Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites Reviews

I got married here this past weekend and oh my god this place was amazing! Our day of coordinator Kristen took every little detail I wanted into consideration. She decorated the space exactly as I envisioned it and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. The wait staff and bartenders were so attentive and the food was 10/10. People could not stop raving about it.
We did photos out on the water and then in the lobby, everything in the hotel is updated so it made for a beautiful backdrop. Even the bridal photos we did in the room turned out better than I could’ve imagined because the newly renovated hotel rooms were gorgeous. We ended the night at the regatta pub. Can’t recommend this venue enough!

We felt comfortable right from the beginning. Everyone was knowledgeable and kind and the food was amazing. We really liked all the different catering levels, and so many guests told us how good the food was!

This venue went above & beyond to make us happy & make our day magical. Kristen the wedding coordinator, I have no words. She is amazing!!
Such a beautiful venue & location. They brought my wedding dream come to life. I even have GI issues & they accommodated me. I have so many nice things to say that I'll run out of room haha. They are the perfect place to get married.

This was the best day of our lives. Kristen and her team at the SWH exceeded our expectations. We got engaged before COVID, kept planning through COVID, and thanks to the support and responsiveness of the team, were able to keep our original date. They were flexible and answered all of the many, many questions we had along the way. What really impressed us, and our guests, was how carefully they handled dietary restrictions and food allergies. We had several people who were gluten free for medical reasons, people with certain allergies, etc. We had arranged to have a vegan option for dinner, and the steak was GF, but SWH went a step further and provided salads and soups for people with restrictions that met their needs. We were very impressed, and it made the guests feel supported/noticed. Also everyone kept commenting on how delicious the food was, “the steak was fire,” “Melted in my mouth,” “the salmon was so soft and delicious,” etc. Decor wise, we provided a LOT, and Kristen took our vision and made it glow and come to life! She also helped me play a fun prank on my brother via the escort cards.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!

At the Salem Waterfront Hotel my wedding planner Lara led us through the wedding planning process with warmth and grace. She pointed me and my now husband to all the best vendors, making our wedding lovely and elegant. On the day of our wedding she made sure that everything from the chapel to the table clothes were perfect. Being a very busy older bride and groom, we can not thank Lara and the Salem Waterfront Hotel enough for making our wedding easy and beautiful. We also thank the wonderful chef for his delicious food and seafood tower, the staff and the caring manager Ryan. Everyone listened to us and responded to our cares with patience and generosity of spirit. We chose this venue because we wanted a personal and intimate experience that we felt that we could not get at the other venues we visited. They delivered!

My husband and I got married at the Salem Waterfront hotel on 8/11/18 and we had the most memorable and beautiful wedding. We were so grateful to work with Lara McInerney, our wedding coordinator, who came in the final weeks leading up to our wedding, and the day of. She was beyond helpful and supportive and went above and beyond her role at the hotel. I can’t thank her enough for everything that she did for me. We were supposed to have our ceremony outside, and unfortunately it rained. We were so disappointed. However, Lara, and the team at Salem Waterfront, worked their magic and made our ceremony just as beautiful as it would have been outside. All of our guests loved and raved about the food! The staff were so welcoming, friendly, and accommodating! Thank you, Salem Waterfront Hotel!

What an amazing night!! We had my daughter’s quinces at the Salem Waterfront. It was a long and stressful planning process, but Rose, Wayne, and the entire staff there were extremely helpful every step of the way!! The food was excellent and the space was perfect!! I can’t say enough how happy we are to have chosen such a great venue. My daughter and her friends can’t stop talking about it. THANK YOU!!!

We love this place! It was a really nice place for our guests to stay to be close to our wedding venue. Having the pub downstairs was perfect for gathering everyone together the night before the wedding. I booked the biggest suite they had for myself. It was the perfect place to get ready with all my girls and my hair and makeup team, and it was perfect later for my new hubby and I!
Everyone from the front desk clerks, to the bartender at the pub, and the concierge were so nice and accommodating. They took care of some last minute details that I had overlooked in my wedding planning haze, like meals for the day of! I had breakfast sent up and later we had champagne and mimosas with sandwiches sent up for the girls and I when we were getting glammed up. Ryan was so helpful especially. My hairdresser needed some taller chairs brought up so she could have us at a better height and Ryan brought them right up. We had an excellent experience here!

My Wife and I got married at the Salem Waterfront Hotel August 12, 2017, and everything was just perfect.

We started planning two years in advance and had the pleasure to work with Robyn Sheather, Caitlyn Ward, and Rose O'Malley; all three wedding specialist are great, experienced and professional.

Rose O'Malley was our coordinator, she put our minds at ease even after last minute changes and she made sure everything went exactly as planned for our big day.

We loved the food, and we still getting great compliments from some of our guests about it, specially the passed hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour.

