Hotels Near US Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Middletown

After deciding to visit Newport RI for a few days, we started looking into hotels. There some fair 2.5-3-star hotels in the Warwick/Kingstown area which are reasonably priced, but staying there would involve about a 30-minute ride one-way in and out of Newport. Since all of our to-dos on the itinerary were in the Newport/Middletown area, we decided to try to get a hotel there. Now, there is a huge price difference between the two areas; a $150 per night in Warwick would be $300 in Middletown and $400+ in Newport. We settled on a few in the Middletown area which is only about a 10-15 minute drive into Newport/Wharf area. Of those few, the Sonesta consistently received above average-good reviews and was modestly-priced, given the location. The Sonesta is located off W. Main Road with lots of food, retail and fuel options. This is always helpful when you are traveling with a family. We arrived at about 3 pm on a Thursday and it was very quiet. I stopped off at the reception area and was quickly checked in within a few minutes. The front desk staff were very nice. As of this writing, face masks were required in all common areas, though I observed guests both masked and unmasked (50/50) in the common areas throughout our stay. We were advised of the closest entrance to our rooms. We drove around to that entrance, parked and entered our room after a short walk. The room was what I expected: typical 2.5-3-star accommodations. Pros: generally clean room, sufficient outlets, lots of lights, mini fridge, coffee maker but no cups, efficient temperature controls, convenient roll-out wheeled desk with chair. Cons: some grit in the bathroom corners, no microwave but communal microwave near ice maker (iffy call during COVID), beds seemed to be double beds and NOT queens, small flat screen tv seemed very outdated, no liners in any of the garbage cans, TV remote a bit frustrating (like many other hotels) I am not a fan of the separate toilet/tub from the sink/mirror, but I’ve seen this before in other hotels. Our biggest issue, like many other reviewers have mentioned, is the complete lack of room housekeeping. In our 3-day, 2-night stay, not only was our room not cleaned, but I did NOT see any housekeeping service in the halls throughout our entire stay! It wasn’t much of a problem for us as we reused towels and kept the room clean ourselves… but it was just very unusual. I’ve known other hotels to ONLY clean when requested in an effort to conserve water (washing sheets/towels) to be more eco-friendly but they usually announce that somewhere. There was NO indication or signs that this was their practice. My guess is that, like many businesses affected by COVID, especially hotels, they are very short staffed and simply cannot accommodate daily cleanings, though I may be wrong. But, since I observed very little staff throughout my entire stay, I believe this is the most probably cause. I don’t mind this…I just wish it was announced and the guests were notified

The room is spacious, but the facilities breakfast is very simple.

The hotel exterior is beautiful. I was able to handle check-in and check-out very well. The location is pretty good.

The lobby is bright and the breakfast is very rich. In fact, breakfast is not included in the price. The room has a balcony and parking is very convenient. There is a supermarket around the hotel with an ATM and a Qing Tao Chinese food. Love Place, Politely and good service with satffs here, I will back to stay next time.

Overall: A safe, clean, quiet option when looking for a place to stay in the Newport area - significantly less expensive than staying downtown, even when factoring in Uber / Lyft rides (over the 2 days/2 nights we were there, we spent about $100 between 8 rides to / from the hotel to either the beach or downtown Newport). PROS: 1. Rooms are clean and fairly spacious, hotel feels safe, free breakfast and downtown Newport is just a short ride away! A good spot for a weekend getaway to Newport. 2. Front desk staff was great, they let us check in early (even after a sold out night) and both times we asked for extra towels, they were brought up almost immediately. 3. I also appreciated how a Starbucks, Shaw’s and Walgreens are all within a 10 minute walk of the hotel (even though the walk to get there isn’t the most pedestrian friendly). 4. I didn’t have the chance to use the indoor pool, but I appreciated the option, as I don’t believe all Hampton Inn’s have pools. Recommendations for Improvement: 1. Shuttle - either making the shuttle free or at a much reduced cost. I read in reviews that the shuttle was $3 one way and was disappointed to find that the price has increased to $7 one way per person. For the average couple, let alone the average family, it’s cheaper - or at the very least the same cost (depending on the time of day) - to just Uber / Lyft downtown. 2. Not sure why the website lists an onsite restaurant? There isn’t one, other than the lobby hosting the complimentary breakfast, which is only open at breakfast. I’d recommend adjusting this on the website as it’s a bit misleading. As a Hilton credit card holder, I was hoping to use my quarterly Hilton credit for a drink and/or meal here, and was disappointed to learn this wasn’t a possibility. 3. Fix the Keycard issue - our keycards weren’t working our second night and we had to go down to fix them. Then, that following morning before checkout we had the same problem with the new key cards as well, not sure the issue there.

