Service was mediocre at the Crown Plaza Allentown. Special requests that I included in the reservation were not honored or even mentioned at check-in, and the disinterested front desk clerk obviously was not focused on her work. One layer of the ceiling in the bathroom looked like it could fall off in pretty good sized chunks at any time.

I must agree with some of the previous posters. The customer service is great and the people who work there really go above and beyond to try to help, but it's like they know they are fighting a losing battle.

I ate at the bar for dinner (hamburger) and it was fine. Breakfast was very good, and we had complimentary coupons. The problems were with general noise level in the rooms due to the proximity of the street, and the condition of the elevators. Elevators are old and rickety, and when I opened the door to my room on the second floor it was literally 100 degrees in there because someone had opened the window on the hottest day of the year. The maid apparently didn't notice. All night there were sounds of loud car mufflers and motorcycles, teenagers yelling and large dump trucks. The door of the room let in a lot of light, and the sounds of neighbors in the hall yelling, talking, and slamming doors. The ice machine was right by the door and it was very loud as well. In the morning, despite the DND sign on my door, the maid tried repeatedly to get in. I had the door deadbolted and finally answered, pointing to the "do not disturb" sign. She spoke no English of course, but I thought the sign, the deadbolt and the late checkout I confirmed at the desk would have been enough. The complimentary shuttle was out running errands at Home Depot at the time I had signed up for a shuttle ride to the hotel. We ended up taking a cab instead, paid for by the Crowne Plaza folks. Like I said, the employees try hard.

The neighborhood is a rough one, and the bartender warned us not to go walking anywhere at night, and be careful in the day.

I attended a convention at this hotel. The ballroom and breakout room facilities were nice and easily accomodated 300+ people. The food served at mealtime was surprisingly good considering the volume they were catering too.
That said, I am glad I cancelled my overnight stay because the neighborhood made me a little nervous. The hotel was nice, but the surrounding neighborhood is rundown, sad and depressing.

The people working here were very nice. They seem uncomfortable because they felt bad for us. I felt they would have corrected things if they could have. The things wrong here were not customer service oriented.

This hotel is evidently constantly under construction. It is very poorly maintained. Do not eat in their restaurant or bar. The food is horrible. The rooms are not clean. The elevators only work intermittently.

Allentown is a town under duress. The economy is not doing well and the downtown area shows it. Since your going to drive outside the area anyway (unless you eat at the Bay Leaf down the street), why not stay in accommodations out there as well?

I was stuck here for three days at a class. Even though it didn't cost me a dime, I was so glad to leave.