The Platinum Package was priced reasonably, and the hotel was very flexible with a few special requests we had for our big day, specially Linda O'Shea.

Bridal suite was spectacular specially after turn down service ;-)

The entire staff at the hotel was great and we highly recommend this as you wedding venue.

I cannot say enough good things about Salem Waterfront Hotel. Our wedding this past weekend was the best day EVER and it was all thanks to Caitlyn and everyone else at the hotel.

First, they were so easy to work with, very responsive and flexible. They made sure we got exactly what we wanted and adapted their packages to fit our wishes. Not to mention, they did so at a great price we were comfortable with. The planning and tasting could not have been smoother.

When the weekend arrived, we had our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday at the hotel in the Regatta Pub. The food was so delicious (italian buffet), the bartenders and waitstaff were friendly, fun, and excited for us. Everyone complimented this welcome event.

On the day of the wedding, Caitlyn was there for me, my husband, the bridal party, and our family every step of the way - we didn't have to worry about a thing. The hotel rooms were beautiful and spacious for us to get ready in and the room service was awesome. The ceremony went off without a hitch and afterward my husband and I had time to relax in the pub and Caitlyn delivered us our own tray of appetizers (scallops wrapped in bacon were out of this world) and drinks so we could regroup for the reception. When we walked into the reception I was SO happy with the way they set up all the decor and made everything look exactly as I had imagined and wanted. Lastly, the food was AMAZING. We went with the filet and baked haddock and everyone gave compliments on how it turned out.

It truly was the best day and I am so happy we chose to have our wedding at the Salem Waterfront Hotel. Thank you so much again to Caitlyn and all the staff at the hotel and in the Pub. We can't wait to come back for our anniversary!

I recently had a room block here for my nearby wedding and they were very easy to work with! Very pleased with the service we were given. I often emailed with questions and every time my Sales Consultant, Caitlyn, replied in a timely and pleasant manner. Great customer service here! All our of our out of town guests enjoyed their stay.

We had also toured the hotel as a possible wedding venue, and although we decided to go with another venue, the SWH was willing to work with us on price, which is very appreciated and not often experienced when wedding venue shopping in the area. I'm sure a wedding here would have been lovely as well.

I had my wedding at here in May 2016 and it was amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better location or coordinator. Caitlyn Ward was my coordinator and she made sure everything went exactly as planned and I wasn't stressed about anything leading up to the wedding.

The food at the venue was amazing- we had the filet mignon and chicken saltimbocca with clam chowder and caesar salad as starters. Our guests raved about the filet mignon and I've personally never had better clam chowder!

The location of the hotel is great because it's walking distance from all the attractions in Salem. We had many out of town guests who stayed for the weekend.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect in planning a wedding, and three days after our wonderful day, I can not express enough thanks for the staff and venue at the Salem Waterfront Hotel. We had our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception all on site, as well as about 52 rooms for our guests over the weekend. The staff was wonderful and very diligent about making sure all of our wishes were taken care of. Caitlyn Ward is hands down one of the most personable, organized day of coordinators. She took care of every detail, and the details we didn't care about, she simply gave us hints of what she would do. She was amazing. Caitlyn worked with us for an entire year, and never made us feel as if we were asking too much. Our guests all commented on the food, especially the clam chowder and the spring rolls. Kevin, our fun and fantastic bartender, took care of us not only at the Regatta Pub, but also worked our reception. The only time there was a line at the bar was during the first 15 minutes of cocktail hour, and we had some heavy drinkers at our wedding. Everyone at the front desk was pleasant and willing to help with restaurant recommendations and other sites of Salem since about 90% of our guests were from out of town. Caitlyn, Kevin, and the rest of the staff at Salem Waterfront Hotel made my husband and I feel like we were the most important people. They always remembered us through the year of planning and did everything they could to make sure our day was magical. When we were leaving on Sunday morning, Caitlyn came out to see us off, and Tim gave her a hug and told her we were going to miss her. I reiterated that sentiment and asked if we could still come up and hang out with her. She told us anytime. I would recommend Salem Waterfront to anyone looking for a great full service venue on the North Shore. Its walking distance to a ton of great sites, shopping and restaurants, but most of all they will make you feel like royalty for your big day.

The staff at the Salem Waterfront Hotel helped make our November 2015 wedding amazing!!! We worked with Caitlyn and she was excellent!! She was very attentive to our many questions, she offered great ideas, and was wonderful to work with during the planning! On the day before and the day of the wedding, she was extremely helpful and took care of everything for us! My mother and I designed and brought in most of our decorations and centerpieces, and Caitlyn and the rest of the staff were meticulous in setting everything up exactly the way we had imagined! The waitstaff at the hotel were also excellent - very professional and kind. The food was delicious - our guests talked about it long after the wedding was over! The front desk staff was helpful and our guests enjoyed having a room block at the hotel. We also had a brunch the next morning at the hotel, and the great service continued there too! We are beyond happy with how everything turned out for our wedding reception!! We highly recommend the Salem Waterfront Hotel as an excellent wedding reception venue!

