I recently stayed one night (supposed to be four) at the Adolphus hotel, and while the property wasn’t necessarily bad, I cut my stay short after the first night to find more updated accommodations. The hotel has a rich history, and it used to be downright fancy; however, its charm and reputation just weren’t enough to keep me, and I wouldn’t return. We booked the hotel through AmEx’s Fine Hotels and Resorts program, and this property is one that they should definitely drop from the list.
The Adolphus has several things going for it: It’s in the heart of downtown; it offers a variety of room sizes/categories; it has a pleasant staff; the rooms are pretty cheaply priced; it’s purported to have the finest dining of any hotel in America (at the French room). Oh, and the Queen once stayed there. The hotel is very proud of this fact (her picture hangs in the lobby), and I’ll be she enjoyed her stay many years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t think the property has been updated one bit since then, so the hotel’s royal appointment doesn’t really matter anymore.
We booked into a junior suite, which was nicely sized – although really just one big room. The first room we took smelled of cigarette smoke, so we asked to be moved. The front desk was happy to oblige, and we moved to another junior suite with a completely different layout. It was smoke free, but it had a definite mustiness to it. The décor of the room had a stuffy charm, but it also smacked of a fancy hotel from the late 1970s. It just didn’t appeal to me. Even though it was clean and in pretty-good condition, I got the feeling that the furniture was well used, and it all just seemed old. The bathroom was decent sized and had marble surfaces for floors, counters, and the combination shower/bath. All fixtures were of good quality but, like the rest of the room, looked too old. The room had two televisions, which were concealed in armoires.
Because we were in town to attend wedding festivities, we dropped off our bags, cranked down the a/c, and left for dinner. When we returned, we noticed that the room was not much cooler than when we checked in, and it felt quite muggy inside. Too tired to think about moving to another room, we turned in. At about 2 a.m., I awoke with a sore throat and a congested head. The air conditioner had been running nonstop, and the room had grown muggier without cooling down any. The air coming out of the vents felt so damp, and I could only imagine the mold spores that we must have been breathing. A few minutes later, rain began to fall outside, and I started hearing a dripping sound. One of the windows, which didn’t open, was taking in water so fast that a pool had formed on the marble ledge and was overflowing down to the carpet. At that point, I jumped on to the complimentary wireless internet connection and booked another room at the W hotel.
The front desk was concerned that we were leaving early, and they wanted to move us to a better room. But I knew that it would be more of the same and told them that the hotel just wasn’t a good fit for us. I think that many people would enjoy the turn-of-the-century charm that the property has to offer, but it just wasn’t the place for us. With a major renovation, the Adolphus might be able to compete with the other properties around downtown, but for now, it’s too far past its prime.
hotel reviews