The Grant Hotel — Hotel in Buchanan

I highly anticipated staying here since it was a brand new hotel. However, my experience with their hands off check-in process was not intuitive nor stellar. I received an email that contained a link, similar to one used for an Airbnb stay. The link was not working correctly for me and cellular signal was not the best in and around Buchanan. When I entered the building it was a wide open restaurant, very loud (the restaurant wasn’t even filled to capacity yet) and the sound was bouncing off of every surface. Very overwhelming! I asked for help from a person who appeared to be a member of the restaurant staff. She stated there was no one to help with hotel reservation issues as it was an entirely online experience. When I told her that I was having difficulty with that link and the online process, she called the manager/owner. I was stuck in a loop that didn’t progress to the next page. The staff member was relaying information to me as I was trying to understand what was being requested, above the noisy atmosphere, to get the check-in process completed. It could have gone much faster and smoother if she handed me the phone. At one point she conveyed to the manager/owner that I was frustrated and not in a good mood because of the experience. All I wanted was to get to my room and NO ONE was available to do that who knew anything about the hotel side of the business. There were only restaurant staff. It seems to me that the restaurant was the primary business, and the hotel, an afterthought. Even though the hotel, on their website, is the primary business being promoted.

In addition, the entire property only has 8 or 10 parking spaces in front. No spaces were available for me to park, despite having luggage to take to my room, and walk up a flight of stairs because there wasn’t an elevator. Maybe it isn’t required to have an elevator because it is a historic building. 🤷‍♀️ There was parking on the street and a public parking lot a block and a half away. As a business, wouldn’t you think those parking spaces or even half of the spaces that are directly in front of the hotel would be for hotel guests only, not for use of restaurant patrons?

I finally got to my room. It was well appointed and comfortable. However, lighting in the room is rather stark with clear wall sconces and visually loud daylight LED bulbs instead of soft lighting or muted shades. View out the window was a roof top so not an appealing view. The bathroom does need a hook of some kind to hang clothes when showering or changing. There was a lack of lights being on in the hallway so I couldn’t see the keypad to enter the entry code. There wasn’t a secondary interior lock on the door, which should have been required since the stairs to the rooms could be accessed by anyone in the building. And, the really big issue is there is no effort to deaden the sound coming up from the restaurant because the stairs and hallway are open to the hotel rooms. This is a problem as it interferes with the hotel guests comfort and ability to relax or take a short nap after a long day of travel. The noise continued until midnight when the restaurant & bar closed for the night. Our stay on a Saturday night meant that the noise started again on Sunday morning in preparation to open the restaurant for Sunday brunch.

So, while I would like to have had the opportunity to give this hotel, as a hotel, not a restaurant, 5 stars for every category, that is not possible considering...

Positive: New hotel, new furniture, and decor. Cute outdoor area

Cons. Safety! As a global traveler, often alone, I take precautions. I would hesitate to recommend this place to a single female. My room was a conjoining type with my door unable to lock. I could not find a locking mechanism and could hear EVERYTHING from people next door.

Parking may not be adequate for guests and facility restaurant

Self check in

Uncertainty who works here or not.

Noise from lobby can and will be heard from your hotel room, note restaurant/bar hours are late, like 12am.

Restaurant/bar hours may be flexible. I may have seen employee(s) still chilling and drinking after closing. Cool, except my traveling companion battling for her life desired a quiet night sleep for their one weekend to get away from treatments

Recommend to stay here if you Deal with it and bring a weapon if the next...

Worst experience ever for my daughter staying in a hotel with her Service Dog. The place is not really a hotel. It´s a restaurant. There was no one to help her check in after a long drive. A waitress tried to help, but this wasn´t part of her job. The worst part was in the morning when a woman named TAMMY (not sure of her exact position but she seemed to be in charge of the hotel, but was not there the day before to help with the check in) gave her a very hard time about the dog she can´t travel without EVEN AFTER SHE SHOWED HER THE SERVICE DOG ID, and explained the situation. She kept asking intrusive and embarrassing questions. ...