The Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast is a luxury, adult-only establishment in Cape May, New Jersey. Located just a block from the beach, the bed and breakfast offer guests bicycles to ride around the area, along with beach bags, beach chairs, and beach towels to take to the beach. There are ten guest accommodations in the three-story Victorian-style home. The home was renovated in 2017 and features decorations of Victorian, French provincial, tropical, and modern Miami-inspired design. Behind the main house is a small two-story carriage house that also holds a room available for reservation. Breakfast and afternoon tea are served in the dining area and enclosed back porch daily.
The Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast is one of five bed and breakfasts under the Cape Collection owned by Andrew Bares. This five thousand square foot Victorian-style historic home is located on Columbia Avenue in Cape May. The surrounding neighborhood is just a block from the beach and is filled with historical homes, bed and breakfasts, and high-end restaurants. The Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast is three stories with a white exterior, a wrap-around porch, cobblestone pathways, teak wood, railings, and trim. Also on the property is the Paradise Cottage, a small two-story carriage house. The carriage house matches the exterior of the main home.
There are several gathering areas on the home’s main level, including a parlor, a dining room, the front porch, and an enclosed rear porch. Evan James interiors designed the entire house. A mixture of Victorian, French provincial, tropical, and modern Miami-inspired décor design the bed and breakfast. The enclosed rear porch and dining areas are used to eat breakfast, and the parlor is where guests can take their afternoon tea. The nine additional guest accommodations are located on the second and third floors.
There are six king rooms and four queen rooms in the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast. The Black Orchid, Cape Jasmine, Coco Rain, Sea Grape, and Windflower are all king rooms. The Foxtail, Royal Palm, White Ginger, and Woodrose are the additional queen rooms. Each room is decorated individually with white walls, large windows, deep wood bed frames, and small touches of greenery. Every room has an ensuite bathroom. The bathrooms are all modern, with smooth tiling and large mirrors. Select rooms have private fireplaces and jacuzzi bathtubs.
All of the guest accommodations at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast are fully air-conditioned and include toiletries by Paya. In-wall USB chargers can be found around the room, and flat-screen televisions with cable, high-speed internet, access to the inn’s guest pantry to store leftovers and snacks, afternoon tea, and a full breakfast daily are additional amenities. There are several bicycles guests are welcome to use when exploring the area, along with helmets. When taking a trip to the beach, guests can use the bed and breakfast’s complimentary beach bags, beach towels, and beach chairs.
The Paradise Cottage located in the separate carriage house is the most popular guest accommodation at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast. At 600 square feet, this room is the largest of the guest spaces at the bed and breakfast. On the first floor of the cottage, there is a sitting area with a fireplace, sofa, desk, and a large television. A wet bar with a refrigerator, wine fridge, and dishes also resides on the first floor. A full bathroom is available on the main level with a two-person shower. There is a king-sized bed with white linens, a large gas fireplace, and a luxurious powder room in the upstairs loft. A freestanding jacuzzi bathtub sits in one corner of the loft.
Every morning from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM a full breakfast is served at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast. The breakfast meal is served in the dining room, outdoor patios, and occasionally in the sitting rooms. The menu changes three or four times a year and always includes a wide variety of sweet and savory entrees. Each of the dishes served for breakfast at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast are inspired by the tropics. The main course of each meal is served with yogurt, granola, fruit, cereal, tea, coffee, juice, and baked goods. When a guest has a dietary restriction or food allergy, they can let the staff know and their needs can be accommodated. Afternoon tea is also served daily and can be taken in a common room or on the back porch. The tea time lasts for about an hour.
The Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast along with the entire Cape Collection is owned and managed by Andrew Bares and his wife Kelley. The couples made it a goal when creating their bed and breakfast to put together an environment where individuals can relax and unwind in luxury. “Our guests should feel like they are staying at a luxury resort when they spend time at our bed and breakfasts,” says Andrew. In order to help their spaces feel like a resort, the couple have spent months renovating and redecorating the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast. During this time they updated the home’s exterior with new trim work and fresh paint and redesigned the entire interior.
The desired resort-inspired ambiance is most likely to be achieved when the design, complimentary breakfast meal, luxury amenities, and the innkeeper’s hospitality come together, according to Andrew. Luxury is the owner’s number one goal. At the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast, the home is historic in its structure but is completely updated on the surface. “I want our rooms to be better than what people have in their own homes,” remarks Andrew.
A majority of the guests of whom spend time at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast are visiting to spend time together for an anniversary, honeymoon, or to attend a wedding party. The bed and breakfast hosts guests mostly from the ages of thirty to sixty years old. Since its establishment in 2017, the business has welcomed many return guests. Several of these guests are returning for getaway weekends or anniversary trips. No children under the age of 16 are allowed at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast, neither is smoking allowed on the property or pets.
The Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast is known for being a luxury bed and breakfast. Guests often leave reviews regarding breakfast, the attention to detail in design, and the accommodating hosts. For example, “Casablanca sets the standard for 'boutique bed & breakfast;' we stayed here and were in awe at the design and elegance of details in the common spaces as well as the room. The fireplace in the room was magnificent and the gold accents were just stunning. The breakfast each morning is next level and the afternoon tea is so thoughtful. We stayed in the Sea Grape room on the first floor and the staff was so quiet setting up for breakfast we never even heard a peep! Not to mention the mint bike cruisers you can take around town and the walkability to everything you’d need in 5-10 minutes,” said a recent guest.
A typical guest at the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast will spend time on the nearby sandy beaches, visit historical landmarks in the city, or tour local vineyards, breweries, and farms. Live music is often played in restaurants and specific areas throughout Cape May, and several festivals are held in the area often. Many of the oldest seaside resorts in the United States are located in Cape May along the Jersey Shore.
Andrew and Kelley recommend several restaurants in Cape May. In particular, they recommend their own restaurant named the Provence. The Provence is located down the street from the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast in one of its sister properties, the Peninsula Bed and Breakfast. The restaurant serves multi-course in a newly renovated marble dining room. Other popular restaurants in the area include the Washington Inn and the Jardin at the Hugh.
Andrew Bares and his wife Kelly purchased the Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast in 2017. It was originally a family home built decades ago before being turned into a bed and breakfast. It functioned as a bed and breakfast named the Clydesden. After purchasing the home, Andrew and Kelly spent six months doing a complete renovation of the interior. They gutted the entire home adding bathrooms, breaking down walls, redoing staircases, and adding new flooring. The exterior of the house could not be altered as much due to its historical nature, but it was re-painted, and the front porch was rebuilt to be more sturdy. The couple does not plan to make many more changes to the property in the future.
When Andrew first came across the small town of Cape May he fell in love with the atmosphere of the town and the beaches. Because of this Andrew and his wife, Kelley decided it would be the best place for them to buy their first beach home. As they only stayed in their beach home during certain times of the year the couple decided to list a few of the rooms in their home on reservation sites. Soon they discovered a love for hosting guests and the bed and breakfast environment so they decided to invest in more properties. Soon the couple had acquired four more properties of which they placed under one name: The Cape Collection. Each home was renovated and upgraded, and the couple also started up their own restaurant. The Bares enjoy interacting with all of their guests as they visit during the breakfast and afternoon tea times.
The Casablanca Boutique Bed and Breakfast is open year-round. The property has an increase in guests during the summer months, typically May through August. This time is most popular for the warm weather, music festivals in the area, green foliage, and other summer attractions.
613 Columbia Avenue
Cape May, New Jersey
United States
Bed and Breakfast
Andrew Bares
