Visitors to Rhode Island from Europe and Asia have discovered the hidden gem, 3 Royal Waterfront Suites, while few Warwick residents have yet to notice that for the past 4 years, there’s been a sweet little B&B catering to guests on the bay near Conimicut Point. My friend, Kai from Germany, recommended it to me after his pleasurable stay there.
Could 3 Royal be your home-away-from-home in Rhode Island?
You’ll have to make up your own mind. Choosing a B&B is as personal as picking your favorite meal or best friend. My perfect, restorative cup of tea (no sweetener, no milk) might taste, to you, like bitter medicine. So let me tell you what NOT to expect:
- If you’re looking for Windsor-Palace food served by footmen and Ritzy-elegant furnishings, including a $550-seasonal bouquets on the marble-top table in the sleek and expansive entrance hall, then you should spend triple or quadruple the money and make a reservation at the Relais and Chateaux affiliated Ocean House in Watch Hill.
- If you want the anonymity of a cookie-cutter motel room you can crash into at 2:00 am, after 18 hours of zipping around southern New England, and all you need is a clean bed to get a few zzz’s in before you jaunt out again tomorrow for another 18-hour tour of sight-seeing, then save a few bucks and book a room at the Comfort Inn next to the Airport on Post Road. You wouldn’t be in your room long enough to appreciate the unique hospitality and ambience of 3-Royal.
- If you want sleek and shiny minimalistic modernism, try NYLO in Warwick. But be aware their “waterfront” overlooks the Pawtuxet River (which, where I come from, would be an adolescent creek, at least a couple hefty growth spurts away from becoming a full-fledged Mississippi-like River).
I recently visited with owner/innkeeper Daneisha Hazard. She gave me a tour of her inn and treated me to one of the signature dishes she serves her guests, while we talked about her philosophy of innkeeping, the restoration work she and her husband did to the property before opening, and the blessings she finds inherent in being a hospitality provider. (People call her Daneish, pronounced Danish).
A significant number of 3-Royal guests are returning guests. They keep coming back for the down-to-earth, off-the-beaten-path, make-yourself-at-home comfort of the place, complimented by Daneish’s sensitively-available yet not overly-familiar hospitality style. The 100-year-old house is tastefully renovated and modernized to maintain guest privacy (no shared breakfast tables or bathrooms, thank goodness!)
What’s Royal about this place?
- The address: it’s 3 Royal Avenue.
- The waterfront view from your own private deck is simply splendid; and your chandeliered suite is nearly palatial (especially in comparison to other New England B&B’s in this price range). You’ll find 450 sq. ft. of living space in the Queen Suite (with a jacuzzi tub and a window seat); 500 sq. ft. in the King Suite (spacious tiled-shower and a book-lovers bookcase of good reads); and 500 sq. ft. in the Emperor Suite, which boasts a jacuzzi tub and an expansive 500 sq. ft. covered porch all for you.
- Your personally-customized breakfast is served at your requested time in your suite, (indoors or on your private deck overlooking the water–based on your preference and the weather). Check out her sample menus, to see just one of the ways Daneish goes above-and-beyond to meet your-highness’s personal preferences.
I choose to stay at a B&B when the Inn experience is going to be a significant factor in the memorability of my getaway. Then I want the ambience found only in a particular, unique place–one with personality, that always-difficult-to-describe something that makes you and me (despite our surprising, like-minded similarities) quite different from one another.
So could 3-Royal be your home-away-from-home?
If you like variety and individuality, beauty and a little bit of hedonism (freshly baked cookies and pastries, for example, and cushy comforters, and chairs you can put your feet up in), if you enjoy books and original art, privacy and tranquility, and a place away from other people’s children and pets (maybe because you’re escaping from your own), if you’re a down-to-earth and off-the-beaten-path kind of person, my guess is,
Yes. I think you would love the ocean views, the swans, the sunrises and sunsets, the warm-hearted hospitality and the luxurious privacy of 3 Royal Waterfront Suites.
But you tell me. What would your dreamy (affordable) get-away place look like?
The Emperor Suite looks awesome!
The emperor would be my choice of suites, but Daneish tells me that some people prefer the king or queen (they all have their distinct personalities–the people, and the suites).The emperor is the more elegant of the three, I think. Plus, it’s on the first floor and has that awesome private porch.
It looks lovely. I used to live near the Pawtuxent River, but that was in Maryland, so I was a little confused until I realized Rhode Island’s has no ‘n.’ What a difference a letter makes.
So true–those minute differences change everything. Here in tiny Rhode Island, there’s Pawtucket and Pawtuxet. Confusing to outsiders; but insiders never seem to get tripped up by barely-discernible lisp in the middle of the word.
This is a wonderful vacation/getaway plan, Tracy. The pictures grabbed me, but your details sealed the deal. I’m keeping this in my “must-do” plan book!
Of course a person from Colorado would want to stay a whole week and see the whole tiny state, and also meet the itinerary-writer! RI often gets overlooked as just a drive-through on the way from New York to Cape Cod or Boston and the White Mountains. One of the things that makes it attractive is that (other than in Newport) it’s a vacation-land not thronged with tourists.
It always amazes me when any one stays in a less expensive hotel or B&B and complains because the rooms are small or lacks a honking wide-screen TV. Tracy, as you pointed out, if you’re doing the tourist thing right, you’re out and about the whole day. You’re not hanging out at the hotel and watching TV. You’re checking out the sites.
Enjoyable post.
Thank you, Judy —
I know, it baffles me, too. But, then, quite a lot of people’s demands/expectations make me wonder…
We were actually trying to find somewhere to stay in RI one weekend, just for a visit. We live a bit north of RI. 🙂 Thanks for this post. I will certainly go through the blog and see what’s good there.
There’s so much that’s good here–it all depends on what kind of experience you’re looking for. And feel free to ask any questions you want to, I’ll certainly respond with ideas. After all, I’m the lady with a million of ’em. 😉 (and I really have decided not to charge for them…for now!)