We stayed 2 nights at the Tranquil Inn in Manteo on Roanoke Island in October, 2010. We also ate dinner both nights in the restaurant "1857" located on the first floor of the Inn. The rooms were clean and comfortable and the people working there were friendly and helpful. It is a step above most B&B's in that there are truly separate rooms with individual entry off of the balcony on the second floor, which has a wonderful view of the harbor. There is a small sitting room on the second floor, where afternoon snacks and morning continental breakfast is served. The restaurant was excellent, with local seafood dishes and good service. Would stay here again.

This place is a bit worn around the edges; I looked here for hotels before my trip, and one person did warn that it was an older hotel and had a musty smell--she was right, though I found the whole town had a musty smell; though the room was surface clean, the rugs had stains, the coverlet had stains (though the sheets were clean, I specifically checked), the towels had stains, the bathroom desperately needed regrouting. We were there two days, and the housekeeping service for our room was very good. The buffet breakfast was like eating at home, nothing special, cereal, some muffins, bagels--if you're a hardy eater, go elsewhere for breakfast. So saying, the location was good, as we were exploring the Outer Banks. The room was a nice large corner room, and once the heat of the day ended, we opened the windows and got a nice breeze. I found the people at the front desk quite nice. I wouldn't stay here again nor recommend it to a friend; however, the person I was traveling with thought it was a fine old hotel and would stay there again.

We stayed at Tranquil House Inn the week of September 13th. After we checked in, we were sitting on the loveseat in the room and my husband spotted something under the edge of the bed. He went over and found it was a condom wrapper. Ughh! Then shortly after that, I went to use one of the glasses. The paper topper was still on the glass, but after I took it off, it still was wet and smelled like wine, plus it had lipstick prints around the rim of the glass. At this point, I was disgusted. I called the front desk to tell them what we had found and to ask if our room had been cleaned. She checked some roster and said it had been marked off that it had been cleaned. She didn't even offer a sincere apology. For the rest of our stay, everything felt dirty to me. The heavy feather pillows smelled (we didn't use these at all). Instead of things being quaint and charming in the room, it just all looked dirty to me. The bathtub/shower was dirty and the grout was discolored. The ceiling vents were rusted and dirty, and the switchplates were also nasty. I had been anxious to try the onsite 1587 restaurant, but after finding how dirty the room was, I didn't want to chance on how clean they kept their kitchen. The check-in letter also reminded us it's customary to leave a tip for the housekeeper, and $3-$4 per day was usual. After our initial findings, needless to say we did not leave a tip.

I will say some positive things about the Inn... the continental breakfast is decent (for a continental breakfast), and the daily 5pm wine and cheese offering is also a nice touch. The Inn is also in a great location in Manteo on the waterfront (although the water directly in front of the Inn has a warning about containing human and animal waste... ughh!) and is very close to the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse. I also liked that the Inn wasn't a commercialized hotel.

Historical Inn over hyped and over priced. It is located on the harbor and has a deck area affording a fine view. But the people at the front desk seem disinterested, the offerings of wine and cheese in the afternoon were of mediocre quality. There was no offer to help with bags. The exterior stairway to the upper floors had narrow treads. Caution had to be taken when descending. The room was small and the beds wooden footboards made it smaller as you tried to navigate around them and not stub a toe.