Pros:
Rooms were clean and many of them probably have nice views of downtown. They are small, especially with a king bed, and people beyond a certain size would probably have difficulty navigating around the bed. Also, in our room there were paintings just set on the edge of the nightstands and leaned against the wall. If the nightstands were bumped, the paintings would have fallen.
The bathroom is quite large given the size of the room with a long single-sink vanity, a very large shower with adjustable head, and good lighting. No tub.
Good sound insulation. Despite being right across the street from City Market, there was very little noise in our room. The only noise we heard from the street was a motorcycle right outside around 2 am. Even though we were in the room directly in front of the elevator, we didn't hear any noise from the hallway.
Staff were polite, but poorly trained.
Cons:
All of the cons are related and can be summed up in two words: poor management.
Parking. I've lived in the area for 10 years and visit Savannah frequently. I know what the parking situation downtown is like, especially near City Market. The hotel website does not clearly indicate that it has no parking available unless you are willing to do valet parking, so I assumed there would be some way to park (or at least unload), check in, and then move the car to hotel parking. Nope. If you aren't willing to pay $23 for 8-24 hours for valet parking, you're on your own. If you aren't familiar with the parking situation in downtown Savannah, this might not seem like a big deal, but it is. For one thing, check in isn't until 4 pm. By that point, traffic downtown is bumper to bumper and between the short lights, clueless pedestrians, and one way streets, it can take 15 minutes to go just a few blocks. The parking garages aren't difficult to find (especially if you already know where to look, like we did), but getting to them can take a while and even when you get there, there may not be any spaces. Then you have to walk back to the hotel with all your luggage. In the afternoon. In the heat. And the humidity. If you have more than you can carry in a single trip, this can be a monumental task. Additionally, even if we had wanted to do valet parking, we couldn't have. Unless you approach the hotel from the southeast, which is difficult to do given the layout and one way streets around City Market, you will be on the wrong side of the street from the hotel and there is no "driveway" to pull into for valet parking (just two spots next to the curb). Further, all three times we drove by the hotel, both valet spots were full, so we couldn't have pulled in even if we had wanted to. The parking issues are very serious and the hotel could save customers a LOT of time, frustration, and stress if they included clear information on their website and redesigned the valet parking area for loading/unloading.
Staff training. Although we found the staff to be generally polite, they were poorly trained. Three examples come to mind. First, when we checked in, we were offered a complimentary drink. We declined, explaining that the parking situation had been so stressful that we just wanted to get checked in. The receptionist did not inquire why the parking situation was so stressful for us, nor even acknowledge what we had said. Well-trained staff know to ask why. When we inquired about the parking situation, she basically brushed off our concerns and said something along the lines of, "That's parking in Savannah." She showed no concern whatsoever for the difficulty we had experienced getting there. She didn't even ask if we needed help with more bags which might still be in our car or offer a solution for loading our bags when we checked out. Second, the morning of our departure we realized that we had forgotten to pack a minor toiletry item. A placard in the room stated that the hotel would provide a number of basic items (including this one) for free if we just called the front desk and requested it. The placard said that the item would be placed in a bag on the doorknob and that staff would knock once on the door to let us know it had been delivered. Well, when it arrived, the maid knocked on the door. Then she knocked a second time. We said, "Thank you!" through the door. She knocked a third time. We were not dressed yet, so we said, "Just a minute." She knocked a fourth time. We said, "We're coming!" When we opened the door, she was walking away with the item and we had to call after her. None of that should have been necessary and is a sign she was not properly trained. Third, when we checked out, the receptionist asked for our name and then said we were "all set" and asked if we needed another copy of the bill. We were never asked how our stay was. How do you not ask a guest how their stay was?!
Good hotels can go bad quickly under poor management and it looks like that's what's happening. read more