Ester Lee Motel

Stayed here Sunday and Monday in cottage 4. Amazing view, great staff, and just an awesome experience. My fiancé and I are thinking of when we can make it back.

We stayed there over New Years and the weather was beautiful. We really really like this place especially since we can take our dog. The views are really just amazing and having a real log burning fireplace was a bonus. Beach access was just down the hill (a little rough getting over the rocks but this might be because of a recent storm) and the beach itself has lots to explore.

I have many happy memories of going to the Ester Lee Motel with my mom and siblings. And later making memories with my two kids and friends. I have not been since my now 25 and 17 yr old kids were around 1 and 8. We decided to go yesterday and stay for one night to enjoy the beautiful views, fish, shop and reminisce. The rooms haven’t changed much since I was little but they were always clean and a warm place to lay our head after a day of adventures. This time the room wasn’t as clean as previous years but we were not going to let that ruin our time. We had a great day of fishing, shopping and watching movies. Around 8 pm we went out to get food and bring it back to continue our night of movies and laughter. At around midnight when we couldn’t laugh anymore or keep our eyes open for another minute, we decided to go to bed. I tell you all of this because it was then our room started to get chilly and it was then we decided to turn on the fireplace. Unfortunately, to our realization, the fireplace didn’t work. The office was closed, there was nothing for us to do but go to sleep in the cold room knowing that they would make things better in the morning. While laying in the cold trying to sleep, the people above us were up enjoying their time loudly, not only with their voices but more so with their loud foot steps walking across the floor the entire night. Not a restful night, to say the least. At checkout we told the desk clerk about what happened. Her response? «You ladies are all set, we have emailed you your receipt this morning.» No apology, no acknowledging of what happened. I asked if they were going to do anything for us due to us not having any heat. She looked at whom I assume was the manager and his response «what do you expect me to do?» I told him a discount on the room would be sufficient. He replied «I have money in my wallet.» I asked can’t you discount the room some for our experience, I don’t want to take YOUR money. He again said «I don’t know what you want me to do, I don’t control the people above you and you waited too long to turn on the fireplace!» I stated I know you don’t control the people but even if you take that out of the equation, we stayed in a room with no heat and you are telling me my comfort had a time limit? That is asinine! That is when we started getting cold! When you stay in a hotel/​motel you are paying for the basic necessities which include heat. We walked out very upset. We will not be going back, even though earlier we had discussed coming back longer another time. I don’t know if there are new owners or just management but it is not the same place with the fond memories of excellent customer service and pride in their property. We did nothing wrong, we were not trying to work anyone, we deserved better than how we were treated. We deserved to get a discount or the room comped for lack of heat. I am hoping the owners will see this so they know who is working in their office and see how they are treating their patrons. When we were getting into our car a woman came up to me and asked about our room and told us of her horrible customer service experience as well. She has the owners info at home and will be writing a complaint to them personally. So it was just not an isolated incident. I hope that steps are taken to rectify these incidents because you will continue to lose customers treating people so badly.

Stayed Saturday night here and was pleasantly surprised. Though it has older décor and the cupboards are in need of being restrained, this was affordably priced on the weekend for a room with fully stocked kitchenette and gas fireplace overlooking the ocean.
Bathroom has a fan and the front window opened for fresh air! The shower water temp fluctuated hot then colder but it was adequate. The TV was on the small side but I’m not a TV watcher. The bed was on the smaller side of queen but very comfortable. The room was very clean!
I would definitely return!

Stayed here for our 6 year anniversary and had such a great time. The place gives a feeling like it’s your own little cottage. We were in the last one on the top floor. We had two different sets of neighbors below us during our visit. The first set we didn’t even here unfortunately the second set was a nightmare so the peacefulness really can depend on the kind of neighbors you have during your trip.

I have traveled across the country. There is just something special about this place. I really liked the staff. I really enjoy the ocean views! I like the fact they have different type of rooms to choose from. Condo type to double bed rooms. I’m pretty sure all have fireplaces. Getting into the parking lot is easy. Parking is close to all rooms, condos etc. You can walk to the beach from the same side of the hotel.
We found our stay quite, clean and definitely will be back.

Maybe this should be 4 stars. This is a great old vintage motel, I think started as 4 cottages in late 30’s. Now quite a bit bigger, but same name. We stayed in 123 which is a 1 bdrm studio on the patio level. Beautiful view, close to little town of Taft (now a part of Lincoln City). It is quiet, no street noise, just waves crashing. Nice staff, pet friendly and good price.