We were married in Topsfield but had many out of town guests - we loved Salem for our central location & the Waterfront Hotel was perfect! The rooms were updated, clean and had reasonable rates for peak season. The Bridal suite was perfect size for 8 bridesmaids, MOB & myself to get ready in - I had a hair team of 4 stylists and 2 make up artists. We hosted Welcome Drinks at the Regatta Pub (the outdoor patio was perfect for an August night), the grooms party had breakfast & watched English Premier League soccer there on the morning of the wedding. We also used the hotel for Sunday brunch which was perfect. Would highly recommend for your wedding guests to stay & other wedding weekend options!

We were married at the SWH on 8/29/15 and every aspect of the planning and the wedding weekend was perfect. The hotel was clean and updated with spacious guest rooms. Robyn (our coordinator) was incredible. She was our wedding expert and made sure that every detail was considered during the planning process and ensured that everything was executed perfectly. Robyn and her crew set everything up beautifully and were incredibly flexible when we wanted to make changes in the flow of our reception. Robyn also took great care of my husband and me (making sure we were happy, ate, and had drinks in hands) during the reception. The food was excellent. The hotel is in the heart of the Salem Waterfront which meant there were a ton of fun things for our out of town guests to do. Some other details that make the SWH standout include the fact that there were no other weddings on the property for our wedding weekend so we were able to start bringing centerpieces, etc. during the week and we weren't required to break the room down at all after the wedding. I would say the only semi- negative aspect of wedding planning was that our guests could not book rooms online with the group code (they had to call) and we weren't able to get enough rooms so some people had to stay elsewhere (although this is more likely related to the fact that our friends procrastinated and didn't book early enough). The outdoor ceremony area has beautiful views but it is very public. This worked well for us as it was close to the hotel and we had a short/casual ceremony but it may not be perfect for everyone. Overall I would strongly recommend the SWH for a reception and accommodations.

The staff was extremely competent and cooperative. Robyn Sheather, Sales Manager, went over and above to meet my every need. We put this wedding together in 4 months and without Robyn's help we would not have been able to find some of the local vendors we needed to help make the day perfect. Robyn even found me a hairdresser to come to the hotel on the day of my wedding to do my hair when the other hairdresser couldn't make it.

I have complete confidence in giving a 5 star rating to this hotel. We made several changes to the normal wedding package. We wanted a more personalized package and they delivered.

The feedback from our guests were they were overwhelmed by the ballroom setting, cocktail hour hors d'oevres which were passed and on tables. When one platter ran out someone was there with another. Service was excellent and food was delicious.

The staff transitioned from the ceremony to the reception in record time. We had a Chuppah for the ceremony and they moved it to the ballroom, so we could have our own private seating. It was beautiful.

There are so many things to do on Pickering Wharf and you can have an outside or inside wedding at Salem Waterfront Hotel and Marina. I highly recommend this to anyone for a small to a large wedding. Go visit it and you will see what I mean.

The Salem Waterfront Hotel and Marina was picture perfect place for my husband and I to be married. Robyn was absolutely fabulous in accomodating our needs and making sure our special day was perfect. I appreciate the professionalism and would recommend the Salem Waterfront for your special day. Thank you ROBYN :)

My wife and I got married here on May 24, 2014. It was literally the best day of our lives and that had A LOT to do with how wonderful the Salem Waterfront Hotel & Marina staff were (from beginning to end). Everything went so smoothly and our guests cannot stop raving about how beautiful and classy the venue/setup was. I cannot say enough about the Sales Manager Robyn Sheather. The day before our wedding we got a last minute call from our limo company canceling our vehicles (Lynette's limo NEVER use them as they were recently shut down by the Feds). Solve It 7 did a story with us about the situation: http://www.whdh.com/story/27382047/solve-it-7-limo-refund This caused our last minute limo booking to have to end our service an hour earlier than originally planned. We were not taking our photos very far from the hotel, (but it was still far enough for two brides in poofy dresses to not want to walk). Robyn was so observant that she noticed when our limos drove away from the site of the photos. She then instructed the hotel staff to drive over to where we were taking photos and to pick us up in the hotel golf cart to bring us over to the reception. It was so sweet and our photographer caught a great photo of us driving away on the back of the cart. Do not hesitate to have your wedding here. It was worth every penny.

The hotel was everything we hoped it would be! It was beautiful and had both hotel rooms and a place for both our ceremony and reception! Adrianna was one of the the most amazing parts! She was on top of every detail possible! It made planning a wedding do fun and easy!

