My wife and I just finished a trip to the Outer Banks, and stayed at the Outer Banks Inn for nearly a week. It's an older 40-unit hotel that was recently renovated. Most aspects are new and clean, but occasionally you catch a glimpse of the old, like the decades-old shower insert that was broken and later patched. The room had everything needed for a great stay - comfortable beds, individual A/C, microwave and fridge, and even a cute little single-cup coffee maker that I never used. There was also good quality WiFi, and lots of towels.

One downside was that our room smelled like someone had smoked - A LOT - in there before us, and that part of the cleaning process was to use some chemical that tries to mask the smell. Well, the result was that the room smelled 80% of this chemical perfume and 20% of smoke. We ran the A/C in fan mode or left the window open a lot, to try to bring in fresh air, but the smell never really went away. But what can you do? A hotel in this price range is sometimes gonna attract the kind of people who smoke even in a non-smoking room.

The "free" breakfast was par for the course, maybe even a little better. There was coffee (regular and decaf), three cold cereals, milk, OJ, some pastries, yogurt, bread, bagels and cream cheese (and a toaster), and some microwave breakfast sandwiches. Personally, I'd rather just have some fresh fruit, but I think I'm in a minority in North Carolina.

We didn't get a chance to use the pool, but it looked nice. There's a laundry room and the washer and dryer both work very well. One shortcoming was that our room was on the 3rd floor and there's no elevator. And since we were staying here for a combination work/pleasure trip, we had a lot of luggage to haul up - and later down - three flights of stairs. My bum knee definitely got a workout. Speaking of which, guests of the hotel can use the local YMCA for free, which was awesome. We did that twice, and the Y is better than just about any health club I've visited. Oh, the staff was friendly and helpful all week long.

All in all, we were both happy with this hotel. It's not upscale, but at least in the off-season, it was a good room for a very good price. I'd stay there again if we return to the Outer Banks in the future.

Typical beach motel. Clean, mostly updated. Window a/c. Great not beachfront location and just a quick and easy walk to the beach, however, they offer a golf cart shuttle ride over if you like. The breakfast that they offer for a motel of this size is impressive and they offer fresh baked cookies in the afternoon. Fun little nicities. The entire staff is wonderful. I think I spoke with about 7 different people who worked there and they all were very nice, friendly and helpful. The Outer Banks is one of my favorite places in the world and I go there often. Usually for a longer period of time, but for a few days of fun in the sun, this is a great place to be. Would recommend and return.

We got a Groupon last minute for a trip to the OBX. We didn't know what to expect, so we read some reviews and still were uncertain of what kind of room we would be getting. It first of all is not a large room (but if you're in the OBX, you're not coming for the room), overall the room is nice - just need some good organizational skills, the TV worked great, WiFi accessible, and there is a small pool. The breakfast was acceptable, saved us $ on breakfast out in town, but don't expect a huge selection, and they did keep it fully stocked The beach is two short blocks away and they offer a shuttle to and from the beach. The Staff were EXTREMELY friendly, and you can tell the management care about their guests. You don't feel like another faceless tourist. It is obvious the owners put a lot of effort in to the renovations, the entire facility was clean, new floors and fresh beach themed paint throughout. Our family of 3 slept great, and we would definitely stay here again! Thank you OBX Inn. Oh and a few days after our stay we called to ask about the coffee in the rooms, Emily went out of her way to look it up and call us back:-) Can't beat great customer service!

Wonderful staff, convenient location, and a very comfortable environment. I am more concerned with clean and comfortable than "new" and this property has provided a consistently positive stay. Will definitely stay here when I again travel to the OBX.