Our experience at the SilverBow Inn was disappointing. Although the location is great and the purchased bakery sandwiches or breakfasts were delicious (but quite expensive), it seemed to us as if the hotel is suffering from a lack of management and staff training.
The breakfasts included in the room charge were available in an open room behind the check-in desk. These breakfasts were disappointing to the degree that we purchased our breakfasts at the bakery. As for pastries, the few bagels and slices of bread provided the days we were there were unappealingly presented and we weren't sure what was fresh and what was not, as some items seemed to be there for more than one day. Waffles can be made assuming the staff remembers to make up a batch of mix which didn't always happen. On other mornings, the refrigerator contained a bottle of apparent waffle mix of dubious age. On the plus side, the refrigerator also included various flavors of cream cheese and these were labeled with dates. Apples, bananas, coffee and a great variety of tea bags and hot and cold water were always available.
Here are a couple of examples of additional problems we encountered with the guest breakfast area: There was a half-empty bottle of skim milk in the refrigerator, which I suspect most people were afraid to drink, because four days later the bottle was still there. The frittata was made, I was told, at 3:00 AM in the bakery and sat out all morning with no attempt to keep it warm. Guests were instructed to reheat it in the microwave. Keeping an egg dish at room temperature for five or six hours or more did not seem healthy to us. In the breakfast area there was a tiny table on which to stack dirty dishes, but no attempt was made to clear these away or wipe the table all morning.
Staff attitudes varied enormously, with some being friendly and helpful and some being uncooperative bordering on hostile. There is a need for customer service training, especially in a hotel charging $200+ a day. The odds of finding someone at the front desk were probably on the order of 1 in 5. There is a "press intercom for service" system, but even then we waited at least ten minutes just to check in.
Security and privacy can be a concern with the room we stayed in. The window in our room opened on the roof patio where the hot tub is located. When we came back to our room after it was cleaned (room maintenance was excellent but sometimes didn't take place until late in the day), the windows were left wide open. Anyone could have entered the room from the roof "garden." When someone was on the patio we had to keep our shade drawn and this made the room seem even smaller than it was.
The limited parking is the main reason we never would stay at the Silverbow again. There are three parking spaces at the hotel which were shared by bakery customers. A fourth space is intended for the bakery van. We found the hotel/bakery van parked taking up two spaces on one occasion. When I asked the desk staff to at least align the van correctly, they were resentful. The basic answer you get from the staff is to park on the street. Unfortunately, Monday through Friday street parking within any reasonable distance from the hotel is limited to one hour from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Parking on the street across from the hotel during the night is not possible all nights due to street cleaning. The closest self-pay parking lot is three blocks away down a hill, and parking there is limited to a maximum of four hours. This restricts hotel guests’ activities if they want to explore the town due to the need to keep moving a car.
All in all, it seems a shame that a hotel which in the past has had such excellent reviews may be deteriorating in service and quality.
