We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Allentown, PA, on October 7-8, 2006. Our room was very spacious and showed signs of being recently renovated with pleasant colors. At first they gave us a room that had not yet been properly cleaned, but that was quickly rectified when the front desk gave us another room, along with an apology for the mix-up.

The room had nice little touches: two sinks (one inside the bathroom and one outside), which cut our dressing time in half; plenty of pillows; clips to fasten the curtains together to darken the room completely.

Parking was a snap. For $6 extra per night, guests can use the Allentown municpal parking garage next door, coming and going at will with no extra cost. It's a lot less than the $15-$20 many downtown hotels charge.

The only complaint we had was that we could hear the next door neighbors arguing in muffled tones. That's a problem with rooms that feature a connecting door. Once the fighting couple cooled off, we were able to sleep comfortably.

If staying here, request a room that does not have a connecting option, unless you need it.

Having stayed at a fabulous Hampton Inn in NJ, we had hoped to stay in one in Allentown as well, but we chose the Crowne Plaza because it had a room + amusement park tickets deal.

Extremely slow check-in service was not a great first impression. And the manager was not on hand to give us our tickets.

The room was clean and neat but smelled like a wet dog - we think they had recently shampooed the carpets but had not given them sufficient time to dry.

The restaurant was closed for renovation and the continental breakfast (included in the package) was meager, cold and served in a bland inside banquet room with only one server on duty.

On the plus side: the location was good, the indoor pool would be a welcome distraction in winter and Dorney Park (nearby amusement park) was fabulous - we had a lot of fun there with our kids.

I paid around $116 for a King bedded room. The hotel was fine for that price point as you can't get too much for so little. The first room I had was nice and clean but did have an odor or cat urine disguised by deodorant. They changed my room immediately. Ver y nice hotel staff. The second room was nice as well. Some hairs which were not mine the the bathtub but that was it....otherwise very clean. Pillows were hard but bed was comfortable. TV reception not great on certain channels. Room was very quiet.

I would stay here again for the money. I would however rate this a 3 or a the most 3.5 star and not a 4 star hotel.

Enjoyed my stay. I traveled to allentown on business and stayed at Crowne Plaza. Good service!