Meadow Court Inn — Hotel in City of Ithaca

I get the impression that, years ago, this was a really nice place, however, it has been poorly maintained and looks it. We stayed in the "new" building, which is permeated with a strong, musty odor, occasionally mixed with an incense-like "air freshener" and/or smoke. I suppose the term "new" is relative, as the plumbing in this building is circa 1980, but I have to assume that the motel building is even older. The "security doors" are permanently unlocked, so you only have your room door for security, so there is absolutely NO reason for them to charge more than in the "motel" area where the room doors are directly outside. Those rooms probably smell better. I hate to even hazard a guess as to what the black smears on my sheets were, and helped three separate huge spiders out of the bathroom and to the grass outside (spiders don't bother me, but they do bother a lot of people). "Breakfast" is watery coffee with powdered creamer, and tiny pre-packaged muffins, so don't expect much. The cups of yogurt were edible.

We arrived as part of a group. I understand that the woman who checked us in seemed to be having trouble with her router, but do NOT believe that was justification for her rudeness. When she thrust the keys at us and mumbled "no smoking, no pets," I reminded her that we had informed at least two different people that we had a service dog when making the reservations. Her reluctant response, "I guess we can't do anything about that." Not ten inches from her head, on the registration counter in the lobby, was a sign stating their "Pet Rules 1. All pets must be registered. A credit card is required. etc." (see photo below) Yet on every door are signs warning of a $150 fee for having a pet. They REALLY should make up their minds!! These people are in direct violation of ADA regulations regarding service animals, and I will be making a complaint to the state about it.

We specifically spoke to the weekend maid on Saturday morning, who was very nice and friendly, and we explained that there was no reason for her to clean each day, we would leave the "do not disturb" sign up and clean up after ourselves. She was very nice. However, on Tuesday morning at about 0630 as I came back into the building (through the permanently unlocked "security door") from a walk with the dog (in his service vest at all times), there was a maid in the laundry room. The dog was startled that there was even a room there (the door had been closed any other time we came through), and "woofed" as we walked past into the smelly hallway toward our room. He never left heel position at my side, nor was he ever within 15 feet of the woman). Later, as I was standing in the hall, speaking to my daughter, that same maid asked if we would need our rooms done. I again said no, and her response was "good, I don't like dogs." The dog was never once alone in the room, or in any way unrestrained, never in any way threatening, however we were subsequently locked out of the room (I had to go get another key card to move my things out), and that woman claimed that the dog had "attacked" her, a complete and utter falsehood. She had already made it plain that she didn't want us there, and when I heard about her falsehood, I promptly moved out.

I cannot possibly express how strongly I recommend you stay ANYWHERE else if you plan a trip to Ithaca! The Super8 across the stree looks nice. This smelly, overpriced place is...

Okay, so, here’s the thing: In the end, most everything seemed reasonably clean*. I did not, NOT find any indications of certain insects in the bedding—but the thing is that the ambience of the place was such that—for probably my first time ever—I was moved to Google how to check for them and proceeded to carefully check my sheets and the corners of the mattress (of the one out of two beds that I used) 😅😅 (But, again—it all looked clean!)

The establishment includes a building where the office is and evidently “inside” rooms, so I was a little surprised when the very nice gentleman who checked me in directed me across the parking lot to the decades-old motel (parking lot access to the rooms) for my room. Which in and of itself is fine, it just looked pretty plain.

I entered the room and wasn’t super-impressed there, either. One thing that’s bothered me is a lack of great light—there’s the large window in front and another in back (overlooking an empty area and a car wash) and none of the coverings are really designed to open up and keep open…but that’s actually FINE because anyone could be out and about peering in 😅 — but…the electric lighting in the room is actually rather dim, so, I’d love to see that improved. (Bathroom light is bright.)

Large mini-fridge (and microwave) but without a freezer for some reason. I would have refreshed my cooler ice packs but what can you do. (There’s of course an ice machine.)

Bathroom at first (and second and third and…) blush seems a little gross? A lot of cosmetic issues including some in the tub, in the toilet bowl and on the seat, on the door, and the electric heat cover by the baseboard is partially fallen off, etc., but I GUESS it’s clean otherwise? Honestly, it’s hard to really know wherever you stay how well housekeeping has cleaned the place. Who knows. This bathroom seems kinda gross but I didn’t detect any actual filth. (I was sure to, though, lay out a wash cloth to set my toiletries on top of, I’ll tell you what.). Bedspreads too large for the bed so that they drape onto the floor which added to the “ew” sense.

But as I said, the sheets on my bed seemed clean and fresh, modern TV, fridge and microwave are nice even if there’s no freezer, shower walls and curtain were clean, no other detection of real grime. I walked less than a mile through a nice neighborhood to The Commons (hip downtown shopping and dining area). And as much as some may ask “what are you paying for,” clearly nicer places here cost a lot more, so, this is what it is for this price here.

*Well, the headboards do have admittedly trickier places to clean and which are dusty. I get that they take more time to really get in there and that’s annoying and housekeeping won’t get in there every time but come on, when were...

I booked this through Expedia because it was close to my sister who I was visiting because she's sick. The first room was extremely small, had no fridge and smelled awful. We opened the window to air it out and began choking on the smoke from others smoking outside their rooms since it's all no smoking. I called Expedia to change hotels & they called this place to get permission. Instead they offered me another room. I went to the front desk & the gentlemen offered me two different rooms. He also got quite snippy that I called Expedia first instead of just speaking with him. We wound up taking the other room at no additional cost which I appreciated but it smelled too. I sprayed some air freshener and we just dealt with it. At night my sister, who uses an oxygen tank, walked out in the hall (which was a very short distance) to get ice. The ice machine didn't work. The next morning we went to get our "free" continental breakfast. I'm not sure what they consider continental but it was a variety of Thomas' bagels in bags thrown in a bowl, butter, jelly & let's not forget the MOLDY cream cheese. There was also coffee, tea, cream (no milk), sugar (no sweetener for people who can't have sugar), and orange juice (which was thick like frozen & mixed with water). There was also yogurt but only two flavors (blueberry or raspberry). It was set up on what looked like dressers and it was the worst experience I ever had. Initially the cream cheese wasn't even out so we had to ask for it & like I said when she brought it out it was molded. Final horror was the "wifi" which is supposed to be free you can NEVER get onto. The password kept telling us it was wrong and there were (3) different points supposedly you can get into . The front desk I could sit in the conference/breakfast room and I would be able to get on in there (but I wanted to be comfortable in my room not in the middle of some conference room). I had work to do and had to go back to my sister's house, thankfully she lived close, to get her mifi (hotspot from verizon) so we could have internet at all. Although the staff were honestly somewhat helpful as much as possible it really didn't matter because the food & accommodations are just horrible. I would not recommend this place or stay there ever again. Definitely...