Stay: Adrift Hotel in Long Beach, Washington
Our stay at the Adrift Hotel in Long Beach, Washington was not at all what I was expecting. From the Living Social page I purchased our stay on, to their website, to photos I've seen on other blogs - it was definitely a different experience than I anticipated. Rather than the trendy minimalist boutique hotel I expected - the Adrift Hotel seemed more like an upscale hostel designed for families, fun loving adults, and dogs.
From the moment we arrived the fun was on - off leash dogs walked with their happy families both inside and out, kids sat atop the ping pong table as parents played, and the 20 and 30 something hipster crowd was joyfully arriving for the evenings live music show at the 4th floor restaurant. It was an incredibly (and audibly) happy crowd, all enjoying their stay despite the stormy weather. The lobby may have had something to do with this; offering bicycles to check out to ride the nearby Discovery Trail, a considerable DVD library, a constant (but not overnight) supply of quality hot beverages, and a collection of quality food and beverage items for purchase, much of it gluten free!
Our 2nd floor room, the designated dog friendly floor, was scarcely decorated but had just about everything we needed. My favorite attributes were the long window seat (seriously, I want one of those in my house), the DVD player for the small flat screen television, a mini refrigerator, plenty of outlets, and surprisingly, the uncarpeted floor. The sand on the beach here is incredibly fine and in stormy conditions it gets absolutely everywhere! The uncarpeted floors made it simple to clean up and not scatter sand everywhere. However, the bathroom was nothing to brag about - simple, meets all the basic needs, but not nearly as glamorous as it appears in some of the promotional photos.
The ping-pong table was located in a small room with the elevator along with a shuffleboard and fooze-ball table. This room also has a door to separate from the rest of the floor to keep the noise down. However, now that we're on the subject of noise, the walls, floors, and ceilings in the Adrift Hotel are paper thin. The hotel leaves sets of ear plugs on the bed side tables - however it really was loud on occasion depending on how hopping the lobby was. The lobby does close at 1AM and I did not hear any noise between that time and about 7AM.
Aside from being dog friendly, the other selling point of the Adrift Hotel that made me purchase the voucher through Living Social was the attached restaurant, the Pickled Fish. Located on the 4th floor with a perfect view straight out to the ocean - the Pickled Fish has a lovely note on their menu that many dishes can be made gluten free, all you have to do is ask. When querying our server about options, I was able to get exactly what I wanted - a beet salad and steamed clams. It's a wonderfully lively, yet romantic spot, which also has live music in the evenings on a regular basis.
So overall here's my take on the Adrift Hotel; I would stay there again at a discounted rate. We paid about $20 more per night than I've paid for a private double room with a private bathroom in a hostel in a major city. I can't say for sure that I would be willing to pay their regular three digit full price. While the Adrift has a lot of great amenities and attributes, it still seemed more like an upscale hostel than boutique hotel to me.