My husband and I decided to stay here for weeks prior to closing on our home. It was such a blessed time. We got our tiny home crave fulfilled, learned you don't need too much in life to be happy. Such a cozy home, loved the heated bathroom floors too. And everything i needed for cooking up a storm was readily available. And did i mention its very affordable when compared to other hotels?Yet very private. I loved the makeup wash cloth. The attention to details, quality of every appliance , that SHOWER!!!, made our stay at the Cottage very memorable. My toddler enjoyed every bit of it and I almost extended for a couple more days even after closing ... my husband and i kept saying, we'll miss this place!!,We've enjoyed staying here. How can i forget to add that Aggie is the best!! She's such fun to talk to and was very helpful in getting us situated. The day before we checked out, our older sons came home from Russia and joined us, the sofa bed came in handy .. they couldn't stop taking and posting pictures ...beautiful experience and Maria the masseuse is the best RI has to offer.

On a New England road trip we picked this Hotel because of the brand, Big mistake. First don't try ordering room service breakfast, we tried and ended up having to go to the kitchen and get it-to find out they hadn't even made it yet, a hour after we expected it to be brought to our room. They had one person working the dining room and the room service. Finally they gave my husband a bag with our breakfast which was cold and overcooked. Horrible. They are very big on the no smoking/vaping with signs all over the place with the threat of a $250 fine for cleaning if you are caught and (fyi I have friends that vape-there is no smell, no ashes and no mess so don't understand that threat, sounds like another money grab to me)-however there was a very noticeable stench of cigarette smoke after I got off elevator-which I assume was embedded in the hallway carpets. I am an ex-smoker and understand the non smoking thing, but that is the least of their problems. The front desk people have no personalities and seemed uncomfortable with their jobs. NO one to help with the luggage, the room service should not be offered if they can't handle it, there is no luggage rack in the room to put your suitcases on you have to find one that's hidden in the closet, no room safe, the alarm clock was broken, only used it for the usb port in it as it was the only one in the room that worked, The shower has one stationary half door which causes water to get on the bathroom floor during your shower making the floor slippery, Barely any bathroom amenities other than a miniature bottle of body lotion, tiny bars of soap and some cheap shampoo and conditioner so bring everything you may need. Lights around the bathroom mirror-suck. Had to put my makeup on by the window with my own mirror. The switches for the room lighting are hidden and even if you find them the lighting is dim at best. and since they don't have free morning coffee by the restaurant area that most decent hotels have-we wanted coffee and had to use the room coffee pot-which I usually don't use, so the in room coffee station had 2 regular coffee pods, 1 tea pod and 1 decaf pod and 2 Styrofoam cups, so don't expect more than 1 cup of coffee if you're with a second person, so again bring your own pods. If this is a new hotel-they did a poor planning job. I think that this hotel was a refurb of another hotel and not new. Room cleaning only by request so bring your own sanitizing sprays. We did not use their restaurant, so can't comment on that. There is a fridge and microwave in the room. As with all hotels lately-they need to hire more cleaning people, room service and apparently kitchen help. None of the outside doors have key pad entry requirements so anyone can walk in anywhere and go unnoticed. Too much work, lack of help and normal amenities we won't be going back there again. I guess it would be okay for a single man traveling for business for one night.

The view is good, but it is too noisy, the house sound insulation is very bad! And the ground turned out to be slanted, the drawer could not be closed, and the Bible drawer was automatically ejected. Hahaha!