Hampton Inn

I stayed in this hotel on January 11, 2016. It was off season. This hotel actually rates a solid 4.5 but since Unilocal does not give me that option, I have to go down to 4 stars. I always like staying at Hampton Inns. You can’t go wrong. Very consistent. A fridge and a microwave in your room is always a plus! Every Hampton Inn has this.
When I arrived at dinnertime during the off season, the front desk girl was very knowledgeable about which restaurants were opened and recommended a very good place. The hotel is very clean, nicely appointed and has beautiful beach views. During season you have the benefit of two outdoor pools, an outdoor eating area and beach access. Year round there is an indoor pool and a very small workout room.
The reasons I am going down from 5 stars to 4.5 are as follows:
— Really far north on the island. Be prepared to drive a lot to get there and if you are planning to go out to restaurants.
— Breakfast was very mediocre. I am used to Hampton Inn breakfasts and this one was a little sub standard to what I have come to expect at Hampton Inn. Perhaps because it was off season.
— The a.m. front desk gentleman did not know where the hotel was located on the map of the island. I was asking about doing a little driving tour heading north and wanted to know where we were on the map so I could get my bearings, but he did not know. I find this unacceptable.
All other employees were very friendly and knowledgable. The hotel was beautiful and the room, including shower, was all good! I would recommend this hotel for your next visit if you have the patience to drive this portion of the island.

Thank You — «Don» the Manager! — Well Maintained Hotel! (1) Beautiful View of the Atlantic Ocean from our Room — Thank You! (2) Property and Room was Clean and Well Maintained. (3) Very Well Helpful Staff who care deeply about their guests and the property. (4) Nice Complimentary Cookies and Breakfast.
We will definitely be back! Again — The General Manager «Don» was a gentleman; He was out and about along with other staff members; willing to share his advice and help.
We really like this place!
Room was very comfortable!
Pool — A+; Wish it could have been a tad bigger, but — otherwise — it was great! Thanks!

(I’ll preface my review by saying that my stay took place in winter and obviously the hotel is not nearly as busy as it no doubt is in season just like in terms of breakfast we probably would have gone elsewhere after the first day or two if there would be a decent alternative that didn’t involve a least a ten to fifteen mile round trip.)
Check in took a lot longer than I hoped for but that was because I was third in line and the two people in front of me were each playing playing twenty questions with the front desk clerk about what was open during the winter in Corolla (duh — not much).
Eventually I got my turn and that went fast as I had done my homework in advance and didn’t need to ask stupid questions although the clerk did offer two restaurant recommendations that I later looked at online and after reading their menus and reviews I chose to skip both since they looked equally miserable.
A good tip here would be that I would imagine most people are trying to get something with some kind of a view of the ocean. If that’s the case then you’re looking for something on the third floor (although I guess the second floor is still high enough to see over the dunes) and unless you want to call the hotel to badger them you should be a Hilton Honors member so that you can pre-​select your room in advance. While the hotel can still change your room if they need to, trust me when I say that very few people use this option at this time and it will give you a huge leg up versus just showing up and rolling the dice.
The room itself was a standard Hampton two queen bed room. While other reviewers have referred to the rooms as big or huge, they’re not, as they are no different than what you get at more or less any Hampton. Two nice things are that each room does have a fridge and a microwave.
Since it was winter obviously the outside pools were closed. The inside pool while on the small side had a steady stream of people using it from right after it opened until when it closed. One issue is that the staff does a poor job keeping towels in the pool area. On two separate occasions we had to ask the desk for more towels as the rack was empty.
One negative that I need to mention would be what Bill W. said. The breakfast they offer while free, is not really the greatest. They only staff it with one person and when it got busy there were issues restocking things and there were decent waits on the busier mornings. We also encountered some hard bagels and some really sad ass fruit pieces. They also do not offer cranberry juice here which is a personal pet peeve of mine. Instead they have some sort of very watered down orange + something hybrid that tastes like crap.
But, to balance that the housekeeping here is first rate. Each time they came in all garbage was taken, the floor was vacuumed, beds were made, things like tissues/​TP were restocked without later having to ask for it. The housekeeping staff at Disney could learn a lot from the staff here as to how things should be done on a day to day basis in terms of anticipating guests needs.
Overall this is a very, very good hotel with a staff that is very friendly and a location that while not in the middle of the more developed areas of the Outer Banks, is more than adequate.
(Don’t forget to say Hi to Sysco. She appreciates the attention.)

Except for the Continental Breckfast, this would rate a full 5 stars.
My wife and I took a long weekend a couple of days ago. She had always wanted to see the wild horses of the Outer Banks so we drove down from just north of Charlotte. A bit of a hike but well worth it.
The hotel is great. Layout is excellent and would be a great place for a conference. The beach of right over the dunes but also has three pools on the outside including a river pool for resistance excercize. They also have a heated inside pool and jacuzzi as well along with a fitness center.
Rooms are big and well apportioned. Out room had a great view over the banks of the Atlantic.
Biggest asset though is the staff. The front desk staff was very helpful and gave us great recommendations for dining and places of interest to visit. Glenn in particular had dynamite recommendations and being a native, pointed out I had been mispronoucing Corolla all of my life and I am a NC Native. He said that we meaning the locals, don’t sleep in a Japanese Car but live in Ka –Raw-​La with the accent on the middle sylable.
Only down side was the Continential Breakfast. A less than stellar array of precooked moieties with the exception of the cook your own waffles.
Other than this, it’s great. Next time we will plan on having breakfast elsewhere and let it go at that.