Name: The Dormer House
Address: 800 Columbia Avenue, Cape May, Cape May, Cape May, 08204, United States of America
Rating: 9

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

Heating

No elevators

General

Cable TV

Hairdryer

Toiletries

Rooms

Breakfast

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

English

Multi-language staff

Languages Spoken

Free parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Extra decontamination measures

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the hotel

Cape May Market

Cape May Artists’ Cooperative

The Dormer House

Cape May

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

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15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

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3-beds

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38-beds

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4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

My wife and I stayed here for our 40th anniversary - it was great! Location was perfect for walking - to the downtown mall, restaurants, the beach... Even though it's nestled in a quiet neighborhood. We stayed in the Sleigh Room on the third floor - nice comfortable bed and small bathroom with a good sized shower. This room had the dormers! Breakfast was wonderful - the menu seems to change every day. Very nice common room and porch. I would stay here again.

It's No Dorm-itory!

It has been a number of years since we have been here. Since then the owners have changed and so has the place. We rented the Com John Jacoby suite which of course cost extra. It was to have a "soaking tub" and a King size bed. 
The hostess was very nice...no complaint here, breakfast was good. Place was clean but here was my issues. The room was cold...it had a portable heater which brought the room up to about 66 degrees, but a little too cold for us. The room had a thermostat, but I was told later that it didn't work. The temperature of the room was controlled by other thermostats located in the other rooms on the floor. Since there was no one in those rooms, I'm assuming management turned the heat down, which made our room cold. My other issue was the "soaking tub". Apparently this at one time was a jacuzzi type tub, but since none of the jets worked, they now call it a "soaking tub". Well management didn't give us a way to plug the drain from keeping the water from flowing out so I used a wash rag.  The hot water faucet pressure was extremely low making it take 45 min to fill it 1/3 of the way up. There was a hole on the upper left side (was that the place where the button switch was to turn on the jets?) that water could easily get into. Therefore i can only imagine if there was any mold behind that hole. Since we paid extra for this type of room and it didn't live up to expectations, I contacted management via email to ask for a 30% refund to be in par with the cost of other rooms that didn't have these amenities. Of course I didn't hear anything. When I emailed them prior to ask for reservations, they had no problem responding. Not happy with my visit. Hopefully they will fix these issues. 

Not as good as it used to be...didn't get my monies worth. 

We were looking for a fall getaway and picked Cape May and the Dormer House. We stayed four nights the end of October. The property is in a great location with a quick and easy walk to the beach, shops, and restaurants. The innkeeper is very friendly and accommodating. A selection of tea and coffee was available 24x7, with cookies every afternoon. A delicious breakfast, which alternated between sweet and savory, was served in a sunny and bright porch enclosed by wide windows on all sides. There is a large public living room that is decorated with antiques. A covered porch runs the length of the house with plenty of seating. Lucky for us, temperatures had risen such that we could pleasantly sit outdoors in the evening. We stayed in the Anthony Hunsicker Room which was sunny and comfortable.

Fall getaway in Cape May

This past weekend was phenomenal at the Dormer House in Cape May, NJ. The parking was plentiful. The staff, especially Nancy, was terrific! The location had easy access to downtown shopping and restaurants. We can't wait to return next year!

Terrific Weekend in Cape May NJ

The positive is that this is an excellent location only 10 minutes walk from the town and the beach, with good off street parking.
However the place is in serious need of some renovation of windows, wallpaper, electrics, and get real dilapidation of the accommodation (see photos).
When booking check access to the rooms. Ours was up a very steep and narrow staircase which was a struggle with a suitcase even for the fit and able.
Breakfast was poor - no choice and just an overload of carbohydrates.

