At most hotels, ripping the art off the walls will get you shown the door. At Moxy, guests are encouraged to rip away. But Moxy isn’t most hotels.
Pads of contemporary prints clipped to the wall meant for tearing and sharing are just one of many fun and funky features at the new Moxy hotel at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. With the motto “Play on,” it’s clear Moxy doesn’t take itself too seriously. But it is dead serious about its stylish, value-oriented and lively approach to hospitality.
From the moment you check in—at the bar, no less, where guests are given complimentary cocktails along with their room keys—you can feel the Moxy difference. Geared to millennials and the young at heart, Moxy belongs to the Marriott International family of brands. Says Katie Castano, Director of Sales in Virginia Beach, “If you want to work quietly in the lobby, we are not your hotel.”
But if a vibrant communal living room with a playful industrial modern vibe and a 24/7 approach to drinking and dining at Bar Moxy and the Grab & Go are the way you roll, this is likely the hotel for you.
Floor murals, wall-mounted vintage lawn chairs and surf boards combine with eclectic conversation areas—low lounge furniture groupings, a Ferris wheel seat and stools at the expansive rectangular bar—to create a gathering place where you’ll want to see and be seen. That is unless you’re dipping in the oceanfront pool or stepping back in time at the Belvedere South Coffee Shop and Diner (see article on opposite page), a faithful nod to its precursor at the erstwhile Belvedere Hotel, a beloved piece of local nostalgia.
Birthed in Milan in 2014, the Moxy brand has grown to some 62 hotels across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific with twice that many in the pipeline, but only two in Virginia; the other is in downtown Richmond. Virginia Beach’s oceanfront iteration boasts seven floors and a handful of room designs from kings and king suites to quad queen bunks and double queens with beds placed footboard to footboard for maximum visit-in-bed facetime.
All rooms are notable for their smart storage and space planning. Walls of knobs are offered in lieu of closets, platform beds conceal drawer storage underneath, beach chairs hang on the wall, and wall-mounted pull-down desks fold neatly away when not in use. Wall-length black ledges ensure that cell phones, glasses and other small items are within easy reach and black metal stash closets on each floor provide similarly easy access to extra towels, pillows, shampoo and ice buckets.
Bleached wood floors and large windows framing sitting areas or doors opening onto balconies make for light and bright interiors. In-room vanities with large vertical racetrack oval mirrors sound a chic mid-mod note while allowing more privacy in the combination water closet-shower area on the opposite side of frosted glass barn doors. Each floor offers a spacious ADA-accessible guest room as well as a pair of king suites featuring wrap-around balconies, tiki bars, lounge seating, double vanities in the bath and a mini-kitchen with floating shelves.
Striped textiles and woven basket pendants appeal to your inner boho, while pillows with snappy sayings and scenic shower curtains—say, a shark stalking a rubber ducky—keep it just a little kitschy. Dialing up bedtime stories on the in-room rotary phones? Well, that’s pure Moxy.
But, even at Moxy, life isn’t all play, so a sporty workout room with a crisp black and white color palette—a wall of black floating shelves topping a white counter and a monumental white asana-assuming octopus on a black wall—encourages you to get your fit on. Meeting space designed as an antidote to the “bored” meeting offers the most flexible seating around from stadium to lounge to counter-height conference options. And when you’ve had all the work you can stand, take the open stairs—or the slide—down to the bar for a naan-style flatbread nosh and a signature cocktail, say strawberry saltwater taffy essence with your choice of spirit.
But don’t think you get to hog all the fun; pets are welcome, too. Nightly room rates vary by style, day of the week and season but range from approximately $150 to $450. Moxy Virginia Beach Oceanfront is located at 1201 Atlantic Avenue.
Learn more at Marriott.com/ORFVX or @moxyvb.
Betsy DiJulio
Betsy DiJulio is a full-time art teacher, artist and curator with side hustles as a freelance writer, including for Coastal Virginia Magazine, and a vegan recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. Learn more on her website thebloomingplatter.com.
