The Gunter Hotel must have been a beauty in her day; however, now, it is a poorly maintained, badly managed, and sad shell of a hotel. The lobby is beautiful and historic. The location is convenient to the River Walk, and it is a very safe area. This also has to be the noisiest place I have ever stayed. I stayed with colleagues, and compared notes. Thus, I believe that this review represents rooms across a breadth of room styles and club membership statuses.
The rooms are noisy. I had a room on the outside of the hotel, and the air conditioning unit on that side of the hotel was so noisy that I asked to be moved. It sounded like there was a helicopter outside the room. I moved to a room that faced the inside of the hotel, and it was the same situation--incredibly noisy factory sounds. Perhaps this reflects a retrofit or other efforts to upgrade, but it is just so loud that I can't imagine how anyone could find this a restful location to stay.
The rooms are old and in poor shape. The carpeting was voted as universally gross by all conference attendees surveyed. There were also many problems with water temperature irregularities in showers. Questions to the desk about these issues resulted in offers to send engineering up, with no resolution during our two night stay. Toiletries were average. However, the hotel towels in the room were curiously luxurious.
It also appeared that there was little communication among hotel staff. For example, I discovered that the hot tub was broken within an hour of arriving. (I like to swim and was trying to relax at the pool after my flight.) The hot tub was not hot, or even warm, and the bubbles did not work. I inquired three separate times at the front desk as to whether it had been fixed, and each time, I was greeted with a perplexed look reflecting no knowledge of the hot tub problem. The pool itself is small but clean, and had an outdoor shower good for rinsing after swimming (in the event that the shower in one's room was not producing hot water).
The fitness center was good, but quite warm. It appeared the A/C controls did not work well in there.
The wireless internet seemed to work reasonably well in the rooms (there is a service charge); however, people staying on the front side of the hotel were able to pick up service from a rival hotel for free. Thus, people wishing to use the wireless should try to stay on the front side of the hotel.
The lobby is very nice, the linens are luxurious, and the location is good. However, there are many other hotels in this area that exceed these minimal pluses, so I would not stay here again.
