I stayed at this hotel in November 2004 (post renovation) on a trip to see a Dr. Phil taping with my mom. Pros: nice lobby, internet for guests, friendly staff, free outdoor parking lot, seems safe (only one hotel entrance which locks late at night and front desk clerk buzzes guests in). Cons: rooms are hit and miss, at best (see below).
My mom and I arrived to our room which was really stale smelling, but recently renovated - very cute, fresh paint, nice furnishings, even a little kitchen. I was so excited that I found this room from reviews on this website and figured we'd get used to the smell. But then problems began. I'm not sure if the sound-proofing is really bad or if our neighbors were loud or doing something weird, but it sounded like they were jumping or something with the noise we heard, and their talking was almost like they were in our room. My suspicion is just that it's an old building, so every little thing makes a thump. We asked for a change of room because we suspected the neighbors weren't throwing a party or something, the sound-proofing was just bad. The staff tried very hard and showed us a few rooms - one smelled of fresh paint, so the staff was concerned we'd get a headache. The other was as noisy as the first room because it was nearly below the same neighbors.
Finally, we settled on an UNRENOVATED room. I figured - who cares about paint and furnishings, let's get a good night's sleep. (In the hotel's defense, I picked this room out of the options.) The sink was not draining at all when I brushed my teeth - I had to remove the little drain plug thing. We did sleep. . . my mom took the first shower - the cold water was not working. I had to get a key to our old room to go across the hall to shower. Then, the toilet overflowed with a small amount of paper. The management apologized and gave us $20 off, which was some relief for the horrible night/morning. They said they would not have anyone else stay in there until the plumbing problems are fixed. I admit we might have avoided some of this mess (the sink, shower, and toilet problems) if we had just stayed in our first noisy room with earplugs.
In sum: the renovated rooms are nice if you have a quiet neighbor, or BRING EARPLUGS. The unrenovated rooms are just plain bad. In the hotel's defense, they did try to give us a renovated room - they showed us everything available but each had problems (noise or were in the middle of renovation/paint). The location is great and pretty removed from street noise after 11 p.m. Breakfast is only 8-10 a.m., so if you are leaving early, you're out of luck. If you just want a bed in a safe location and have a good pair of earplugs, this works. I expected a little more. The lobby was nice, and the service was good, though.
If you do stay there, back into your parking place for your best bet on getting out of their lot! (It's a busy street and would be hard to back out of in the morning.)
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