Hotel Breakers - A Dump?!

Some friends and I are looking to make a weekend Cedar Point trip in September. While looking around for lodging, I found the package deal at Hotel Breakers: 4 Friday night tickets and 2 all day passes for Saturday. We figured we could pick up a couple extra tickets at the gate, and for two nights lodging and a day and a half at the park it would run about $94/person. Not too shabby!

However, from the reviews I've seen this hotel is very shabby. Dirty rooms, lumpy beds, stained linens, poor service, no elevators (not a big deal, the place has only 3 floors), musty smell, unpleasant employees, etc. I'm not looking for luxury, but this sounds awful. Has anyone else had a good or bad experience at this place?

I guess there is a big difference between the "Bon-Air" section (the older portion) and the new tower. Is there a price difference? Thoughts?

I stayed there a few years ago and I didn't think it was that bad. It wasn't so bad that I was dissatisfied. I've stayed in Breakers Express several times and it is a little more modern. You aren't the hotel that much anyway, so I think you'll be fine.

If you are talking about Breakers on the island I'm sorry but you are way wrong. I have stayed in Breakers for the last 4 years. The hotel is very nice it's clean, the beds aren't lumpy, nice smell, and there are elevators. For the tower section the rooms can have a big difference in Prices. You can go here http://resorts.cedarpoint.com/ for prices. But in my time it has been nice.

Breakers is actually quite nice for the most part.

With that said, the 'old' section leaves a lot to be desired. Just understand that if you're looking for the value and choose to book in that section of the hotel, that you get what you pay for (relative to the rest of the hotel).

CP Kid, uh... I don't think it's me that is wrong per say. I'm just sharing what I've read about it. I posted here for input, those who agree, and opposing viewpoints (thanks for your comments by the way).

Thanks for the tip on Breakers Express. I looked into it some more. While it's not within the park gates, it is on Cedar Point Drive. It's also newer, and would be about $30 cheaper per person! If I stay here do I have to pay for parking at the park, or do they provide a voucher of some sort?

*** Edited 8/8/2006 9:01:29 PM UTC by Danimales***

Depends on what you are used to. If you visit, say, Hiltons, Westins, or upmarket Marriotts on a regular basis, then New Breakers won't meet your expectations, and Old Breakers is a dump.

If you are more the Holiday Inn sort of person, new Breakers is pretty nice, and Old Breakers is okay, but definitely old.

If you are a "just give me a moderately clean room to crash in after a full day at the parks" sort of person, then Old Breakers is a great place.

Yeah, You pay for updated rooms with a more modern feel if you stay in the tower or the east wing.

In defense of the old section, the rooms are clean to CP’s standards. Plus you get the charm of a turn of the century hotel and see what CP was founded on, which is Breakers and the beach.. While BE might have more updated rooms, staying on-point I feel is much better. Having the room right there is the ultimate convenience and experience. If you need to something mid-day it’s right there. Plus nothing beats rolling out of bed onto Magnum ;) I’d spend the $30 more for two nights to not fight the causeway traffic and the walk to and from the car. Also I believe you have to pay for parking with BE, but you get comped if you stay on-point.

I'll second Gonch's statements. We're both hotel snobs though, so take what we say with a grain of salt. Personally, I like getting Hilton points way too much to spend my hotel bucks elsewhere ... they're more valuable when they're going towards free rooms.

Yes, you have to pay for parking if you stay at Breakers Express; that'll be another $18 that you'll save staying at Breakers.

We've stayed in about every section there, but the old section is fine for us. It's a bit "well used", but I've never found it dirty. We only sleep there, and being able to walk to the park is the real reason to stay there anyway. It's great if someone from your party gets tired or wants to chill at the pool or hot tub, and the rest want to stay and ride.

If it's me, I'm at The Breakers.

I would stay at the Breakers just for the overall resort experience and being able to walk right to the park. You can head back to your room for a break in the afternoon if you want. It allows you to visit the park at a much more casual, relaxed pace.

I've only staye in the old section of the hotel. It wasn't bad, but certainly not as nice as some Holiday Inn type places I've stayed at. But again, the atmosphere totally makes up for it. If you can afford it, go for it!

Let's face it, The Breakers is great because it's right there. You are paying for the convenience of being on the point. The hotel is not great. It's just "OK". However, I find it worth the money because it's great to bring the kids back for a nap or just to relax on the beach knowing that it's just a short walk to the park gates. Much less stress for a family to stay on the point than off. *** Edited 8/8/2006 11:19:28 PM UTC by Giant WheelJay***

I'm sorry you read such a bad review of the Breakers. Not that it wasn't possible these people couldn't have had a bad experience, and not that CP is absolutely perfect, but everything mentioned in that review is really contradictory to what CP resorts have always been about to me.

Even having stayed in the old section of the hotel a couple of times I have nothing bad to say about my past stays. Very clean, comfortable, great service, nothing bad at all to say. And that goes for all of the resorts connected with CF I've stayed at in the past.

I have stayed at Hotel Breakers 2 years ago. At the old section. I do not know how to describe it. I compared it to a delapitated turn of the century farmhouse. Creaky slanted floors, tv's that do not work very well (mine was fuzzy), lots of spiders. everything looked old. room was clean bathroom was nice though it looked like it was last updated in the 1970's and it had a leaky faucet. staff was nice, but they did not seem to know what they were doing. it seems as if the old section of the hotel has not been updated in a very very long time.

The only nice thing about it , is that you can walk to the park. Like they said above it is worth it just for that. Just do not stay in the historical section of breakers, if you stay in other areas its like a basic run of the mill motel *** Edited 8/9/2006 1:03:50 AM UTC by Cs6153***

The Hotel Breakers is by no means a "luxury hotel." But if you can afford it, it is totally worth it to stay there. You can walk to the park, and if you're a dork like me, you can look out the window and watch the roller coasters testing in the morning (it depends on which part of the hotel you are staying in).

Amusingly, the Breakers rooms advertised as "non-view" often have the best veiws of all---into the park! ;)

I stayed at "Sandcastle Suites" the year it opened, and it was actually really nice! (Remember, that was about 1990 though.) Another thing I liked was the fact that it was at the end of the point and we had a beautiful view of the lake...

Sadly, SS has not aged well.

I don't think any of the hotels out on the point are very nice. They are a place to sleep and nothing more. Stay there for the awesome location, but don't expect much. I almost prefer Breakers to Sandcastle. At Sandcastle last summer we cut our stay one night short and drove to Chicago a day early since it just wasn't that nice. Poor color choices, poor room arrangements, and overpriced. Then again, I'm always out there for the A+ location.

I take our group to Cedar Point once a year. We always stay at The Breakers. We have never had a bad experience. No, it's not a 2000 state of the art megahotel. But it reeks of history and ambience. You're right on the beach. We stay in the old section and as we get dressed in the morning they're testing the coasters right outside our window. We get early admission to the park and can come back mid day for a nap, lunch or a quick dip in the pool. We don't have to move our van until time to go home. And wandering around looking at the architecture is part of the trip.

For the same reason, we stay inside the park at Indiana Beach, even though those are 1930s rooms, and when Kennywood builds its new hotel we'll stay there, too.

Our group consists of students except for the two leaders. Our students tend to be overly critical of anything. If they get a kick out of The Breakers, I suspect it must not be too bad. As one told his mother recently, "It was pretty cool. Lots of famous people stayed there."

I've stayed in the old section twice and the new section twice (one of those was in the Snoopy floor). It's day and night. The tower rooms would be on par with mid-priced chains like Radisson or Hampton Inn. The old rooms are like motel rooms with old bathroom fixtures, dull yellow lighting and dreary decor.

That said, I have no problem with heading into the old section because I'm usually there just to sleep or maybe catch a break in the afternoon. Don't like stairs? Ask for a ground floor room. Don't like the room? Ask if you can be upgraded to the tower and how much that would run you.

The point is that you are AT the Point. I have heard nothing but good things about Breakers Express but I have no interest in staying there. Castaway Bay is cool? I took off for a few hours one night there to enjoy the park with a CP resort guest night pass when I was staying at Lighthouse Point but I have no interest in leaving the peninsula for a non-peninsular bed when the old wing at breakers is attractively priced.