This is a quaint roadside motel that that has both traditional hotel rooms and «cottages.» The cottages are multilevel, so there are multiple units per building. The way this hotel is situated on the bluff, I don’t imagine we there is a bad view to be had. We stayed in 114. Again, great view with big picture windows to take it all in. The road down to the beach access was pretty steep, and you have to climb down some rocks to the beach, which was a problem for my physically challenged mother. The cottage had two queen beds, a single, and a sleeper sofa; a nice living area with sofa, two cushy chairs, TV, DVD player, and coffee table. There is a stove, microwave, refrigerator, an ancient coffee maker, and basic kitchen utenails Nothing was fancy, but adequate. My only complaint would be the schizophrenic shower. The spray put out by the shower head was anemic, then it alternated between scalding hot and ice cold, barely drizzling out, then full blast. No manipulation of the handle seemed to help. I would absolutely stay here again. It’s well situated along the highway, close to shopping and dining.

My beloved Ester Lee. That is what I call it, and I have friends and professional colleagues who can finish the phrase for me. I’ve been staying at the Ester Lee since the eighties, and I stay at least once a year. Highly recommended for its views, full kitchens and usually cheerful and accommodating staff. I understand some other comments, but I certainly can’t say I’m at my best every minute of every day, and anyone who’s spent any time at family-​owned lodging on the Oregon coast can tell you that part of the charm is the very real people, with very real moods, who own, run and love their businesses. God bless em all!

Sadly I am changing my previous 5 star review of the Ester Lee Motel to a 1 star. I would give 0 stars if that was an option. In all of my recent stays of the past few years I had an amazing time and was always 5 star happy with my experience. Sadly from this last stay we had we will not be returning the Ester Lee Motel again. It started from the time we got there till the day we left. We paid over $ 500.00 (which was fine as we brought our pets and more people this time) and we were there from 3 nights (Saturday-​Tuesday). For starters when I called to make my reservation weeks in advance, I stated that this time I needed something that was handicap accessible as we were bringing an elderly family member with us and we were making this trip to Lincoln City (a 5 hour drive) to visit a close family/​friends mom who has Parkinson’s Disease and that she would also be coming to our room for one the days so we could all hang out and have dinner so that ment we would have 2 handicap at one point going to our cottage.
When I got there I was rudely told they would NOT honor my AAA discount since I couldn’t give them the # when I made my reservation (even though I just got my card in the mail before we left and made it clear on the phone I would bring the card with me as I was waiting for it and was told that was fine) the girl when checking in then said maybe next time I will remember to tell them and there was no way to apply the discount as it was too late and she had no way to do it. Which is a LIE, my mother works as a Hilton Hotel Manager and one of my best friends is the Guest Services Manager for the La Quinta and they BOTH said she could and should have applied my AAA and for whatever reason she just didn’t want to, and also to inform AAA of this as well as they remove people from there list for treating guest like that. So I was then pointed in the direction of our cottage, I asked about parking as we had a handicapped with us since I could clearly see we couldn’t park in front of our cottage we rented as all the spots directly in front of it were full. I was told to park where ever there was an open spot within the hotel parking even though we rented a cottage and were not staying in the hotel section and even though I asked about the handicap accessibility BEFORE i confirmed my reservation when making it and stressed that was an extremely important factor on deciding where to stay this trip and was told there was parking in front of the cottage. After finally getting settled into our cottage I went to cook dinner and the dishes were ALL dirty except for the plates so I had to wash ALL the dishes as almost all had dried food stuck to them and or were greasy before making dinner for my family after a 5 hour drive to get there. Which I didn’t even bother calling to let them know since after the rudeness I received at the time of checking in I knew nothing would happen by complaining to them about the dirty dishes, as well as the WATERED down soap which is about 90% water with a splash of soap and that’s what they leave you to wash dishes with. I ended up buying actual real dish soap. The very next morning after arriving I was told we had didn’t have the choice to refuse maid service after I called the front office to say we were OK since we were only going to be there 3 nights so we didn’t need maid service. But the maid knocked on the door anyhow, waking us all up and getting the dogs barking in the morning after our FIRST night there and then again after our 2^nd night there she came to the door knocking to come in, I never been told anywhere we couldn’t refuse maid service and we stay a lot of places. So our last night there, we planned to have fire on the beach so we went and bought everything for a fire and s’mores. I then drove to drop everyone down to the beach access that’s for the guests to get the beach JUST so I could drop off our elderly mom & THERE handicap guest and a man came out of no where as we were getting her out of the car he started screamed and yelling profanities at us telling me I couldn’t park there, mind you my car was running as I had NO intentions on parking in the middle of a dead end public road that everyone gets to the beach on. I was just dropping someone off and parking back up the hill at the hotel/​cottage. So he starts cursing at my 12 year old daughter when she said she was sorry and we didn’t mean to upset him as she was closing the tail gate. He said «F**K You, you little B***H». to a 12 year old CHILD then proceeding to ask us if were staying at the hotel and telling us we will be sorry we came down there and to back up the F**KING hill and get outta here