We had our wedding reception at the Salem Waterfront Hotel and Marina on April 27th, 2013. We started planning with Adrianna over a year in advance and she made the entire process from start to finish simple and fun. She was very professional, easy going and extremely accommodating to all of our needs, big or small. Our wedding day was perfect from check in on Friday until we left on Sunday. Kelly and the bartending team treated our guests like VIPs at the reception and at the Regatta Pub both nights. I would definitely recommend Salem Waterfront Hotel and Marina for a perfect wedding experience!

Everything was so lovely. Adrianna was a pleasure to work with on planning my daughters wedding. I would
definitely recommend The Salem Waterfront Hotel for any occasion......Lisa

The Salem Waterfront Hotel was by far the best venue that my husband and I looked at for our wedding. The decor, location and staff were exactly what we were looking for. Adrianna was an amazing coordinator. She went above and beyond for our wedding. The hotel worked with us to make sure that we had everything we could want for our wedding. The food was incredible. We are still getting compliments now, 8 months after our wedding, on how great the food was. With every wedding there are some small issues that arise, but the hotel staff handled everything professionally and made sure that my husband and I were not stressed out about anything. We truly cannot thank the staff at the Salem Waterfront Hotel enough for making our day special. I would whole heartedly recommend this vendor to anyone for ANY event. Thank you Salem Waterfront Hotel!!

This is the ONLY review you need to read! :) My name is Heidi Marani and I just spent my wedding weekend with 50 guests at the Salem Waterfront Hotel. To put it mildly, I was a PERFECTIONIST BRIDE that needed my 1 million details to all run smoothly. I must have called the Salem Waterfront Hotel no less than 100 times before the wedding with questions and requests for my guest's stay. That is not an exaggerated number - just call and ask for Ryan at the front desk and he can confirm! Everything was PERFECT! When my guests arrived they were greeted with a chef in the lobby making shrimp and pasta! The rooms were impeccably clean and a nice size, the front desk service was friendly, prompt and courteous, and the food was DE - LIC-IOUS! Our guests raved about breakfast, lunch and dinner at The Regatta Bar, and our brunch was plentiful and yummy. Parking for our guests was free which is a nice bonus, and Pickering Wharf is a great location that offered so many great options for our friends to enjoy over the weekend. Whatever we needed, the Salem Waterfront Hotel accomodated quickly and with a smile. As a bride I had so many things to concentrate on and worry about - but I was in great hands at the hotel and would recommend it everyone. My husband and I are frequent travelers and have stayed in hundreds of hotels. We have high standards when traveling and we were elated with the hotel for our wedding weekend. That was our third stay at the hotel in the past year and my husband and I cannot wait to get back for another visit! RAVE REVIEWS FROM THE MARANI'S!

We reserved a wedding room block at the Salem Waterfront Hotel, plus we hosted a brunch the morning after the wedding at the hotel. We had a very positive experience working with Salem Waterfront. Caitlyn Ward was extremely friendly, professional, and helpful with the planning and logistics. Guests really enjoyed their stay at the hotel. The hotel has a nice, sunny, welcoming feel to it and it’s very conveniently located to all that Salem and the North Shore have to offer. The brunch was in the Compass Room, and it was the perfect way to send off our guests after the wedding. I would recommend Salem Waterfront to anyone looking for rooms for their guests in the Salem area.

Wedding and Ceremony were beautiful, but the cocktail hour in the pub is too small for over 100 people...

We were extremely pleased with every aspect of our wedding at the Salem Waterfront Hotel. The food was outstanding. All our expectations were met and then some. Our wedding coordinator Adrianna did such a wonderful job. Because of her and every hotel employee we met along the way, we would highly recommend this venue for anyone considering a wedding.

The Waterfront hotel was great. Caitlyn did an amazing job and was always very quick to answer my questions for the whole year or more that I worked with her to plan my wedding. The rooms are beautiful and the hotel is only about 10 years old. If you are looking for a venue in Salem MA, this is a great hotel and great location.

We first looked at the Waterfront because it was an all inclusive package. Cake, venue, food, booze, bartenders, hotel, it took care of such a large chunk of our planning. It also helped that it's a 3 minute walk from our house. Adrianna was our wedding coordinator and she was amazing. She was always on top of every aspect of our wedding and always went above and beyond for us. She did a great job of setting my wife and her mothers mind at ease every time she was getting worked up or overwhelmed with planning. Adrianna was instrumental the day of the wedding, she was running around corralling all the guests getting them where they needed to be. I've had numerous people tell me after the fact that she was bringing them their jacket, keys, hat, tie, misc stuff they had left behind at the cocktail hour which to be honest I find astonishing. Adrianna (Coordinator), Bill (Manager), and Wendy (Bar manager) were all amazing through out the entire planning process.

