I booked two nights at this hotel for our 3rd anniversary. I wanted an mid-price hotel, and that's what I got. We stayed in a King room for $99 a night, which is not bad at all.
The rooms were a good size. The bed was very comfortable and the linens seemed to be ok. The room has a big TV, and a huge desk, with a very comfortable desk chair. Internet access is free, unless you need a wireless card, and then it's $9.99 per night. There is a coffee making machine in the room, which is always a nice bonus. The bathroom wasn't wonderful - no marble here, but it was ok. The toiletries, I have to say, were absolutely horrible. They call them luxury, but they're not. I'd suggest bringing your own. The soap smelled very strong.
Although our hotel directory said that there was a complimentary happy hour (when questioned, they told us this was an out of date directory), there was a great happy hour between the hours of 5-6pm in the basement "comfy" bar. Beer was $2, Well cocktails were $3. The basement bar is nice - it has a lovely water feature, but is a little corporate looking for what I was wanting.
Harry's bar offers drinks at happy hour prices all night for guests. We loved Harry's bar and wish we'd discovered it on our first night. It has a good loungey atmosphere and the bar staff are fantastic. They can give you all kinds of information about the pubs, clubs and restaurants, and will even call ahead to make a reservation for you!
The hotel offers its guests complimentary cookies and milk between 8-10pm, which is a nice touch.
Breakfast is also complimentary and is a good basic range: toast & spreads, muffins, bagels, cereals, yoghurts, fruit, cottage cheese, fruit juices, tea and coffee.
Newspapers are delivered free.
The down-side was the service of the hotel - I think that could've been better. The staff were polite, but very young and seemed inexperienced. I'd contacted the hotel a couple of times, telling them it was our Anniversary and asking if we could have a nice room, with a view - I had even written to the hotel's Customer Service Manager, who said he'd make a note of my request. We got there, and there was no record of this. I asked for a nice room and the woman assured us that she'd given us one. We got up there, and had a lovely view of the other side of the building - I presume it's their 'courtyard' view. It was very claustrophobic, so we asked to be moved. Minor hiccup, but it made me feel like we weren't really being taken care of. No record of the free drinks that had been promised to us by the front desk manager, either.
Next we realised we had no fridge in our room (they advertise that the rooms have fridges), so I asked the man seeing us to our room about this - he said there was no problem and that he'd have one sent up (this is a free service). An hour later, no fridge. Feeling like people weren't understanding my English accent, I asked my American husband to call - they came up within minutes. From then on out, I asked him to make all requests.
Parking. We were told that parking would be $24 per night. However, over the weekend you can self park (in the same car-park) for $8 a night, as long as you don't take your car out. There are such good shuttle services, that we didn't need our car.
That brings me to location. It's a few steps away from 16th street. It was the best location, in my opinion.
Room-service: I have to say it was pretty terrible. We ordered one of their pizzas on the last night and all we got was a standard pizza box. No tray, no plates, no extras. The guy was very young and came into our room and said 'where do you want me to put this?'. I just thought it was very unprofessional. I'm not sure, but I think they ordered the pizza themselves. If that was the case, I wish I'd known, as I would've got a better pizza. Very expensive for what it was. The whole thing literally gave us heartburn.
There was one final annoyance. I'd gone down to breakfast on our last day. When I came back, my key card would not work. I had to wake my husband up (who'd had a bit of a bad night due to some noise in the hotel and the air conditioner, which is pretty noisy), to let me in. He tried his key in the door, and it too didn't work. I'm not sure why they deactivated our keys when we'd asked for an extended check-out.
All in all, this is a good hotel. If they could iron out their problems with customer service, then it would be even better. It's a good value for money hotel, with some extra little perks thrown in, which I always love.
I'd recommend this hotel to families & business people. There was a wedding party while we were there, and they looked like they were having fun. I wouldn't recommend it if you are seriously looking for a romantic time.
Lastly, the hotel must be fantastic value for the Brits - the rates are very good for them. I saw an English family there, and they seemed to be happy.