Love this place. Our big dogs are always welcome and the staff is friendly. We have stayed in both the cottages and the hotel although no dogs are allowed in the hotel. For the dog rooms there really is not a wet dog odor as one would expect. The rooms are always clean although I always say the décor could be updated, my husband calls it charming.

Oh where to start? I’ll try my best to paint an honest accurate picture of my experience here. First we couldn’t get into a room until 3:30 (check in is 3:00) because someone was double checking the maids cleaning job?! There were long strands of black hair in the shower eek. The supposed beach access is a joke. You have to walk down a steep street around the corner (I consider beach access stairs down to the beach) The worst part is that our room smelled like dog pee and I mean bad I can smell it as I’m sitting here writing this and I’ve been in here all morning yuck. The wifi doesn’t work either. I’d never stay here again because of the dog smells. Absolutely nasty and they are worried about people smoking around the entrance, I tell you that might actually improve the smell. Maybe they could try steam cleaning the carpet once in a while or install an air freshener or something. Stay here I you like musty piss smell. Oh yeah they come into your room while your stuff is in there with no option to turn down maid service (no do not disturb sign?) so there where strangers in our room with all our valuables while we were down at the beach. If I’d known this I would have locked things in my car (nothing went missing) I’ve never heard of such a business practice. I won’t be back.

A very charming place. Stayed in a one bedroom cottage. Check out the website for videos of inside. They may be older décor but the place was very clean. For the affordable rates this place is great. We did not bring a pet but they are pet friendly. I definitely recommend staying here for a relaxing, affordable cottage by the ocean feel.

We’re staying in the motel part (the south building). We have a full kitchen, two queens, an amazing view, a room larger than many apartments I’ve lived in, and it’s under $ 100. Wifi is great, the room is super clean, quiet, and comfy. Check in people very nice and friendly.
You could go down to Newport and pay $ 250 for a room smaller than this. Or you could stay here.

Gets a 3 star for the view. Not as nice as past stays. I get that the place is older however when furniture is stained then it’s time for it to be replaced. Kitchen wasn’t in good condition and was dirty. We ended up eating all of our meals out because it was gross. Not sure we’d stay here again.

You have to stay in one of cottages we stayed here 14 years ago the first time on our honeymoon and we have stayed her 5 times (3) in this year alone its a long walk to beach but its a good price. Could it use updating? Yes however a lot of history. here the beds are ok but we bring a memory foam roll up with us always. Great front desk staff and amazing view

There are fancier (more expensive) places to stay, but we’re on a budget and we insist on clean and comfortable — so the Ester Lee is perfect for us.
Friendly and helpful staff, very clean room (one-​bedroom suite), great location and outstanding view!
We had a gas fireplace, a well-​stocked kitchen, comfortable furnishings, a firm and comfortable mattress, efficient housekeeping, fast free wi-​fi and good beach access. All at an affordable rate.
We loved it — we’ll be back.

Have stayed at the cottage section of this hotel since the seventies. I never stay anywhere else when I come to Lincoln City. Make sure you get one of the wood burning fireplace rooms. All the rooms are big and great for a family or trip with friends. The view from this place is amazing.

Room stay. Cottage six. 2 nights Jan 24&26 2013 Beach access rocky. Haunted room. Beds comfortable. No backache. Excellent staff

The rudeness and incompetence of the front desk staff has ruined what little pleasure was left of this old place … it still has a great view (we have been coming here for 14 years) but it is run down, smells, horrible beds, flat sofa pillows and really poorly managed. they have the laziest cleaning crew in the area — there are several other places in town that have better rates and similar views without attitudes! try sandcastles or surftides instead.
will try them again in a year or so. perhaps the front desk staff will have been replaced by then.