In need of renovation

We were only able to stay one night in our room (Sleigh Room, third floor, booked for a week) as the smell of mold and mildew was so strong, it kept us up throughout the night. The room is in desperate need of renovation. The carpet should be torn out and replaced. The sink greets you as soon as you open the door, quite odd. I suspect that the mold and mildew is due to the sink being in a carpeted area. The furniture is very old, dirty, and rickety. Some sanding and paint would do wonders. The room was very dirty--looked as if the carpet hadn't been vacuumed in ages. Cobwebs on the ceiling and walls.  The room has a window air conditioner, which is quite loud. I did not attempt to open the window as the screen did not fit and would probably have allowed in bugs. I suspect that if the fire marshal took a good look at the building, she/he would flunk the Dormer House. There are extension cords hanging on the outside attached to other cords. These cords are not outdoor cords. This place is a fire hazard! The sitting room on the first floor is very warm as there is no air conditioning. The whole building is showing its age. The staff was very good, and the breakfasts were quite good. Another plus was that there is a parking lot. Since we could not stay in our room due to the mold and mildew and there were no other rooms available, the staff worked with the Chalfonte Hotel to get us a room (a terrible room), and we were allowed to have breakfast at Dormer and utilize the parking lot. I would not consider staying here again, even in another room, and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone else.

Stay Someplace Else

The Franklin room has a comfy king-sized bed, a sitting room, and separate double shower room. The common areas have period looking furniture and a cooked breakfast is served on the inside verandah. Tea and scone/cookie is served as afternoon tea

Victorian B&B living up to the name

We stayed here in Nov 2022 with some friends and the experience was wonderful. Such a cozy comfortable place. Breakfast were amazing and plenty of food. Tea and cookies in the afternoon was a welcome treat. Rooms cozy clean and lovely. Our hostess, Nancy, was very accommodating and willing to help us out at all times. Thank you Nancy! It felt like we were visiting family in Cape May. Definetly going back! We had rooms 2 and 5 and highly recommend them.

Dormer House

Pros:

Great location close to beach, restaurants, and the Washington Street mall.

Parking lot with ample parking spaces

Delicious breakfast which included an assortment of muffins, bread and full breakfast.

Beautiful Victorian home on exterior with a lovely porch to sit, relax and unwind.

Afternoon tea and cookies were provided in common area. However, we would have preferred been given  more than one cookie each - perhaps 2 each would have been ideal.

Cons:

This was the first time my husband and I were staying at The Dormer House.  We were fully aware check in was at 2.  But since we arrived early around 12:30 we thought we would give it a shot and see if it would be possible to check in early.  As we walked into the Inn, there was no one there to greet us so we decided to knock on an  Office door.  We believe Nancy the innkeeper (she did not introduce herself) came out of office and we asked her if it was possible to check in early.  She asked our names and we received a quick brief response that we were way too early and that she would leave the room key on table outside our room after 2.  My husband and I were taken back by the lack of hospitality especially since this was our first stay there.  Most would feel a better response would have been "hello my name is Nancy the innkeeper nice to meet you both".  "Unfortunately, I apologize the room is not ready".  A nice touch would have been "Is this your first time visiting Cape May I can recommend some good restaurants in the area you can have lunch at while you wait for your room to be ready".  Needless to say this would have been more welcoming.  This was our only interaction with the innkeeper the entire four days we stayed there.  She was not a presence at the Inn from our experience.

*The interior of our room Room #2 (Dorothy Thompson Room) needed some attention. The large floor tiles in the bathroom were only placed on the floor not secured they were  wobbly, and  uneven with a bath rug placed over them.  We kept losing our balance which we feel could have possibly led to a safety hazard as well.

*Ceiling paint was visibly chipping off

*Ceiling fan was not balanced and would make loud noises when on medium to high setting

*The bed pillows were flat and lumpy which didn't provide support for head or neck

We have stayed at numerous bed and breakfasts in Cape May over the years.  So, we weren't expecting the interior room to be in 100% perfect condition.  We understand that the upkeep of these homes takes a lot of manpower and hard work. However, there should have been more attention paid to the comfort and safety of the room, and we felt that the lack of hospitality upon check in detracted from the experience we had.. As a result, we would not return to this Inn in the future , in spite of all of the "Pros", but would go back to others where we have stayed in the past.

Lacking on hospitality and comfort!

We brought our kids to Cape May when they were very young to begin to enjoy the beach. It’s been a while since we were there after years of visiting. Our favorite place to stay is on Columbia Avenue and we found the Dormer House to be charming, comfortable and very accessible to the beach and the mall for shops and restaurants. The room was comfortable. Nancy, the innkeeper was delightful and charming. The breakfast out on the front porch were delicious and sitting on the porch swing in the late evening having a cup of tea watching the horse and carriages go by was just perfect!  We will be back! Thank you Nancy to you and your staff for a delightful visit!!

The Dormer House

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