We recently came to Atlanta with our best friends for our 33rd anniversary. While most of our trip was spent downtown, after reading reviews for downtown hotels, I decided to look a little further out. Our one-night stay at Hotel Sierra was terrific. When we arrived, we were surrounded by young baseball players and their families, in town for a tournament. We thought the place would be a noisy mess, but we never heard a peep from them. The place was quiet and clean. The breakfast was terrific, with a lady making omelets to order. The desk service was most helpful, giving me mapquest to a place I saw advertised on the TV while getting dressed. We were most impressed and have told family members this is the place to stay when they go to Atlanta.

Hotel Sierra boasts about being an independent hotel and not stuck in the conformity of the big chains. Unfortunately this independence is only good for the employees – not the guests!

It’s been my experience that problems can surface at all levels of hotels. How the management fixes the problems is what sets one hotel apart from the next. Hotel Sierra is irresponsible in this regard.

Our room was on the parking lot and our shades did not close all the way. Upon calling, the front desk staff gave me an instruction on how to close the shades. I’m not an idiot, I told her – JUST SEND MAINTENANCE. 10 minutes later she (the front desk clerk) appeared herself to show me how to close the shades. When she saw the shades were closed MOST of the way, she smugly said “oh, I see you figured out how to work them.” I patiently explained that they would not close any further and that being open 3-inches in the middle is unacceptable. She agreed to send maintenance.

90 minutes later, I had to remind her again to get maintenance. It was now close to 11pm. A very nice fellow arrived, but could only rig them. He said that maintenance had gone home for the night and he would get them the next day.

The next day at 1:30pm, maintenance arrived, saw the problem and said they would be back with the proper tools to fix. They never came back. The front desk had to call the fellow again from the prior night to rig the shades again.

There are a few other things about this hotel that bother me. When I travel with my wife, I am not a fan of the room setup where the sink is directly in front of the bed and the TV is off to the side. I prefer the sink around the corner so that when the light is on, it does not shine directly into the eyes of whoever might be trying to still sleep.

This hotel promotes an evening Bistro. It’s supposed to run from 5:30 to 7:00. When I arrived at 6:00, there was no more salad. That was all I really wanted. When I found someone to ask about the salad, I was told they were all out because the hotel was completely full and they were busier than usual. I remarked that they should perhaps get more food on the nights that the hotel is completely full. I was told that that was a good idea – but really I was just sent off with no salad. The wine looked good too, but the wine bottles were empty.

The morning free breakfast looked good, but I am not a fan of the coffee. They “proudly” offer only Starbucks coffee. Two kinds: Decaf and Robust. I am not a big fan of the Starbucks Robust coffee as I find it very bitter. But with a combination of the Robust and Decaf, some hot water, and a lot of coffee creamer (which they were out of BOTH days and I had to look hard to find someone BOTH DAYS to refill), I can make it palatable. Fortunately, the Original Pancake House is right across the street and they have incredibly delicious coffee.

Overall, the Hotel Sierra could be as good as the chains like the Hampton Inn, but the employees just do not care – and have not been trained to provide the level of service that is expected from employees at the Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt brand Hotels.

Stayed for 5 nights as part of a golfing tour of Georgia. The hotel met all or expectations, good sized room, ample breakfast and very clean. The week-end rate makes the hotel particularly attractive.

Beginning with the reservation process alone, the staff was friendly, professional and took time to explain all the amenities I would recieve. Not only did the service exceed my expectations, but the hotel itself was beautiful. The excersize facility was large and had a variety of machines. The breakfast was hot and delicious, as well as the social hour of free beer, wine and snacks. The manager checked us in and later checked with us to see if we needed anything. Not many managers come out from their offices to interact with their guests. Everyone was friendly from housekeeping to management. Will continue to stay here anytime I travel to Alpharetta. Thank you Hotel Sierra.