Many people choose to come to Salem, MA to get married, and if you are choosing Salem, we highly recommend considering the Salem Waterfront Hotel as your venue. Because of rain, we wound up not only holding our reception there, but our ceremony as well. The staff - everyone from the front desk to the event department to the servers - were amazing, warm and accommodating. The chef went out of his way to create a menu that reflected us: an amazing vegan dish, locally sources/organic beef, and fresh seafood. To this day people are still raving about their food! The room is simple and elegant. We liked that as we felt we could put our touch on it... it also is a perfect size and shaped room - there are no awkward table angles - and the dance floor is the right size. We loved the fact they are a one event at a time hotel - we literally felt like it was our place. Our guests loved their rooms, and our bridal suite was handsome and welcoming after our special day. Thumbs up!

The Salem Waterfront Hotel and Marina was a fantastic venue for both my wedding ceremony and reception. Adrianna was a fantastic wedding coordinator and her staff was amazing. All the pre-wedding setup is done by them so the wedding party didn't have to lift a finger to get the reception space ready. The hotel rooms were clean and modern and we received a gift basket in our suite. Our menu was filet, chicken, and veggie with mashed potatoes and veggies and all the food came out amazing! I'm still getting complements today! We also held a brunch the next morning for guests staying at the hotel but afterwards, I feel they rushed us out and we still had to check out so some important items were left behind.

Overall, I was very satisfied with Salem Waterfront. We stayed at Salem Waterfront for my wedding and got a room block. With the room block, we also held a post-wedding brunch. I was pleased with the rooms and the engagement with Salem Waterfront while preparing for the wedding. Caitlyn responded promptly and always helped when we had questions about the block/ brunch. For the cons - 1) My husband and I stayed in the Junior Suite on our wedding night. The room had a leak in the bathroom, which the hotel staff new about but they did not change our room. They also did not "spruce up" the room for the wedding night as they said they would. I had inquired about this prior as well (they said they would put flowers and make it look romantic). That being said, they apologized and gave us a gift certificate for one free night.
2) They were not very good with accommodating my gluten-allergy. This was generally fine because Salem has great gluten-free options; however, I was disappointed with their lack of knowledge/ care. At the bar downstairs, I asked the waiter if the breakfast potatoes were gluten free, and she said no, so I asked for no breakfast potatoes, highlighting that it was due to an allergy. She brought my order, with the breakfast potatoes, after quite a long wait.

Leading up to my wedding I would have recomended them over a 5.0! After my wedding I had to lower a few things. They were so amazing and helped to personalize and changed things to fit what we were looking for. The few things that threw me was: my wedding coordinator who helped me through my entire wedding planning time frame, dissapeared after we entered our reception without saying she was leaving. I was then taken care of by another person who was rushing me around to get things done and was always checking on me. I would not usually complaine about that but he was talking to me and my husband so much that we lost time to be with our guests/family. I was also disapointed when I had to change things around for my wedding ceremony (held there) then when we went into the receptiont things were not correct there either. For example I asked that my sweethear table not be on the dance floor becuase I did not want our champaingne flutes to get broken, and it was on the floor and during the first dance where everyone was on the the floor someone bumped into the table and broke one. Not the end of the world, BUT I asked it not be there for that exact reason. I was also very agrivated when we brought in a hand made, very expensive chulla (a jewish bread) and after it was cut then threw the entire thing (it was HUGE) away!!!! Did not save it for me to bring home like I had said. Overall I would completely recomend them but I would make sure EVERYONE is on the same page! I was a little let down after getting such amazing support up until the day that I could not be there to fix things.

Such a beautiful hotel and wonderful accommodations for a bachelorette party! Loved it!

We had some trouble with booking rooms for the wedding party even though we blocked off some. Other then that everything was great.

Frankly, I'm shocked by the previous reviews for this place. I just had my wedding there on July 31st and we had the complete opposite experience as the two prior reviews.

We signed our contract more than a year before the date of our wedding. In that time, we'd had three or four different wedding coordinators. The turnover at the hotel is high and this did cause me some initial aggravation. However, I scheduled a meeting with the most recent wedding coordinator a few months from our date and started working through the details with her.

My husband and I went for our initial tasting with our third wedding coordinator and we liked the food well enough. I found out about three weeks before our wedding, that the hotel replaced the chef and they invited us back for another (free!) tasting. We chose the soup at that time as well as finalized our meal choices. I went over all of the final details with our wedding coordinator, who sent me the Banquet Event Order more than a week in advance which gave me enough time to review it and get back to her with some minor changes.

There was some confusion with the Front Desk staff when it came to handing out the welcome bags to my guests, but Jaime, one of the Front Desk managers was very helpful in getting it resolved.

On the day of my wedding, Amy (our wedding coordinator) arrived early in the day and coordinated all of the deliveries. I set up our place cards as I was still finishing them that morning and had a particular set up in mind. I checked in before I started getting ready around 3PM to make sure the rooms were the way they were supposed to be. My ceremony started a few minutes late and there was a minor miscommunication between Amy and my DJ, but it wasn't anything that ruined the wedding or that guests even really noticed.

