Life House, Nantucket

DO NOT STAY HERE - Please Read Before Booking ——————————————————————————————- I normally do not write reviews, but after my experience at Life House in Nantucket, I feel compelled to share my dissatisfaction and STRONGLY URGE everyone to avoid staying here when in Nantucket. First, I was promised a 15% discount when I booked over the phone, but it was never applied to my final bill. When I called to resolve this, the manager was hostile, raised prices within a minute of the booking, and then claimed the discount was included. Nice customer service, right? To make matters worse, I was DOUBLE CHARGED out of nowhere, two months in advance of our stay. It took multiple calls to get the issue resolved. Why did I get double charged in the first place? If I hadn’t caught it, I would have paid an additional $3,700. Upon arrival, it quickly became clear that this was far from a luxury experience. The hostess greeted us with surprise, almost as if she wasn’t expecting us. When I inquired about our room, she reluctantly informed us that it wasn’t the best. We walked three flights up to find that we had been assigned the wrong room. I had booked a Deluxe Queen room but was given a Standard Queen instead. The room was tiny—200 square feet at most—with barely enough space for our luggage. The room itself had several issues. There was no iron or lockbox, amenities I expected at a luxury B&B. Worse, the SHEETS WERE DIRTY upon our arrival and were NEVER CHANGED during our entire 3-night stay. The Apple TV in the room was unusable due to preset configurations, so we couldn’t even watch a movie at night. To top it off, the Apple TV remote was filthy. 5-Bullet Review: • Extremely high prices for a cheap experience; I was double charged as well. • Unclean room and products. • Wrong room assigned, much smaller than what was booked. • Missing amenities: no iron, no lockbox, no welcome note, nothing complementary except one bottle of wine for the entire building, non-complementary bike service. • Poor customer service and unresolved issues with management. Given the reputation and price of this hotel, I expected much better service and attention to detail. I strongly advise potential guests to reconsider and avoid giving any of their money to this corporation, especially since I’ve heard there’s been a recent change of ownership. Thank you

This establishment is a quaint home that was converted into a very simple bed-and-breakfast. That is pretty much what you get, a very simple room and a very simple breakfast. On a one to 10 scale of places we have stayed this would score about a four. It has the virtue of being quite clean, and that is where three of the four points come from. The room we stayed in which was called deluxe was anything but that. The bed was actually fine, getting the fourth point, but I have never stayed in a hotel room where there was literally no place to put anything. There are no shelves, there are no closets of any scale, there are no dressers or drawers in which to store clothing, it is a bare bones room in part due to space limitations, and the choice of how it was arranged. The kids who ran the place while we were there were both very pleasant and accommodating, so staff is no issue. As long as you know what you’re getting into, and you believe the high price you’re paying for it is OK, then this is an acceptable compromise on an island where apparently this is more the norm than not. This will be our first and last visit to Nantucket as we have stayed at gorgeous hotels and resorts nearby on Cape Cod in Chatham and other locations around Cape Cod that put Nantucket to shame. The multi million dollar yachts in the harbor are entertaining to look at, and are the best accommodations on the island compared to any we saw on shore. Nantucket itself if one stayed in private accommodations located near a beach I am certain has more charm, but has little else to offer for the visitor compared to other alternatives that are easier to get to.

This was a strange place. Once we booked our single night stay, we had some questions about using their bikes and whether or not there was a shuttle from the ferry. We sent a couple emails and a text and called. No response. After much digging, my husband located a different number where he could send a text and received a response that there was no shuttle. No response about the bikes. The location is actually within easy walking distance from the ferry. That would have been nice to know as we paid for an Uber. From the outside it is very cute and fits in with all the architecture in the area. The inside is tight. Very tight. You enter through the door and walk into the “reception area” which is crammed with furniture. There was no one in sight so we popped our heads into the kitchen area and found someone to check us in. Fortunately our room was ready despite us arriving prior to the standard check-in time. This was appreciated. We were escorted up to the third floor. Note the stairs are very steep and cramped. We were glad we only had one travel sized piece of luggage. The room was cute but very small with a slanted ceiling on one side. The ceiling made it difficult to access one side of the bed. The air conditioner was very loud but did a good job of keeping the room cool. The bed was comfortable. The bathroom was also quite small but the shower was an ok size. For the price we paid I would have expected a much larger space. There was no ironing board or iron in the room and no phone in the room by which to request one. My husband went back downstairs to find someone to get such. At our request, when we left for dinner they did remove it from the room for us. We were told when we checked in that there was wine provided from 5 to 7 PM. We opted to take part in that and were offered a red or a white. We opted for a white that turned out to be quite warm and not to our liking. What was confounding was the resort fee. This is hardly a resort. Closer to a B&B without the actual food aspect. We were never quite sure what it covered other than “breakfast.” We went down to the kitchen to have breakfast and were given one croissant each and coffee. That doesn’t qualify as breakfast to me. We were able to leave our bag that morning while we spent some time in town and that was handy but overall we were not impressed with this location. I wouldn’t stay here again.

