Cape Ann Motor Inn

If you give this place anything over three stars, you’ve lost your marbles or don’t get away often. First things first. I need to mention that everything in the place is outdated. Its like going back 30 years. There’s no air conditioning available. Its so bad that people have to leave the front door wide open for a cross breeze. Bugs just fly and crawl right in bed with you. If you are looking for a romantic night, FORGET IT!!! We made reservations for two nights but ended up leaving one night early. The owner Brad Pierce wouldn’t refund one night for us. We tried to get our money back but we were met with resistance. Brad wouldn’t budge. He just puffed on his cigarette and just blew us off. He’d rather play golf at the Bass Rock Golf club, rather than deal with people staying in his motel. Its so sad to see a place with such a spectacular view be so neglected. If you dare to stay here, here’s a synopsis on what to expect…(INHALE) Old building, great view, wet floors, dog stench, spider’s in overheads, moths around lights, dogs barking, peeling paint, burn marks on carpet, framed paper portraits, old lamps, fridges, beds, and couches. In the morning they serve complimentary doughnuts and coffee. All this can be yours for $ 200 a night. Sounds like a wonderful place to stay doesn’t it? Hey Brad… I’ve decided to call you every day until you send me my money back. :)

Honestly, one of my favorite places on earth. My family and I try and get here at least once a summer. Family atmosphere and beautiful views. Can’t get any closer to the beach. I mean, it aged and is not five star accommodations by any stretch. The charm and location is why I Give it five stars. It’s a beach day with a night life.

What’s great: sound of the surf right outside, and sliding door to narrow deck right on the beach. Also, the prices are low for this type of location. The whole place has a relaxed atmosphere.
What’s not so great: amenities are comparable to a roadside strip motel, with everything generally outdated, except DirecTV (but TV is a rainy day default activity if you’re here for ambience and expect to use your room mostly for sleeping and stowing your stuff. Bathrooms are spartan, to say the least, and the bed had a mattress that was saggy. If this isn’t something you’re comfortable with, it’s good to know that up front. We didn’t mind the downscale atmosphere, the place was kept very clean, and it wasn’t hot enough to be uncomfortable, given there was no AC in the room. The temperature was in the 60’s and 70’s during our stay.
What really bothered me: a no-​smoking policy that wasn’t enforced, meaning that certain other guests’ cigarette smoke was ever-​present on the no-​smoking balcony overlooking the ocean, totally spoiling that experience. Management was informed after I asked them to put out their cigarettes & realized that feeling like an enforcer of the rules was interfering with my enjoying my stay, but clearly nothing was said or done: they kept their ashtray and packs of cigs on the railing, obviously just waiting for us to leave so they could resume their chain smoking. The two smokers were obviously regular guests as well as tobacco addicts, since they came prepared with bathrobes for the first thing in the AM smoke, and were out smoking morning, afternoon and evening. I was so disappointed. The cigarette odor made the place seem sleazy. When the wind is right, and you have your deck side door open, you have the opportunity to inhale secondhand smoke right in your room. This needs to be addressed, but I don’t like getting into hassles when I’m in a place to get AWAY from hassles. I liked Cape Ann, but I’d hesitate to stay here again, since there’d be no guarantee it’d be a smoke-​free experience.