My few very minor complaints are:

(1) The staff forgot to put the wedding cake on a riser as I'd requested
(2) The cantaloupe soup was not prepared the same way as I'd had it at the tasting
(3) The serving of prime rib looked more like a roast beef dinner (i.e. thin slices) than actual prime rib
(4) The serving staff took away the napkins before the cake was served

In the grand scheme of things, these are VERY minor things and are frankly, items I have yet to even address with the hotel directly (but will). Amy was there until the end of the night with our event and Dale, one of our servers, was extremely helpful. All of our guests commented on how great our bartender (Wendy) was, and they had even asked me the day before if I had a specific drink of choice - then they accommodated my request to have Bellini's!

I'd recommend this hotel to brides a thousand times over. As with all of my reviews, I find communication and expectation-setting to be key. I'm also a former Event Coordinator and prepared a schedule that was helpful in keeping track of everything that translated well to the BEO provided by Amy. People continue to tell me what a beautiful wedding we had and how smooth the service was and how great the food and drinks were. This is way too much money to invest on too important a day to leave ALL of the details to someone else and to wait weeks to track down the person you need to speak to.

All in, for our food and beverage we spent about $75/pp + tax and gratuity for an open bar all night, 3 course meal (we opted out of the 4th course - dessert - to get an extra hors d'ouevre in our cocktail hour), mixed stationary display, four passed hot hors d'ouevres. This is a far better deal than the Hawthorne down the street or most of the other local ballrooms available. We also liked that they were willing to work with us on a food and beverage minimum rather than having a set price like say $8K for a Saturday night in the small room at the Danversport Yacht Club.

I got married at this Hotel in June with 200 guests(I'm pretty sure we were one of the largest weddings they've ever had). My four-star review is for the overall hotel and service we received. If this review was just for Caitlyn it would be 10 stars, but unfortunately there aren't just 100 of her working at the hotel! Caitlyn was absolutely AMAZING for the entire year plus leading up to my wedding. However, there was a lot that could have been improved:
- Check in-the front staff was confused and not helpful to the guests who had reservations. I got so many calls about this which is the last thing you want to be doing on the night before your wedding. Check out-no one was there to help us get everything from the hotel. My husband and I had to drive back over an hour and a half round trip to come back for our wedding cake
- the pub was not prepared for the brunch crowd on Sunday at all and were rude, flustered, and took forever. I told them we were having a farewell brunch there and they were obviously not prepared
- After Caitlyn left for the night the banquet manager was nowhere to be found. They weren't very careful with packing up our items at the end of the night and just threw my bouquet in a box where it was ruined
- The AC was basically nonexistent; we were all so sweaty (again which makes me believe they don't typically have weddings that big)
- We had to rent or buy a lot of stuff for the wedding, having to pay to upgrade everything they offer even in the most inclusive package was frustrating and got very expensive. I think the hotel should invest in some of that or spell out all of the charges that you will likely opt for in the beginning
Overall, I still would have chosen this hotel for my wedding and it was an incredibly beautiful day. I gave this feedback to Caitlyn as well, but I know as a bride that read every single review, if I had known about these issues before I would have made sure it didn't happen, so hope this helps someone else!

We initially met with Mary at a bridal expo; since we booked with her thru the expo we got 1000 dollars off the room rental and a free cake. After booking we were told Mary was leaving the hotel and Amy was replacing her. Amy was not very organized and I was very frustrated with the lack of communication from her. However the day before the wedding I talked to Amy at 1:00 and at 3:00 we were told that Amy no longer works there. The people who took over for her were awesome though! They made sure that everything was taken care of and doubled checked with us that everything was the correct way and asked us all night if we needed anything. Our guests raved about the food. Since we did book our 2011 wedding in 2010 we got the prices for 2010 which are lower than they are now. Overall we were happy with the end product.

My husband and I blocked rooms for our wedding in early September, and unfortunately ran into quite a few issues.

Salem is a tricky town to find hotel blocks, as there are no chain hotels (Marriott, etc) within town lines, so there are only a few options. We were between the Hawthorne and SWFH, and chose the latter.

Our first difficulty was with the two night minimum. The hotel was already over $200/night with a "discounted" rate, but our guests were also forced to book two nights, which based on my research is not typical with a wedding hotel block.

A few months out from our wedding, we had several guests book and not receive the block rate, and one guest was even told there were no rooms left in our block at all (there were plenty) by someone at the front desk.

The day I checked in before my wedding, we had requested a suite. While the space itself was quite large, I walked in to find there were sticky stains ALL over the carpet. The entire room was just tired and generally unappealing.

I also learned that several guests did not receive welcome bags upon check in, which was disappointing.

The icing on the cake was after the wedding, when my now-husband and I were going back to the suite (which in our contract was to be cleaned throughout the day), we found the room was in the exact state that my bridesmaids and I had left it. Food everywhere, empty glasses all over the place. Pretty much the last thing you want to deal with at 1AM after a long day, and definitely NOT something that should happen in a $300 per night suite.

