The Inn at Stone Mill — Hotel in City of Little Falls

The inn features nine rooms on the third floor of an old mill on the Mohawk River in Little Falls. Other floors feature unrelated businesses. Where we live there are many early-industrial-era mills being repurposed, and we are happy to see the apparent success of this venture. |The rooms are reasonably large (there are at least two sizes), but not extravagantly so. Ours was a larger one that featured a queen bed and windows on the river. All was comfortable and quiet. AC was more than adequate. The bathroom and shower were clean, in good condition, and all functioned well. Hallways and lobby areas show a bit of wear and tear, and the decor is quite simple, not at all upscale. But everything is clean and pleasant.|The inn is managed almost more as a b&b than a hotel. The front desk is staffed only occasionally. The entry lobby has books, a baby grand piano, and some entertaining artwork. A kitchen stocked with breads, snacks, yogurt, etc. is open all hours. Coffee is available in a conference room that guests can use unless it's needed for business meetings. The outside door is locked in the e|At first approach, the main entrance is difficult to recognize. A sign on a door just off the parking lot points to the real main entrance. First-time arrivals need to sort out for themselves that inn reception is up the elevators. There is signage, but the still-industrial feel of the entryway may be a bit confusing.|The inn is somewhat isolated from the town as it's across a set of busy railroad tracks (and somewhat tricky to find) and the area is accessibly by a viaduct and an unappealing pedestrian tunnel. But what could be a post-industrial wasteland now hosts a number of interesting businesses. There are at least three restaurants, two antique stores, a "Little Falls diamond" shop, and a few other enterprises. A short walk gives views up and down the river from a bridge, and access to the Erie Canal. |The town of Little Falls is nicer than many along the Mohawk, but still somewhat faded. There are a number of restaurants in town, many churches, and a huge variety of neighborhood.|The inn offers few amenities, but it's a comfortable place in an interesting setting, and a nice break from a standard brand...

We arrived after 5 pm and, when looking confused after entering the doorway to this old factory building, were told by the woman at the UPS desk that the hotel was on the 3rd floor. The elevator door opened to a comfortable, well-appointed, empty lobby. On the reception counter were two room keys and ours was attached to a business card with my name written on it. So it started…||Our room faced Little Falls, separated from the town by some distance and the railway tracks.. Rooms across the hall overlooked the babbling rapids of the Mohawk River. It didn’t take long to find out the railroad tracks were well-used.||The room was spacious and while we were pleased to see the small bar fridge, I was leery of it being my bedside table for the noise from the cycling compressor. My wife took that side of the bed. The furnishings were a bit worn, the wall to wall and bedspread from another decade, and some fixtures powered with extension cords. However, the room was just fine for one night. Both windows opened and had screens.||Because it was Monday, Canal Place where the hotel is located was deserted and shut down. In fact, only a pizza joint that delivers and an Italian restaurant were open in Little Falls. Roaming Main Street, a resident took pity on us and recommended the taco truck at the Erie Canal marina. After a 2km walk across the bridge, by the lumber yards to the canal, we had excellent burritos at La Take-ria D’ley. We used a key pad to enter the hotel.||We slept well, although the trains kept reminding me through the night that I wasn’t at home. In the morning, we had bagels and peanut butter and yogurt for breakfast. We left our key at the front desk as no one was about.||Canal Place seems like a place with unrealized potential, as does the Stone Mill Inn. Sadly, the town itself isn’t welcoming to visitors, apart from the one resident who took us under her wing, with its “No Zaida Project” signs, empty streets and closed stores, and highways 5 and 167 and the railroad tracks cutting through it. Canal Place should be a bright beacon and draw for Little Falls, and the Stone Mill...

Some minor changes could make this place great! The location is beautiful, the building is beautiful. When you get to the floor where the Inn is located, it’s beautiful. It gives office building turned into a hotel, but they sure are trying. It’s clean and lovely. There is a wonderful housekeeper named Petra that is an absolute delight!

The rooms are large ish. The decor is a little sparse and I question the placement of the mini fridge as a nightstand because the compressor is noisy and there is plenty of room to place it elsewhere, that would be my first piece of advice.

Secondly, the walls are paper thin. I learned way more about the inhabitants of the adjacent room than I needed to know. Their conversation was clear and they weren’t speaking loudly. I was also kept up with them snoring, haha. Both adjacent rooms had snorers. Poor guys. So second piece of advice would be to soundproof the adjoining room walls and the walls between the bathrooms and the hallway. You can hear the toilet paper rolls whilst walking down the hallway.

Third piece of advice would be to change the shower heads. They are pretty bad. You can get a really nice, inexpensive ($25/ea), rainfall shower head on Amazon and it would elevate the bathroom experience to the level of the decor and cleanliness. Also, the blow dryer is pretty sad. It comes across as very cheap. It is very loud and doesn’t do the job very well.

It’s SO close to being a lovely boutique hotel. The people are what makes it really wonderful. Everyone we encountered was super friendly and welcoming.

The breakfast was great, too!

All in all it is a very quaint experience in a lovely old mill/office building canal side. If these changes were made, it would...