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| - This is a long overdue review.
I traveled to Pittsburgh on a week-long business trip. Given that I prefer peace and quiet when not in meetings and social events, this seemed like a great situation. As many other reviewers have said, this hotel is very much hidden away, with a great team of very courteous staff. Unfortunately, many other factors ultimately made this a very average stay despite the staff.
Let's start with the good. When I first checked in, front desk manager Michelle was extremely friendly and checked me in promptly. In addition, my request for a fridge and microwave involved only a one-time charge of $10, which is more than reasonable. The hotel shuttle staff was great too. Although officially, their shuttle is for airport transportation only, but they offered to drop me off at Robinson Town Center to be picked up later so that I can do some shopping. For the entire duration of my stay, it was rather hassle-free.
Notice that the only positives I pointed out relate directly to this hotel's service. That's because the level of comfort is simply not there. Despite the great service, the staff obviously has to make do with what they got. And what they got here is an old hotel building in a bad situation. First, the room I stayed in was particularly damp. Granted, the week of my stay also happened to be rather humid. But when I put on my dress shirt that was hung in their closet, it felt wet! That level of humidity inside a room is absolutely absurd. Second, the air conditioning was extremely loud, and not entirely functional either. Though I could have raised this to the management's attention, but I chose not to because it wasn't intolerable and I don't think there's a short term fix for it. Third, the hotel wifi, although free, is very slow. I believe it was outsourced to a third party provider named Ethostream. Perhaps due to the age of the hotel, no ethernet corded online service is provided to the rooms. This made getting work done in the evenings after a day of meeting extremely difficult, as my company uses cloud storage solution for many shared documents. The fitness center contained two treadmills, two ellipticals, one recumbent bike, and a set of free weights ranging from 5 lbs up to 50 lbs. Curiously, 30 lbs weights were missing. One of the ellipticals is badly in need of replacement or repair. The room is cooled by a wall-mounted A/C unit with a non-functional ceiling fan. Courtesy towels and water cooler is provided for cleaning and hydration. There's also one single wall-mounted LCD TV. In other words, the fitness facility here is rather barebones. Speaking of LCD TV, hotel rooms are equipped with old tube TVs. So if you watch a lot of TV, you'd get disappointed. When the A/C kicks on, your TV volume will need to be raised up to at least 50% for audibility. Going back to the level of humidity. My bed felt somewhat damp too, perhaps partially due to the fact that the hotel is surrounded by small hills that tend to trap moisture in humid environments. And speaking of location...
So, the hotel wasn't always "out of the way". The staff told me that once upon a time, the Pittsburgh Airport was much closer. After moving the airport, they also eliminated a highway exit ramp that used to lead directly to the hotel. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the Pittsburgh taxi service is atrocious. You can't prearrange pick-up with taxi drivers either, as they are not allowed to arrange fares for themselves. Every taxi fare MUST go through a central dispatcher due to union rules. What that translates in to is that when you need a taxi, you absolutely must call ahead. Even if you do, chances are they will be late to pick you up.
All in all, the staff was tremendous. They are absolutely making the best out of a bad situation for the hotel. The hotel is old, and inconvenient as far as accessibility is concerned. Despite the great service I received, there's only so much the staff can do when the physical environment is so challenging. So I can't honestly recommend this hotel for any extended duration of stay. However, I can certainly see how this may be a great park-stay-fly situation.
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