Long story short, the room was eventually cleaned (albeit 2 in the morning) - rose petals, chocolate, the works - but it should have been done BEFORE we came back. The communication between management and staff seem to be incredibly lacking, and the entire experience left a rather bad taste in my mouth.

The saving grace was the brunch we hosted at the hotel, which was delicious. The servers were absolutely great.

We spent a lot of money here and I was very disappointed by the lack of communication leading up to the wedding. Weeks and at one point over a month went by without any return emails to things. I can understand someone gets busy but not responding to questions for a bride for over a month is unacceptable. Especially when they do not take responsibility for it and just reply with a "oh you must not have received my email". Yea, because you never sent it. This is your job.
Also, not making note of what is going on or what we have already decided on is totally unprofessional.
You want your wedding outside? That will be an additional $5000 more that the already $20k you already gave us. Why? Please tell me you pay your employees $5000 to walk the chairs to the site. Please.
We were treated well on our wedding day so I really don't have any complaints there. Well, except the fact that we didn't get to have any of the passed horderves we paid for even though we were there for the cocktail hour. You think the staff would be trained to go to the woman in the wedding gown first.
We did have a beautiful day but for everything that we spent on this wedding, I would have really hoped for better treatment, especially before the wedding.
I don't want to say I regret choosing the Salem Waterfront Hotel but I almost feel like we did not get what we paid for.

I did not have my wedding here but I had a room block and a farewell breakfast at this hotel. This review is of the management and not of the individual staffers. The staff that was working the front door were fantastic and the wait staff at our breakfast were good as well. The first issue was a guest booked a room with them and when they called back to confirm their room was all set they were told the original price that was confirmed to them via email would not be honored. It was only a $5 difference but they insisted they had to charge the extra $5. The second issue was a mix up in reservations and on my wedding day my husband had to figure out why my great uncle was being kicked out of his room. They also charged my credit card that I used to book my room for the farewell breakfast despite being given a different credit card and being told the grooms parents were paying. The additional fees for the breakfast were outrageous as well. Room fee, service fee, etc etc. Despite having numerous rooms filled up with our guests and spending thousands on breakfast they would not give me an extra hour to check out because they had too many rooms to clean that day. All around terrible customer service. Go to the Hawthorne!

To start off, when I signed the contract everything was going smoothly. Covid was on the rise and restrictions got tighter, however I was never told a limit of people until after I send out invitations and gave my final count! Then I was told all the vendors and servers counted as my guest count. The hotel rep & manager were helpful however very frustrating. During the wedding my children became tired and cranky (as kids do) abd my family was repeatedly told (rudly) they had to sit down and couldn't 'dance' when they were attempting to calm down my twin infants, by rocking them in their arms. The decor was great and the food was fantastic, the servers were also very attentive. The wedding coordinator did her best but like I said the situation was very aggravating especially with traveling across the country. I feel the coordinatorfailed to tell us many details until AFTER I signed the contract. In addition, the hotel cost $500 per night and we were not given any type of discount even though we just spent thousands on a wedding. I would definitely tell others to go somewhere else.

We hosted our rehearsal dinner and after wedding brunch here. While we are happy to say that the hotel itself was good enough, DO NOT EVER step foot into the Regatta Pub Restaurant. I have never been so appalled by a group of "professionals" in my entire life. We were told that the pub would be happy to accommodate our wedding guests and party for drinks after our wedding (of course, when trying got get us to sign a contract), the staff was downright nasty when we arrived. I walked in, in my wedding dress, and the host looked at me annoyed and told me "bar closes in a half hour". The bartenders, particularly a woman were so unprofessional it actually made my friends and family members uncomfortable. At one point, after buying many drinks, one of my friends simply gave her a 2 dollar tip for a beer (despite tipping her other times throughout the process of buying drinks) she looked at him, disgusted and said sarcastically "gee....thanks for the two dollars". She then proceeded at the end of the night to walk outside and yell at everyone to get out right after last call. Unfortunately, it was a very negative ending to our beautiful wedding day. While it didn't ruin our day, we are surely trying to forget the last hour or so of the evening. Unfortunately, this experience was so incredibly negative that I can't even give the hotel a good review, that's how bad it was. The sad thing is, we had a friend who similarly had her wedding party stay here, and she reported the same experience to me occurring THREE YEARS prior. I was hoping that it was just bad luck, but it couldn't be more true. This tells me that there is a management problem. For that reason, I would never recommend that anyone have any part of their wedding at this location. Which is a shame, because our other experiences at this hotel were pretty good.