Being a frequent visitor to the Gloucester/​Rockport area, the Cape Ann Motor Inn is our #1 pick because:
a) It’s the only one right on the a decent Ocean Front beach
b) It’s not overly priced
As the mixed reviews indicate, the Cape Ann Motor Inn is great for some, and not so desirable to others.
Alot of the character, charm, and annoyances hinge on the design of the back deck, and I offer the following tips for an enjoyable stay at the Inn:
1) Since it’s right on the beach, you don’t have to load up the car with beach chairs and toys twice daily. You arrive, drag your stuff to the beach, and at the end of the day, tuck it under the back deck. Stay anywhere else, and you’ll be loading the car twice daily, plus paying for beach parking, which is about $ 15 after the discount provided by other hotels/​inns. After several stays here, we’ve never had an issue with theft or lost toys. Just ascertain kites or anything lightweight are secured.
2) Every room of this three story Inn has a rear patio door onto a the back patio overlooking the beach, Atlantic Ocean, and stunning view of the Twin Lighthouses on Thatcher Island. The Patio is more the style of a narrow wooden three story porch, where several of the neighboring occupants of other rooms on the floor may be passing by your patio door to reach the staircase reaching the beach.
3) During your day on the Beach, you’ll discover that your room key only works on the front door, and not the back patio door. For this reason many folks leave their valuables (Money, Laptops, Jewlery, iPads) securely in their car, and their back patio doors ajar to better facilitate beach to room access and bathroom breaks. You don’t have to do this of course, as you can secure the door walk around the front, but make sure you’ve got beach shoes as you will have to contend with hot sand and hotter asphalt pavement to get your front door. If you do leave your door ajar and have young kiddos, watch them closely as they run back and forth between the beach and the rooms in this manner as the rooms are not numbered on the backside of the Inn. Youngsters can get confused that their second floor room which was only up one flight of stairs from the front of the Inn is actually up two flights of stairs in the back, and they may get caught heading into the wrong room since so many leave their back doors ajar in this same regard.
4) Floor Choice: You want to consider two things in if you have a choice of which floor you stay on; STAIRS and DINING.
STAIRS: If you are in and out of your room frequently, or have any physical difficulty with stairs, you are going to want a room on the First Floor. From the front of the Inn, the first flloor is accessible by a ramp, or three steps or stairs, and from the beach a single flight of stairs. Likewise, if your room is on the Third Fllor, you will have an additional two flights of stairs from the front, and three flights of stairs from the beach.
DINING: If you want to enjoy dinner on your back deck, don’t do it unless you’re on the third floor. The decking of the entire area is similar in style to that of a home deck, with gaps between planks of wood. Therefore, the sandy footsteps from above will surely rain sand down upon you and your food. While you will not have this problem on the third floor, you may receive some irate words from your neighbors immediately below about sand falling from your deck to their coffee or themselves as they sit to enjoy the view.
5) Cleanliness: There have been many mixed complaints about cleanliness of the Inn ranging from filthy to ‘what do you expect for beachfront’. Cleanliness to my family matters most when it comes to the beds, towels, bath, and furnishings. I’ve always found the sheets and linens to be clean and comfortable. All of the rooms which I have had the pleasure of residing in have had a low pile carpet. It’s not spick and span, and after Sept 15. Dogs are allowed on the Beach and the Inn is apparently dog friendly so the floors are certainly not comporable to many modern Inns.
6) WiFi. The recently launched WiFi system offers access well across the beach, however, it requires an initial registration to set-​up a Username and Password and an agreeance to the Terms of Service. After doing so, if you may find yourself spending a great deal of time on the web based login screen on your iPod/​iPad every time you need to connect to the Internet. I found this extremely tedious, having to login again after eacj 2 minutes of idle time.
7) Last day on the Beach. The first time we stayed here hotel staff welcomed us to have a final full day on the beach by allowing us to keep our car in their lot, and use their staff bathroom after checkout for potty breaks and to change out of beach clothes to street clothes when we were done. They have since allowed us to do so, but have not instilled the welcoming feeling which we had first experienced.

The one great thing about this place is the location on a lovely beach with a great view of two lighthouses. It is all downhill once you step into your room. The rooms are shabby, the walls are thin so you hear your neighbors snoring, the toilet had difficulty flushing and the Wi Fi didn’t work in the room.
The prices are not great either. If the beach is all you care about, then this place could be for you.

We are currently checked in here. I definitely did not give 4 stars for the amenities. I gave it for the ambience – that homey and friendly relaxation that you get just pulling in. The appliances and rooms are old but comfortable. The staff is super friendly and it is very low key. The view is amazing and you can leave your screen door open while you sleep, listening to the waves with no worries. Overall, not flashy but soooooo comfortable and relaxing!

I was so suprised to see the negative reviews I had to add my own comments to give a more balance viewpoint.
1) Location — finding a motel right ON the beach in New England is very rare. This place’s location is awesome. Finding any place near the water that is open year around is next to impossible. Pity, because our October stay was made even better because hardly anyone else was there.
2) Price — come on, you’re staying right ON the beach. Their highest rate at top season for an oceanview room is $ 170. That is NOT expensive. We paid $ 85 for a corner room with a spectacular view. You can hardly find a Motel 6 in Iowa for that.
3) Cleanliness — it’s a beachfront motel, what were you expecting? Our room was clean but I wasn’t expecting it to look like a Hilton. Did she say she had dogs in the room but complained it was dirty? Huh?
4) Friendliness — absolutely! We felt like guest’s in a private home. Very nice staff. The lobby is much more than that, it is an inviting rustic living room with fireplace where you can hang out with a cup of coffee and chat with the hosts.
We were «lucky» during our visit that it was bitter cold and the ocean was roaring. We sat on the deck wrapped in double blankets for hours watching the moonlit surf. What a bargain for $ 85. When it was bedtime, the room was nice and warm and cozy.
I can’t imagine not likeing the Cape Ann Motor Inn unless the only places you ever stay are Five Star resorts.

The location is amaaaaazing! Right on the water, you walk out the back sliding glass door of your room and you are literally on the beach. It’s a fairly secluded beach, so there aren’t too many people even on a warm summer day. At night, it’s so peaceful and quiet, and the innkeepers even encouraged us to hang out there, building a bonfire if we so desired.
The kitchenette in the room was nice, but we didn’t really need it. The rooms without kitchenettes were exactly the same, with a smaller fridge and no stove or cabinets.
The biggest problem we had was the lack of air conditioning and the price. We had 4 people (fairly comfortably on a pull out couch and bed) so the price was bearable, but it seemed steep at $ 210 for one weekend night in the summer. Air conditioning would have made it a more pleasant stay for sure, and definitely knocks this place a star.
If I needed to come back to Gloucester and needed a hotel, I’d at least consider Cape Ann again, especially if there was time to hang out on the beach.

Beautiful Location, it is a rustic Inn on the beach. The staff was very helpful and friendly. We really enjoyed our stay. For the price it is ideal for a getaway with a beautiful beach.

alright — the location can’t be beat, the place allows my pups but DIRTY, DIRTY, DIRTY is the only way to describe it — not surface dirty but ground in nasty dirt. I’ve stayed here twice, only because I really thought the first time was a fluke!