#1 on the Jersey Shore and We Didn’t Have to Reinvent Ourselves to Get There

We've been told Ocean City needs to "keep up" with other beach towns.

That we should trade in our barrier island porches and tacky boardwalk for slick mega-builds with universal marketability.

Here's the thing about keeping up:

Scarborough Inn is now the #1 traveler-rated hotel on the ENTIRE JERSEY SHORE. That's out of 533 hotels from Sandy Hook to Cape May! TripAdvisor's words, not mine.

And we didn't have to reinvent anything to get here.

We got here by remembering names, not credit card numbers.

By dusting off the cobwebs, not bulldozing them.

By embracing our neighborhood, not towering over it.

Ocean City is 146 years old.

Scarborough Inn has been here for 130 of them.

Maria and I have been part of Scarborough Inn's story for 5 of those years.

Monica and Ana: 4 of them.

Jackie: 3 of them.

We aren't trying to rewrite OCNJ's story.

We're trying to keep that story going.

A reputed hotelier has suggested that OCNJ needs better, newer hotels. And when he talks, people listen. He has three hotels in the top ten.

We only have one.

To quote John Dutton:

"I am the opposite of progress. I am the wall it bashes against, and I will not be the one who breaks."

But we do break for coffee.