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Hotel Breakers Trip Report


jzarley
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I'm just back from my annual few day end-of-season trip to CP. Once again, I stayed at Hotel Breakers.  I was very anxious to see the final results of the two-year renovation project, and was very impressed!

 

I've been staying at Breakers every year for the past ten years or so...I've complained quite a bit (including posts here) about the horrible quality of the property and the lousy service (but continued to stay there solely for the convenience and location), so while I was happy about the major renovation—I really wasn't expecting a whole lot of improvement. But, I was pleasantly proven wrong!

 

Having spent the first several years of my corporate career in the hotel business, I'm no stranger to "surface" (read: half-a**ed) hotel renovations. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the changes to Breakers. This is truly a complete top-to-bottom renovation. The rooms and public areas are very well done with quality finishes, and the enhancements to the beach front are great. They did a very nice job of updating the hotel with modern amenities while keeping the historic charm of the property. The addition of the Starbucks and Surfside Bar in the rotunda (facing the beach) were both good adds.

 

We stayed in a fifth floor room in the rotunda, and the room's shape gave it a unique layout. The furnishing, decor, and room amenities were done well. My only nit-pickey complaint (and it's *very* nit-pickey) was that for the size of the bathroom (which was huge) there weren't a lot of towel hooks or places to hang wet things. (But, when that's my biggest complaint about the room that tells you that overall it was done pretty well...)

 

The other thing I really noticed was a significant upgrade in the service. Even for the end of the season, the hotel was well-staffed, and the staff was professional, hospitable, and very friendly. That tells me that they didn't only work to improve the physical property, but their training and processes as well. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain that level of service—it's easier with a shiny new product to promote a feeling of pride and quality from the staff. The real test of management will be to see if they can sustain that quality of service a few years down the road.

 

I think the best thing I can say about The Breakers is that it's *finally* a hotel that provides legitimate value (property, service, and location) for the average $300 room rate they've been charging for years.

 

Great job on this renovation, Cedar Fair!

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Great to hear! Breakers always had the potential to be to Cedar Point what the Grand Californian is to Disneyland, or the Grand Flordian is to Magic Kingdom... Premium prices, but a proportionally premium experience.

 

A large part of that premium experience is clean, smart, stylish, purposeful, and modern decor that (like you said) is not just on the surface. Another large part is stunning, I-can't-believe-it's-not-Disney service that leaves you feeling like a celebrity. And that can be done in little ways.

 

Now, positioned as a historic, lavish, updated, premium hotel that serves not only Cedar Point but the peninsula's beach, I think Hotel Breakers is again ready to be the glorious amenity it always should've remained. 

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I was at Breakers last week as well, coincidentally also in a fifth floor rotunda room (room 5318). The renovations were absolutely fantastic and having that whole 'premium resort' feel just takes the Cedar Point experience to another level. I just wish the rooms had coffee makers, it feels a bit strange to provide a mini fridge and microwave but not such a basic hotel amenity.

It will be interesting to see if they can maintain that level of service—it's easier with a shiny new product to promote a feeling of pride and quality from the staff. The real test of management will be to see if they can sustain that quality of service a few years down the road.

Couldn't agree more with this. Hopefully they don't lose focus over the years, and that goes for both service and general property upkeep. With much of the furniture being bright white, I worry that it will be too easy for things to start looking crappy after a few years of wear and tear.

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I was at Breakers last week as well, coincidentally also in a fifth floor rotunda room (room 5318). The renovations were absolutely fantastic and having that whole 'premium resort' feel just takes the Cedar Point experience to another level. I just wish the rooms had coffee makers, it feels a bit strange to provide a mini fridge and microwave but not such a basic hotel amenity.

 

It will be interesting to see if they can maintain that level of service—it's easier with a shiny new product to promote a feeling of pride and quality from the staff. The real test of management will be to see if they can sustain that quality of service a few years down the road.

Couldn't agree more with this. Hopefully they don't lose focus over the years, and that goes for both service and general property upkeep. With much of the furniture being bright white, I worry that it will be too easy for things to start looking crappy after a few years of wear and tear.

 

I was in 5318 as well! (At least I'm pretty sure that was the room number...directly facing the lake). I was there Thursday & Friday night :-)

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Absolutely! Well, the room was in good shape, so you took good care of it :-)

Also, I agree with your point about the coffee maker. They have all of the other convenience amentities (refrigerator, microwave, full-sized ironing board & iron, hair dryer, safe), so the lack of one of those room-sized Keurigs seems like an odd miss. Maybe it was an agreement with Starbucks as part of getting the franchise...or maybe since we both stayed in the same room, we just happened to get one that missing it for some reason! (Of course, I didn't really see a logical location for it, so that's probably not the case :-))

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