NIGHTMARE AT THE RIVERSIDE MOTEL
First, I have been coming to Ogunquit for 59 years and my parents before me. My roots in the area go deep (spent my honeymoon in Ogunquit and my fathers's final trip before he succumbed to cancer, led spiritual and creative retreats for others in Ogunquit, etc.) but I had never stayed at this particular place before, although of course I had always seen it from Perkins Cove.
My young adult son and I stayed one night (October 27, 2018) and as chance would have it a very violent storm came through, knocking out power to the motel, Perkins Cove and the surrounding area. Weather cannot be controlled but the way the manager, James, handled the matter was deplorable. We lost power early, at 5 PM. We went out to get candles and saw many hotels in our area with back up generators. At 9 PM a young woman who had checked us in earlier came to our door and recommended we leave, that the power company told them there would be no power until 1 PM the following day. She emphasized very strongly that we should stay the night at the motel. I asked to speak to a manager then and was told he would not speak to guests and that he was not on site but at his own home. I asked for a refund. The young woman said James had already determined there would be no refunds issued. I asked if there would be any assistance in finding a place to stay at this late hour and she said no and there would be no financial assistance either in covering the cost of that lodging.
We went to bed shortly thereafter. The room was freezing and we slept fully dressed and with very light blankets. The woman had brought us a small flashlight. During the night I got up and saw that all of the other guests had left except ourselves and the people right next to us. Frankly it was really scary, with gale force winds blowing, large pumpkins blowing across the parking lot, the cove completely dark with no staff on site or emergency contact number. During the night the electricity did come back on. The clock revealed that the electricity came on at 3:17 AM. James said the power came back on at 10 P.M. which simply is not true. He also said he was on the grounds and that staff spent the night which is also absolutely not true. I directly asked the young woman if any staff would be staying on grounds and she said emphatically no. In the morning a woman in the office took our name and room number and said that they were offering 20% off of any future stay. I asked for a refund again and was told James would not authorize a refund.
I never met or spoke to James until a few days later when the really disturbing part of the experience unfolded. He told me that a refund had already been issued, and that I was never told my money would not be refunded. He stated that he was onsite at 10 PM, that the electricity went out very briefly and basically that everything that we had experienced had not occurred. He never once apologized. He was rude and dismissive.
It actually wasn't until I spoke to him that I discovered the night we stayed was their last night open of the season, which I think it would have been nice to have been informed of when I made the reservation. Later, after I contacted the manager from a phone number I found on a postcard, he said I was offered the option to stay an additional night for free. This offer never occurred and the hotel was shut down for the season by the time we left at around noon the next day, so how would guests be staying another day? The fact that this man sent a young woman to interact with his guests who were in a very frightening situation and then had the nerve to lie about everything that occurred to cover up for his bad behavior is disgusting. It so happens I am a hotel and restaurant reviewer so I have ample outlets for expressing the terrible experience we had. But still that does not compensate for the callous and uncaring behavior. A couple of warm blankets would have been a nice gesture. After I complained two days later a refund was issued.
Breakfast was pastries and diluted coffee. On any day from what I can glean from other reviews. This management is cold and uncaring. On a lovely day one might never discover this. I am actually glad that the violent storm exposed the management of this motel. Apparently the owners of many years sold it last year. Very sad. read more