I stayed at the Desmond twice in June, passing throught Albany to New York and two weeks later on the way home on a road trip. We found the staff to be very friendly and this was one reason why we decided to stay there again.

The rooms are comfortable and quiet. We have tried both the courtyard facing and outside facing rooms and they are both good. Although the room that we got near the back of the hotel seems to be bigger than the ones near the front. The bed was comfortable and the room service was quick, resonably priced and good. No additional fees other than 18% tip included on the room service bill.

Controlling the A/C in the room is not by temperature, but by a sliding indicator between cool and warm, so you'll have to play with it until you are comfortable. Also, the shower has good pressure, but the water temperature does not stay consistent, sometimes too cold and then too hot.

Overall, a good place to stay.

Well, my family & I stayed here just to sleep on our way to Lake Placid two years ago. It was alright at night cause we were tired and ready to go. The people were averagely pleasurable to talk to and my little brothers loved the inside "courtyard" that looks like a real outdoor starry sky. The room was average & the beds were not so great. I thought the room needed we got was dated-and i guess i cant complain about our view, being the hotel is on a highway. I wouldnt rush back, but a good enough pit-stop for weery, tired travelers!

Tonight I planned a romantic getaway but had it rudely awakened by dirty sheets, and black hairs on 2 of the towels in our room (the first two we looked at - I didn't even look at the rest). Let me also note that the only reason they didn't get a single star rating was the Scrimshaw. Dinner was delicious and put us in a great mood, only to come back to a room that eventually caused us to leave the hotel. I spoke to the manager and was given a gift card to come back again - but how does one fix a perfect night that was torn from my grips? Ah..before this sounds like a rant and not a review I'll give one last piece of information. I was going to stay, the manager had sent housekeeping up to change the sheets. When she looked at the sheets she muttered something under her breath (my fiance thinks she called us loco but I wasn't sure) and when I asked her what she said she muttered some incomprehendable spanglish mess. The rooms by the way were unimpressive to start - you can get a much more luxurious stay at Longfellows for about the same price if it's not to far out of your way. Oh, they did give me a gift card for a free night stay...let's wait and see how that review comes out.

We paid $140 plus tax per night and booked directly through the hotel to ensure we were put in the recently upgraded rooms. We were in a King on the third floor (unfortunately it overlooked the back parking lot, not the atrium), but it was very nice. Beautiful colonial period furniture, spacious, clean and comfortable. The foot at both Scrimshaw's (expensive) and Simpson's is wonderful. The entire hotel is non-smoking. The only negative point for me, was that the wall paper in the hallways was a little bold and nausiating, and the elevators were very small (although I never ran into anyone else in them).

It is very convenient to the airport (1/2 mile away on the same road). Check in is not until 4:00 pm, but our plane arrived ad 11:30 am, and they were very accomodating and let us check right in. You could see it from our room, but we were not disturbed by any airport noise. The shuttle was very prompt to pick us up when we arrived at the airport as well as when we left. It is available 24 hrs. The drivers are very courteous and friendly. As a matter of fact, all the hotel staff we encountered were.

We would definately stay here again and I recommend this hotel to anyone traveling to the Albany/Colonie area.