My husband and I were looking for a great getaway spot within a driving distance from New York City. We both love to surf and thoroughly enjoy cuisine, music, and various cultural exploits ranging from impromptu jaunts to Prague and Paris to off-the-grid Costa Rican holidays.

Montauk has always been our fave place on L.I., but TMBH was certainly more of a gamble when we booked our reservation. The hotel was brand new and between mere 3 disparately ranked reviews and a beautiful website, our vacation could turn anywhere from dreamy to nightmarish. With only a few places still sporting vacancies a week prior to our trip, the choices were highly limited. From preliminary research, hotel's location - right in town and a block away from the beach - was a big hit. The Ditch Planes were barely a 2 mile car ride away - thinking surfboards here. And honestly, having just gone through an extensive renovation, the last thing I wanted to do was re-decorate the room in my mind every time I walked in... Sold.

We arrived on Monday afternoon, half an hour prior to check-in time. Our room was available, and by 2pm we were already sunbathing at the pool right next to Doetzen Kroes. The music mix was perfect, sangria delicious and the property manager, Mynas, went out of his way to make us feel welcome. Our room was lovely, and completely decked out in Restoration Hardware - intriguing and slightly puzzling. Size-wise, the room was smaller than expected, based on the stylized wide-angle shoots on the website, but not far from truth and totally comfortable.

As the evening approached, and a DJ took the stand by the pool, my biggest anxiety about the 4am high-amp tunes right outside of the windows was being resurrected. Boiling it down to basics, there really was one thing I was looking forward to in the few days away from my two toddler boys - 9 hours of solid sleep in plush pillows. Leaving for dinner, preemptively I already felt bad for myself, the DJ, and Mynas - should the good times roll late into the night. To my complete delight and relief, however, the music was stopped by the time we returned from a seafood feast at a local dive. Three more great days followed.

OBSERVATIONS:
KIDS - If you are bringing the wee ones, do come during the week and avoid the weekends - we stayed Mon-Thursday and had a great time, as would our 2.5 and 4 year olds have we brought them along. The pool was not too crowded and the property was very clean and kid-friendly planning-wise. The music died down at a reasonable time and volume for snooze time.
VALUE FOR THE BUCK - I have also stayed at $30 apartments on French and Italian Riviera with balconies opening wide into the emerald Mediterranean. There are no comparable places to these in Montauk - just do the research if you are sceptical. The closest competitors of TMBH are the Surf Lodge and the Ruschmeyer's. I still think we made the best choice between the three. It was not at all over the top sceney during the week, and everything was freshly painted, new and well-maintained, compared to the other two mentioned hotels. As far as the service goes - and its added value - there is certainly room for improvement. The girls at the front desk did not know about a yoga studio that was located half a block north from the hotel, or if they had stamps and generally seemed to need a lot of assistance from the management. In their defense, I'll say that everyone was pleasant, flexible and to the best of their ability tried to make our stay great.
THE POINT OF IT ALL - TMBH is what it is, with a lot of pluses and certainly some opportunities. It feels like the owners have a firm idea in their minds of the destination they want to create and whom they wish to attract. This vision has not yet been made crystal clear to the potential visitor, perhaps to create a sense of inclusivity, which is welcoming. To me, TMBH is most reminiscent of the SoHo House model transplanted to a beach town. In view of smaller rooms and service in training, the price for stay and membership may seem on a heftier side, but with this higher entry plank, the hotel attracts higher end clientele and is able to bring the celebrities such as Paul Oakenfold, Mark Ronson and Andy Rourke to entertain the weekend crowd. If you are looking for a getaway that is a perfect mix of beach-town original cool on the cusp of being discovered by the rest of the world, and can't let go of your daily doze of metro-club entertainment and duds, then TMBH bundled up in all that Montauk has to offer is the right place to be. You may need to carry your own bags. The place is not that big. If you are more comfortable with a 24-hour bell-boy and room-service to relax, you won't find it here. Or anywhere in Montauk. Go somewhere ironed-out, more traditional, already discovered, and enjoy your well-deserved time off.

The hotel, although decorated nicely (rooms and rest are straight out of a Restoration Hardware Catalog), this hotel is completely overpriced for what it is and lacks the Montauk charm that people go to Montauk for... PROS - rooms are new with modern look and feel, location is close to the beach and many other restaurants, decent cocktail list, pool is awesome on a hot day, parking is easy, service and people are nice. CONS - Rooms are either facing a parking lot (with the bright lights shining in and making it impossible to keep curtains open) or facing the pool (which has a loud DJ until the morning hours) making sleep not so possible. Walls are THIN THIN THIN. The pool is great to have, but they charge per chair (even if you are staying at the hotel which is crazy!), food was just ok, room deco is cool but not so functional (no closet, drawer, shelf in bathroom for all your stuff), price per night is crazy for what you get...

I would recommend this hotel to someone looking for a fun, sceney stay. I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for a really quiet weekend. We were here for fun, so it worked out well.

Great location right in town and a block from the beach.

The design is nice. Stayed in one of the Moonlight Suites. Not really a suite, per se, but one of the cooler rooms I've seen with a claw foot bathtub and other interesting details. Every bit as good as it looks online. 

Pool area is awesome with great music and and a bar - try their take on a Southside. Saturday PM was a little rainy so the bartenders held a bingo game for free drinks. I won and my entire group got a round on the house. There was a DJ from Cobra Starship in the afternoon. Other reviewers are right that you can hear some music from the rooms, but it wasn't unbearable.

Every staff member was friendly and welcoming. Despite the sceney atmosphere there was no pretense. The Montauk Beach House would be wise to make sure this doesn't change.

One note for future guests: you are required to pay the balance of your bill (the second 50%) at checkin. I guess this is somewhat common out east but it can be an issue if you are staying with a group and not everyone is arriving at the same time. Something to plan around. 

Coming back to Montauk next month and hoping to stay here again.

I spent an afternoon at the Montauk Beach House this past weekend and it was a great experience! The lobby is clean and airy-looking. The outdoor pool area and bar are a blast - the bar is well-stocked, the bartenders were friendly and knowledgeable, they had both a DJ AND a band for entertainment in the afternoon, and the place was packed with young adults. The staff were unfailingly accomodating and friendly. The chairs were comfortable - my girlfriend actually commented that it felt like being in Las Vegas, but without the obnoxious "over-the-top"ness - just a fun, relaxing place to spend a day. We didn't try any food but it looked good - they don't have a restaurant but it seemed like they had some sandwiches and appetizers.

I hadn't seen the old place (The Ronjo) but a friend of mine had and said it was a complete dump. What a nice transformation! Very impressed.