My husband and I enjoyed a weekend getaway in Baltimore with my sister and her boyfriend. All four of us stayed at the Admiral Fell Inn, in two separate rooms. The hotel is historic so if you are looking for modern amenities like a fridge or microwave in the room, a fitness center or a pool, this is not the place for you. The Inn is lacking an important amenity that you will notice as soon as you check in - a bell person/valet to help with your bags. When checking in, you have to pull up to the front of the hotel and leave your car while you go inside and look for someone to take it and park it for you. There are also three steps leading up to the hotel lobby. I had to drag my suitcases up these steps - no one was around to offer assistance. Also, because there are no hotel staff outside to greet guests, panhandlers come right up to you - even if you are standing right in the doorway - to ask for money. This happened to me twice in two days. It was the same person both days, and he became rude and pushy the second time asking me for money. I've been to Baltimore before and was prepared to deal with panhandlers, but you want to experience a feeling of safety in and around your hotel. I feel that if they have a door person or valet, it may deter panhandlers from harrassing hotel guests so brazenly. These first turn offs were not too big of a deal, but what I found in the hotel room was more of a problem.
Like most people, the first thing I do when I enter a hotel room is check the carpet, sheets, towels, bathroom, etc for cleanliness. Our sheets had several small bloodstains on them. When I went back down to the lobby, I asked the concierge to have housekeeping change the sheets. When we returned to our room later that evening, the top sheets had been changed, but the fitted sheet had not - and this sheet had a visible stain on it. I reluctantly slept on the soiled sheet, and the next morning, we left a note for housekeeping to please change the fitted sheet because it was stained. We left a few dollars tip along with the note. Sadly, when we returned to our room later that day, the fitted sheet had not been changed. This was incredibly frustrating, so the next day, we did not leave a tip for housekeeping. On our last day at the hotel, we passed two of the hotel maids as they were cleaning the room next to ours. My husband heard them complain in Spanish about how we had not left them money the previous morning. I found this unbelievable, not only because they assumed we could not understand them, but also because they expected a tip for below-average service. To me, a clean room is an absoulte must when travelling. The lack of cleanliness in this hotel is a deal-breaker for me. It is a shame because the Admiral Fell Inn is in a wonderful location and has a lot going for it. But I would not stay there again, nor would I recommend that anyone else stay there. Baltimore has plenty of other hotel options to choose from.
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