The Villages at Ocean Edge

Overall, the resort and the Villa’s are nice. We were in town for a wedding on the beach at the Mansion. When we booked online, we did not know that the Village’s were not on the same property as the event. There were supposedly buses running (and we did see them when we got over to the Mansion) but we never saw them in the Villages. Our room was very nice and spacious. While the two window-style AC units did a nice job of keeping the rooms comfortable they were tremendously loud. Depending on your mobility parking is an issue. There is no parking in front of the villas and the lot for where we were was too small. Every morning you would see cars parked on the side of the parking lot as it could not handle all the cars. Many of the staff are foreign here on work study visa programs, which is great, but they should really have a senior supervisor on hand or nearby as well. We arrived early before our rooms were ready, so they gave us passes to go to the mansion and the beach until our room was available. We went down to the beach where a young man was checked to make sure people were guests which was nice. We stopped at the Beach Bar had one of the specials. It was kind of funny that Rum and Lemonade was $18 plus tip, but that’s tourist for you. We had other friends that had just arrived, so we met up at the Ocean Terrace. It was 3:30 and they told us that they were not serving lunch anymore, only small plates. We said that would be fine, they then proceeded to tell us that we would have to sit at the bar as we could not take up seats before dinner. After a little discussion back and forth they sat us at a table. The waitress we wonderful she even moved an umbrella to get us out of the sun. The food was OK. The crab cakes were good, the Sword Fish Taco’s were over cooked. Overall, a nice place, lots of amenities, slightly dated, and overpriced. We would go back for an event, but we certainly would not make a trip up there just to go there.

Stayed two nights here for a wonderful wedding at The Mansion. We had a one bedroom with another couple so we slept on the sleeper sofa. Overall it was a very good experience with one exception which I will speak to shortly. The rooms was pleasantly large. The living room had a pull out sofa, a few chairs and still had ample room for all of us to hang out together. Although we did not do any cooking, the kitchen was well equipped with a full size refrigerator, stove, oven and microwave. We did use the coffe maker with the provided Wolfgang Puck coffee and that was good. The four of us shared the one bathroom with no issues as there was a doorway in the hall and one in the separate bedroom. Our only issue was the pull out couch. To be honest I have never had a good experience sleeping on one but I still have to say here that it was not good. Uneven, springs sticking in your back and difficult to get on and off. I would suggest a foam padding stored in the closet to ease the discomfort. The place is spread out so we did drive to the pool which was very refreshing and only had about ten people on a Saturday afternoon. We used the shuttle service to and from the Mansion and while there was a delay after the wedding, the time for the shuttle to come was not bad at all. Overall a good place to stay but a little pricey ay $600 a night.

The villages were such a nice place to stay. The rooms are fantastic and the location is near a ton of antique stores and shops. The rooftop bar is amazing as well. The only downside is that the wifi was down the entire time we stayed there and cellular barely worked due to the lack of cell towers.

