North Cliff Hotel

Spacious and clean, but absolutely not worth the price

We recently stayed at the North Cliff Hotel in Fort Bragg, and unfortunately, the room being spacious and clean is about where the positives ended for us.

The hotel sits between the highway and a cove with a foghorn that sounds approximately every 19 seconds — all day and all night. I understand that the hotel can’t control a foghorn, but it absolutely impacts the experience of staying here. There is no air conditioning, so opening the door for fresh air would normally be the solution, except then you have the foghorn blasting throughout the room. The hotel provides earplugs, but the ones in our room were extremely cheap and did very little to help.

Noise inside the hotel was just as bad. The walls, floors, and doors seemed paper thin. We could hear nearly every movement from the guests above us and people walking up and down the stairs. Even worse, because the TVs are mounted directly on the wall, we could hear our neighbor’s TV so clearly it sounded like it was playing in our own room.

For what this hotel charges, the room itself was incredibly disappointing. The furniture was outdated and felt cheap, the TV was small and dated, the bathroom had inexpensive linoleum flooring, and even the toiletries felt like the cheapest possible option. The towels were rough, the sheets were uncomfortable, and the pillows felt like something you’d pick up at a dollar store. At this price point, I expected significantly better quality.

The water pressure in the shower was also terrible. We were told that this was because the hotel is in a rural area, but we’ve stayed at other hotels in this same area without having that problem, so that explanation didn’t make much sense to us.

The Wi-Fi was equally frustrating and barely usable, and there was virtually no cell service. Again, this was attributed to the rural location. Poor cellular service obviously isn’t something the hotel can control, but reliable Wi-Fi absolutely is particularly when the property has Xfinity service and knows guests can’t rely on their phones.

That’s really the biggest issue with North Cliff Hotel: the price and the experience simply don’t match.

Some things, like the foghorn, highway noise, and limited cellular coverage, are outside the hotel’s control. But comfortable bedding, decent pillows and towels, reliable Wi-Fi, better soundproofing, updated furnishings, quality toiletries, and decent water pressure are not.

The room also felt noticeably behind the times when it came to basic conveniences. There wasn’t a single USB charging port anywhere in the room. In 2026, at a hotel charging these kinds of rates, having USB ports near the bed feels like a pretty basic expectation. It was just another example of how dated the room felt and how little seems to have been invested in updating the actual guest experience.

For what we paid, I expected a much more comfortable and higher-quality stay. Instead, it felt like the hotel was charging a premium for the view while spending as little as possible on the actual guest experience. We would not stay here again.

We absolutely loved this hotel! We made it just in time to grab Mexican across the street to go ( recommended by hotel staff) and watch sunset from our balcony and it was perfect! We had an hour of an amazing sunset from the porch and big window once it got too chilly! Perfect location!!!
The rooms are VERY well appointed, VERY CLEAN, great water pressure, comfy beds and very homey! We had a 3rd floor room with vaulted ceilings and it felt like we were in a house instead of a hotel room! Lite breakfast was perfect for us on the go! So glad we chose to stay here! I’m extremely picky when it comes to hotels- and this one I had no complaints!!!