**Guests of The Sandpiper and its sister resorts -- BEWARE\.**
We have been coming to Cape May for years. I was born here, and my father was involved in restoring many of the beautiful Victorian homes, including their etched and stained\-glass windows\. Cape May has always held a special place in my heart, which makes writing this even more disappointing\.
In recent years, we have returned to Cape May with our young children and have typically stayed at The Sandpiper\. Our stays have generally been decent--not exceptional--but the location and amenities have made it convenient for our family\.
Unfortunately, this most recent stay was by far our worst experience\.
First, the beach chair situation is completely unreasonable\. My husband had to wake up at the crack of dawn and stand in a long line at 7:00 a\.m\. just to try to get four chairs in the front row so we could safely keep an eye on our 4\-year\-old near the water\. The chair stand didn't even open until 8:00 a\.m\.
Meanwhile, individual guests were apparently permitted to take as many as 10 chairs and reserve a huge portion of the front row for family members who wouldn't arrive at the beach until hours later\. Why should one person be allowed to reserve that many chairs when the rest of their party isn't even present? Guests should only be permitted to receive chairs for people who are actually there\. What is supposed to be a relaxing vacation instead became another daily source of stress\.
Then came the fire alarms\.
On our first night, around midnight, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate with my elderly mother and our two small children\. We were told the issue involved a washing machine producing excessive steam\. According to what we were told at the scene, the issue had apparently been reported earlier in the day and referred to maintenance, yet it had not been resolved before the nighttime alarm\.
The following morning, at approximately 7:00 a\.m\., the fire alarm went off AGAIN\. We once again had to evacuate, this time reportedly because someone was cooking breakfast and there was an issue with the exhaust system\.
Two evacuations within hours of each other--with an elderly parent and two young children--is not a minor inconvenience\.
But the most concerning issue happened after we left\.
We had a $25 daily resort credit and used some of it for one lunch on the beach and one dinner at the Blue Pig Tavern at Congress Hall\. Because we checked out early, we did not receive an itemized statement before leaving\.
Later that day, we discovered an unexpected charge of more than **$363** on our credit card that we had not authorized\.
We immediately called The Sandpiper and spoke with a manager\. We were told that someone had used our name and room number and that this type of thing "happens all the time\." We were told the manager would look into it but could not immediately remove the charge\. When we explained that this was an unauthorized charge and that we considered it a very serious matter, the response we received was essentially, **"Do what you have to do\."**
So we did\.
We contacted our credit card company and the Cape May Police Department\. The responding officer was very kind and contacted the hotel manager on our behalf\. We were ultimately told that waitstaff at Congress Hall had apparently selected the wrong guest and applied another party's charges to our account; this happened 4 times within a week\.
Mistakes happen\. But a system that allows more than $363 in someone else's restaurant charges to be placed on our room without properly verifying the guest is extremely concerning\. What was even more troubling was the dismissive response we initially received when we reported it\.
For a hospitality group operating multiple prominent Cape May properties, there should be safeguards in place to prevent something like this--and when a serious billing error does occur, the response should be immediate, apologetic, and focused on correcting it\.
This entire experience was incredibly disappointing\.
I never thought I would say this about a place that has meant so much to me and my family, but Cape May no longer feels like the charming, welcoming shore town I remember\. Our experience felt stressful, impersonal, and far below the level of hospitality we expected\.
Cape May will always hold special memories for me, which is exactly why this experience was so upsetting\. I sincerely hope The Sandpiper and its affiliated properties take these concerns seriously and make meaningful changes--particularly regarding guest safety, beach\-chair policies, billing verification, and how management responds when guests report a serious problem\. read more