Hotels + Resorts Beach Hotels The Real Difference Between Ocean-view and Oceanfront Hotel Rooms By Stacey Leasca Stacey Leasca Instagram Twitter Website Stacey Leasca is an award-winning journalist with nearly two decades of newsroom experience. Her photos, videos, and words have appeared in print or online for Travel + Leisure, Time, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Men's Health, GlobalPost, LA Confidential, and many more. Stacey also served as an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Southern California teaching feature writing and visual journalism. She is now pursuing her Ph.D., specializing in building resiliency to disinformation in early-career journalists. * 17+ years of journalism experience * 5+ years covering travel * LA Press Club award-winning feature writer * LA Press Club finalist in the travel, sports, and, soft feature categories Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines Published on June 5, 2019 Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Astronaut Images/Getty Images Undoubtedly, you put a great deal of time into crafting the perfect vacation. From the right destination to picking your preferred seat on the plane, and finding the ideal hotel room, you like to take care of it all. But, even with all your diligence, there may be one thing you can’t control, and that is getting the ocean-view you asked your hotel for all due to a technicality. According to Business Insider, “ocean-view” can mean totally different things to different hotels. While one hotel may consider an ocean view room as one that comes with sweeping panoramic views of the sea, another may dupe you into paying more for just a tiny piece of blue off in the distance “[An] ‘ocean-view’ simply means you get at least a sliver of a view from somewhere in the room,” Jeff Russell, an entertainment travel consultant at Aspen Travel, explained to Business Insider. He added, this means you may need to really stretch your idea of “seeing the ocean” from your room. However, there are a few things you can do to ensure the view of your dreams. Look for an “oceanfront” room “An oceanfront room actually faces the ocean,” Russell said. “If a hotel lists both an oceanfront room and an ocean-view room, know for a fact that the ocean-view will not be looking right out on the ocean.” Next time you’re booking a hotel room, just stay cautious of language like “partial” ocean view. Also, Russell said, make sure to pay close attention to the price. Ocean view rooms tend to be at least $50-$100 more than other rooms. So, if the deal seems too good to be true it probably is. Call the front desk The other thing you can do to ensure an ocean view is to simply call the front desk and ask. A hotel concierge should be able to point you in the right direction of which room to book, and may even be able to help you score a good deal in the process. Check out social media and user reviews Nobody will be more honest about a hotel’s views than previous guests. Check out the hotel’s hashtag on social media, or click over to the “tagged” section on Instagram to see what other guests have posted about the hotel and its views. Then, head to sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor to read actual customer reviews to ensure you’re getting exactly what you’re after out of your next hotel stay. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit