Name: Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel
Address: 1401 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park, NJ
Telephone: (888) 420-1655

Liked: The Halestorm concert at the Stone Pony was great. The crowd had a good mix of my age and teen future metal heads.
Disliked: I'm a 50 year old and I've been in great hotels and $40 a night motels. I must say I walked into the Berkeley and it looked like one of the scenes in the movie Titanic - the beautiful large rooms, great lighting, marble, couches all over. Then at check in time it was $30 more than expected. I booked this hotel because they claim to be 1/10 of a mile from the Stone Pony so having bad knees from sports my whole life, I booked the hotel because it looked great and the location. When I checked in the rude check in staff had better things to do other than their jobs, so I asked where could I park and was told on the phone that morning due to my situation they will have parking on site - well, wrong again, I had to park 3 blocks further from the Stone Pony. OK, I got into the elevator, got off on my floor and it was old - 1970 dark green rugs with damp smells, like an old bad movie. We opened the door and the room wasn't what the pictures looked like before I booked - half the lamps had dead light bulbs, the white bed spread had 3 huge stains on it when we pulled it off the bed, and we found a woman's pony tail rubber band in the sheets. Then the TV didn't work - when the repair guy showed up he said "um, you got a bad picture" and we can't fix it. Then he left, and under a chair I found a BMW car key, in view of anyone - that tells me my room was not cleaned, because my car key is worth $300 and I don't drive a BMW, so I was totally disgusted. I went down to the front desk and asked what time I could get a cup of coffee - the heavy set young man could tell I wasn't enjoying my stay and said to me "coffee gets here when it gets here" - so, my wife and I were standing at the checkout line and there was a senior citizen woman complaining about everything I went through with the guaranteed hotel parking, so this led me to believe that the Berkeley hotel and staff are full of crap - it's the old bait and switch. If anyone is looking to stay in Asbury, stay clear of this hotel. The sotry doesn't end there - I went to hand in my key and the front desk tried to charge me again. I paid cash, and got the receipt when I checked in thank God. Don't go there if you do put it on your card like I should have - because then I could have denied payment. And yes, they never came up to change the sheets - we both got tired of waiting and slept in the chairs and checked out at 7a.m.

Great hotel; wish parking didn't cost extra. Also for the price a complimentary beach pass would be nice. Seems Jersey wants to charge you for everything. Overall good hotel.

Liked: Impressive building; friendly staff.
Disliked: Pay extra to park.

Nice hotel, concerning experience.

Liked: The Berkeley has always been a topchoice.
Disliked: Security. I came back to my hotel room to find my door open. I was unaware they would be doing maintenance on the doors and changing the locks. Being that I was at the beach, I had left my bag with my wallet, cash, and credit cards in the room. Everything was untouched - I want to be clear. I used the bathroom and changed and when leaving, the technician was in my room changing the locks. I took my personal belonging with me, but it was pretty concerning - especially since I left the “Do Not Disturb” tag on my door.

Good in general, but not...

Liked: I loved the cleanliness of the room and hotel, and the beauty of the bathroom. I was glad to have a refrigerator. I appreciated the friendliness of the staff, and their dedication to finding the best room to fulfill my requests. I liked that I could call at any hour and speak to a person. The entire place had a nice appearance.
Disliked: I was disappointed to not have a microwave in a king room, as was my partner. She was very disappointed that a $300-something room did not have a microwave. I would have brought my own microwave if I had known there was none. Because of this I chose not to refrigerate my food, because it would be cold by the time I’d want to eat it, with no way to heat it up. I was disappointed at how small the king room was. My partner was unimpressed and disappointed with the size as well, which was a bit embarrassing for me as this was partly a gift to her. I didn’t like that the bathroom only had a bright light, not good for mid-night bathroom breaks. I was disappointed that my room had a very poor view, but I sacrificed the view for a higher floor by request, so I’m more disappointed with the lack of explicit communication about the view, as my request for a high floor was solely for the view. If they let me know the view would be the gravely rooftop of a part of the hotel and parking spots beyond it, I probably would have chosen the room they were originally going to give me on the fourth floor. I very much disliked that I could not, even with plenty of time in advance, reserve a room matching certain requests; instead they told me nothing could be guaranteed until the day of, at which point they let me know both requests could not be met simultaneously. It would have been better if they gave me possible scenarios ahead of time when I called, such as “king rooms facing south/southeast are only available on the fourth floor which also allows animals, and the only high-floor king rooms we have face (this/that).” I likely will not be reserving a room next year, and I thought getting a room each Pride was going to be an annual tradition.

Not worth the splurge for...

Liked: The location can't be beat, especially for a beach trip or the Pride event.
Disliked: The room wasn't very clean, and we couldn't keep the air on because there was an extremely loud noise that would wake us up. Additionally, for the cost (Approx $400/night at this time + $ 90 parking-which was just price gouging) we had NO HOT WATER and our door needed to be slammed shut, otherwise it stayed open to the hallway. When I reported these issues at checkout, the staff member couldn't have cared less. This was our second stay here, but honestly, it wasn't worth the splurge this year. My biggest disappointment was how the issue was handled.