THINGS TO DO: We obviously had a rental car (from Hyannis Airport), and it was massively helpful/useful as we used it constantly. For us, the Villages was a unique, affordable (most of the top properties are at least $1K/night) "home base" for us in the Brewster/Hyannis/Barnstable/Provincetown area. We had a 3-night stay and deliberately didn't do a ton at Villages or Mansion (though there is certainly a plethora of options). We had dinner one night at Linx (which was okay - not bad, but not super memorable) and then another night at the Ocean Bar to watch the sunset (this is a MUST do as it is the best spot at either Villages or Mansion to see the sunset) -- food was decent here. At Britterige Village (part of the Villages), we were within easy walking distance of several excellent cafes, such as Snowy Owl Cafe, Kitchen Cafe, and JT's Seafood. We ate at all of these (especially for either breakfast or coffee at the Snowy Owl Cafe and Kitchen Cafe), and it was a nice change to simply walk back/forth. We also did a day trip to Provincetown (highly, highly recommended) where we had both breakfast and lunch. Another day we visited local friends in Barnstable for an evening BBQ. Pro dessert tip: Check out "Eat Cake 4 Breakfast," which is a famous bakery nearby for delicious treats! We deliberately didn't use the pools or beach, etc., but appreciated that we were able to access the Mansion private beach, despite staying at the Villages during the Memorial Day-Labor Day timeframe where generally you can't do this if you're at the Villages. STAFF: This is the "secret sauce" of any solid property, and Ocean Edge is no different. The GM Robert Newman was very gracious, and special thanks to Marc Bauman (resort manager) who kept an eye on us and was super helpful with our small requests. Also thank you to Michael Medeiros for helping us arrange a private pickleball lesson. Everyone else we encountered during our stay would have a smile, and deliberately did what was possible to go the extra mile. For example, I recall when we were trying to get food/drinks ordered at the busy Ocean Bar, and a kind male server/bartender spotted us and ran over to take our order. The housekeeping also seemed efficient and timely. VILLAGES V. MANSION: We haven't ever stayed at the Mansion so can't comment on the difference, but think of both of them as massive college campuses that are about 4-5 blocks (~0.4-0.5 miles) apart from each other. There is a constant shuttle loop from Villages. The Mansion is definitely where there is "more action" -- a gigantic lawn where tons of folks are playing games, eating food, chilling on chairs, etc., and far more eateries/restaurants, a private beach, etc. But, like the Villages -- it is also super spread out and you need to plan to do a ton of walking. ROOM/APT: My wife and I really loved the "apartment" style hotel-room with a spacious living room and kitchen. We knew the setup in advance, so we deliberately went to a Trader Joe's near the Hyannis airport and got some small groceries like yogurt, fruit, water, etc. We correctly predicted that water wouldn't be provided in the room (other than by tap) so we were glad to get water bottles. TV/WIFI: A nice touch that Netflix is loaded onto the TV as we signed into our account and enjoyed a nightly Netflix watching to help us wind down. A tiny point, but I would have liked the bedroom TV to be as large as the living room TV, but not a big deal. AC: Many, many reviews here comment about the "loud" AC units. This is true. However, we are from New York City and sleep with an AC unit on and the occasional sirens blaring (though we are on a very high floor). You do need to adjust the AC units to your preferences -- if you don't like them turning on/off, then you have to turn off the "energy saver" button and not have it in "auto." Overall this was a minor inconvenience into an otherwise unblemished stay, but would suggest that these units are replaced sooner than later.

Ocean Edge sits at a very beautiful area surrounding the entire golf course. It's pretty amazing to be inside the area walking or biking. We really liked the hotel and the surroundings but had to post a few things that's just jaw-droppingly bad. First, when we arrived, my father tried to open the blinds from the window and the entire window unit came down including the metal part. It made a deep cut on his wrist. He was bleeding right away. I immediately called the hotel from our phone, but only got a response with "We don't have a medical team here. You need to call 911 if you think it's serious." I can't believe that was in deed the response from them. We later called maintenance and the guy confirmed that it was't installed correctly therefore caused the incident. The hotel took no responsibility, not even a sorry. Secondly, later that night, we discovered when preparing to shower that there's no hot water. Called hotel again and the response was that they could only send someone to fix it next morning. They did initially try to offer us a different room but then they soon realized that the room isn't available for our entire stay. Lastly, after we checked out, we found out that we left some clothing in the dryer. I called the hotel right after. And called and called several times during the next 3 weeks. The response initially was "We will check and let you know". Ok I understand that part but they never called back therefore I kept calling every single day. After 2 weeks of calling, some guy from the housekeeping department told me they found it. So I gave my address and was waiting for the package. Another 2 weeks went by, nothing has arrived and I kept calling at the same time too. Now they said they never have found it. In a short summary, it's an amazingly beautiful place in a great location, but service is incredibly bad and facilities are really old. And they don't really care if you get injured from staying there or not. Also the beach has so many disgusting small flies all over. We've never experienced a beach like that.