This hotel has to be the biggest dump on the planet. It is so bad its something out of a movie. The room smelled, the place is filthy, the City itself is a complete dump as well. If you have no place else to go, BRING YOUR OWN SHEETS, PILLOWS, AND DISSINFECTANT FOR THE BATHROOM. If we didnt bring our own sheets, we would have slept in the car, NO KIDDING. The ghetto night clubs next door play their horrible house music ALL NIGHT, i mean straight through to 9am. It shakes the walls. Nothing but broken glass, trash, and large groups of homeless scum from the hotel to the boardwalk. We had to deal with no less than 25, some who are confrontational. Then there were the two girls smoking crack outside in the parking garage. DO NOT STAY THERE. Its almost comical how the web site makes it look compared to real life.
You may hear some people say thats part of the charm, and they have been going to AC their entire life, but believe me, IT IS A COMPLETE TRASH PIT. They must be just used to the crackhead and garbage.
If you are a ghetto club bunny, a crack head, or a fan of judy Garlin you might like it, but this place makes a trailer park look like high society.
WHEN WILL AC GET ITS ACT TOGETHER AND GET RID OF THE CRACK HOUSES AND HOMELESS BUMS??
Go to Vegas, its worth the flight, (and i only live an hour from AC)

My boyfriend and I had read the mixed reviews & attributed the negative ones to fussy travelers. Our room was $130 booked at high season, and the price beat other chain hotels by $20-30. The big sign at the desk stating "NO REFUNDS" says it all.

Upon climbing the stairs in the narrow stairwell & walking down the dingy dank hallway we entered our "budget room" to find a ceiling looking like it was about to cave in, with sagging water pockets and dangling joint tape, in addition to construction debris in all corners of the room. The bedding was thin & frayed, the pillows were worn & flattened, but the bathroom took the cake. We could barely use the sink to brush our teeth, and we chose not to shower as 1)we had no water shoes to protect our feet (it did not look or smell clean); and 2)we wouldn't have been able to lift our arms to lather up in the tiny box-like stall .

We heard a distant bass-thumping from the nightclub, but that wasn't an issue as we were situation as the far end of the "resort."

We don't consider ourselves fussy, but cleanliness and decent bedding are requirements and should be expected in any hotel/motel.

The only redeeming factor was a working air conditioner and the absence of "critters" when my boyfriend finally did convince me it would be ok to sleep with the lights out.

We should have spent the extra $20 at one of the chain motels/hotels. There is nothing B&B-like about this dump as one contributor suggests.

Stay away!

I first visited the Surfside resort a year ago in July of 2004. I gave it an excellent review then mainly for value for price paid. I was alarmed to see 3 terrible reviews posted here of the Surfside after my stay. I decided to try it again for July 2005 thinking if it is really that bad I would go to the Holiday Inn since I was staying 5 consecutive nights.
I am always amazed at how different people will view hotels and that was true in this case. My room was again a great value(I paid about $69 for a deluxe whirlpool room with King bed) and had a clean,decent room to stay in. It was not luxury but it was decent and it was clean. I stayed Monday to Friday night and I never heard any above-average noise. Atlantic City is late night town so you will hear some street noise all the time and that is true here. However I never heard music playing or screaming or noise of that nature.
I have never stayed in the lower cost rooms and they may be a problem as their locations seem to be closer to the bars on the site. I would suggest avoiding them. The higher end rooms (translation:more expensive rooms) are very affordable and quiet and look to be in better shape than the budget rooms. This is a gay-friendly hotel and there are gay bars all around the hotel. If you truly need quiet to sleep this is not a good choice as there is city noise in all the rooms that you can notice if you live in a small town as I do. However I had no problem sleeping and the whirpool tub in the room I paid for helped me get drowsy fast.
Atlantic City is a casino town and there is above average crime there and plenty of transients. You need to be aware when you venture out at night alone on the streets. I felt much safer in the Surfside than walking on the streets of Atlantic City. The Surfside is a decent place to stay especially for the price you pay. It is not perfect.There are some oddballs you will sometimes meet staying there. Some rooms have noticeable minor damage/carpet stains and things of that nature. However my room was clean, the sheets and towels had been laundered and were fresh and everything worked fine. For what I paid I was pleased AND I had a good time staying there. The Holiday INN Boardwalk ,my backup hotel, wanted me to pay $200 per night and the Surfside gave me 3 nights at the same approximate price. You do the math and decide.

I was not informed that the pool was not open yet when I made my reservation. The room was small. I have been in phone booths bigger than the shower stall. Two of the four bath towels were dirty. But these were not the worst of the problems.
The worst problem was the DJ spinning records less than 50 feet from the door of my room! The DJ started about midnight and kept playing and playing... The music was so loud I could not fall asleep. About 4 am I called the front desk to complain about the music which was so loud it could be heard and felt even in the aforementioned shower stall with the bathroom door closed. At 5am I called the front desk, still no answer. I went to the front desk about 6:30am, I asked when the music stopped, I was advised about noon!!
At check out I explained my displeasure. The clerk (the manager had not yet arrived) stated that the form I signed at check-in stated that "many rooms are subject to above average sound levels." I replied that it did not state that there would be a DJ spinning records until noon outside my door. She answered that the hotel has a party atmosphere, I asked how I was supposed to know that. She did not have a satisfactory answer. She could not explain why I was not advised that the pool was not yet open. She did not offer a discount and refused to grant one when I asked for one. I then told her I would dispute the charge when I received my credit card bill. She reached over and waived a "No Refund" sign in my face.
I will never stay at the Surfside Hotel (it's really a motel, the enterance to my room was outside), and recommend that no one else patronize the place.