Life House is effectively a boarding house, without sufficient public space to even qualify as a B&B. There is clearly a range of room sizes, but caveat emptor given the risk of getting one of the teeny ones not even able to accommodate a desk. Finally, there is, IMHO, an egregious inclusion/exploitation of the “resort fee” concept. Hotel charges $30/day for that line, which would appear to provide access to…nothing? Let’s be clear…it has no onsite recreational amenities. It does have bicycles, though, for exclusive use of its guests! One problem…guests pay $35/bicycle per day for their use. It remains a complete head scratcher for me how it can justify that.

We had a lovely time here on our weekend getaway to Nantucket at Life House! The hotel is beautiful with amazing touches to make you feel special! The staff was so accommodating and worked very hard to meet our needs. MacKenzie and Georgia were awesome! Its a great location with everything in walking distance. We would go back in a heartbeat!

We were concerned about staying at Life House based upon the most recent reviews. Knowing that some reviews don't always align with ours, we kept the reservation. Upon arrival, we were pleasantly greeted and were given assistance with our luggage (however, no assistance was provided upon departure). The stairs are STEEP. These steps would be hard to navigate for those with leg and or back issues. Upon check-in, no information and/or recommendations were provided about happy hour, breakfast, or local activities or restaurants. Our room was on the third floor; it was small and definitely wasn't luxurious. The most positive aspect of the room was how clean it was. We appreciate the housekeeping staff, they did an amazing job! There were three windows in the room and only one opened. The storm windows wouldn't push up for two of the windows. It would have been wonderful to have a cross breeze. This was just one of our concerns during our stay; the theme was an overall lack of attention to detail. The a/c unit was a nightmare...it came on and off at random times throughout the night, and there seemed to be no control of the temperature. And it was LOUD! If all three windows opened, we wouldn't have used a/c. It seems that the Inn's advertising is based on the bath products and the Marshall Speaker that we never used. It was tacky, they sell the products in the living room and they are displayed on the porch; not a great first impression; buy stuff $$$$. $50.00 for a beach towel, and $65 for a bottle of hand soap? Absolutely hilarious. Due to the weather, we only sat by the fire-pit one night and there were cigarette butts throw in it. Again, a total lack of attention to detail. The kitchen situation was strange and awkward. We had to ask when happy hour was, definitely not advertised or communicated unless you asked. You have to walk to the kitchen door and place your order, very odd. And...no snacks were provided. It felt like we were inconveniencing the staff. On one evening, my spouse and another couple were waiting for a happy hour beverage at 5pm, and by 5:15 no one came out to take our orders. Then a fifth guest entered the kitchen, and only then did a staff member take an order. As mentioned, the service was lacking and bizarre during our entire stay. Breakfast isn't a breakfast. Again, we had to walk to the doorway and ask for coffee and ask what was available. The pastry was a croissant. Advertising of this Inn is not aligned with the actual experience. The staff members were all pleasant but the whole stay was odd and hospitality was LACKING. We could have stayed where we have stayed in the past but wanted to try someplace new. It's apparent that training in the area of hotel hospitality is GREATLY needed and SOON. We REALLY hope that upper level management/ownership reads this and inspects all operations. This trip was not cheap and unfortunately, unless things change DRAMATICALLY, we have ZERO motivatio