, drinking and having "fun", but they just take it over. And several of them set up and play cornhole on the sidewalk right next to the parking where our car was, drinking the whole day long... I changed from second week of August last year to third week this year, and they were still there anyway.... The mid-sized pool (which includes a cool spiral water slide for the kiddo's) is so crowded throughout the day by them that my boys don't want to go in. We look longingly at the near-empty Nassau or Tangiers pool across the way and have started thinking... But none of this stuff is the Fleur's fault at all. Just timing, and you can't choose your co-guests.
So are there better motels to stay for the price and quality? Maybe. I've read/heard the Aquarius is pretty nice/competitive, and the nearby Starlux is also top-rate (it's a Morey's motel after all), both of those are further up on the boardwalk stretch to boot. I love love love the Jolly Roger (I stayed right down Palm Road from it as a kid in the late 60's and always went to their movie night!). Maybe it's a better deal, and the Tenaglia's are a fantastic family-owner business, but it's further down the Crest. Not so much of a biggie since there's the Jitney Surfer shuttle to the boardwalk if you don't want to drive (and who really wants to), but it is an older property with commensurate "issues" like in-wall A/C that may not cool both rooms as well, quirky retro-deco you might not like... whatever.
Bottom line, you really can't go wrong staying here. It's a great stay, and the beach location is perfect. Really hard-pressed to find a better place than this. I'm getting the feeling we might try some place else, say "Meh", and just come back to the Fleur.