If you are planning a wedding, avoid this hotel. All of our wedding related stress stemmed directly from the planning team at the Salem Waterfront Hotel. They are terribly unorganized, and poor communicators. Over the course of a year of planning, we had 3 different coordinators (one fired for ineptitude, one quit, one who came on 2 weeks before the wedding without a clue). Given 18 months heads up that we needed over 70 rooms, we ended up getting 25 because they booked three wedding blocks in the hotel for the same weekend, forcing us to scramble and find rooms for guests all over a 20 mile radius. This would have been fine, had they just told us they booked additional wedding blocks. Instead, we found out the hotel was full 9 months before the wedding, before invites had even been sent, when our bridal party began calling and getting turned away.

As far as a hotel, it's fine. Nothing special but if you need a place to sleep, it'll suffice.

STAY AWAY from the Salem Waterfront hotel!

They are TERRIBLE to work with! We used their wedding package for our Rehearsal dinner! We signed the contract with them saying we were suppose to have the ballroom, and our wedding package included a four course meal, 1 hour open bar cocktail hour, 2 stationary appetizers, 5 different kinds of passed hors d'oeuvres, champagne toast, table side wine service.... This is what we got the day of...

we show up, they've given us our ballroom away! To a high school graduation. So the room is all set up with chairs and such, we asked them about our rehearsal dinner, they told us we are in the canvass room, which is about 1/10th of the space of the ballroom. We had no room to rehearse for the wedding. We said we signed the contract for the ballroom. The sales and event manager came out, and yelled at us saying that they switched the rooms last minute and since we sign another copy to approve the charges, it is valid, when they've mentioned nothing of the change of rooms to my fiance, or me. (when there is a material change in the contract, it has to be made clear to both parties before the signed contract can be rendered valid). The sales/event manager proceeded to tell us that it is our fault, and that the groom should have checked this more carefully. Until my wedding planner arrived and showed her a copy of the original contract we signed with the previous sales manager that stated we have the wedding package IN THE BALLROOM. She then, stuck to her guns, and tried to convince my mother and father in-law, as well as my mother and father that it is OUR fault.... she then disappeared for the night, and did not stick around to make sure everything else worked out okay.

By now, all of our wedding party and guests have arrived... they told us there is nothing they can do about the room at this point. We had 55 people for our rehearsal dinner, and they stuffed 5 tables in the little canvass room... 1 table had 12 guests to it, it definitely was designed to only comfortably seat 8 to 10. We had no room to rehearse our wedding (we had to go outside into the yard). We had no room for our cocktail hour.... which leads me to the actual rehearsal dinner....

They brought out the stationary, which was not what we ordered, and they proceeded to tell us that it is because of the room mixup... they've taken care of us for the night. They've given us complete open bar for the night, and also these apps were on the house.... i asked them, where is the stationary we've oredered and the passed hors d'oevres? they said, they had no idea....

we sit down to have dinner at this point, and out of the 4 courses, we only received ONE... yes ONE! The food and beverage manager on duty proceeded to tell me that the sales manager told him it was just the chicken, and not part of any package.... We didnt receive our champagne toast, we didn't receive our passed hors' doevres, no stationary apps, no table side wine service, no 1st course, no second course, the dessert course, I HAD TO ASK THEM, and they brought out some pieces of cake that was NOT what we wrote down on the contract....

Icing on the cake? They kicked us out of our small canvass room 1 hour before we were due out. None of us wanted to linger there at that point because all 50 of us went over to Finz across the street, and ate a real dinner.

all in all, WORST service ever received.... I just really don't know how it could have been messed up anymore....

I just had my wedding there on July 11th, 2010. My husband & I wanted to go with them because the sales manager was so welcoming and told me he would help us out. Well, i should of noticed after a few unturned phone calls that it wasn't going to be helpful.
I went for my first tasting and it wasn't good so we schedule a second tasting and there was a lady there. She told us that our wedding person had left and we will get a new girl that they haven't even hired yet.
Well, that lady wasn't that great at all. She never answered phone calls or anything like that. She barely response to emails and I let it go until May but it just got worse closer to the wedding. The food & beverage manager got called and set up a meeting with us and the sales manager. She never apologize for never getting back. She had the wrong menu & never called the cake person. I thought things would change after a meeting with her boss but it didn't.
It got worse when she didn't answer at all 3 weeks before the wedding. I got switched to another one who I thought would be better but she wasn't. She made herself seem a different way but she arrive late the day of the wedding. Didn't pay the cake guy until I called her but she told me she would call all my vendors. She told me that she needed the payment a day before it was due which wouldnt of been a big deal but my fiance at the time had the money. She didn't help with the set up so everyone was confused on what to do. She needed all my stuff before but she wasn't there. She lied to my mom & said she wasn't there when I went a few hours later and she was still there. They wouldn't let me get into the suite because they said it was full but it wasn't at all.
on the wedding day; she forgot to tell them we were having ice cream so we had to find Dale and let me know. He was helpful the whole night and he should be getting pay more than the sale manager. They didn't help us out at all and honestly I wouldn't recommend them to anyone because no one is helpful there.