Hood River Hotel — Hotel in Hood River

A crazy loud late event and rude staff ruined our stay. We stayed there for our 20th anniversary on a Sunday night. We’d been there before and loved the location and vibe. We got a suite that was in the basement with a separate entrance, that was probably a former building manager’s apartment. It was nice enough and clean, although sparse. When we arrived we saw that there was a wedding taking place in the basement event space, separated from our room by a small staircase. Fine, as we were out and about. However, at about 10pm music started thundering through our walls so loud it literally shook the wall and bed. We stay up late and have no issue with loud music but this was WAY beyond tolerable. The provided earplugs for city-noise and a old-building-squeaks (understandable) did NOTHING to dampen the music. Even having the TV on loud didn’t drown it out. I’m not exaggerating, it was LOUD! The hotel staff said nothing when we checked in about there being an event late; a heads up or warning would’ve been nice. I walked outside to look and there were maybe 15 people dancing in t-shirts, obviously an after-party and not the wedding itself. It was clear many of the guests were staying in the hotel. At midnight, after two hours and feeling like we were trying to nap in a dance club and slowly going insane, I walked outside and around the the front of the hotel which was locked. The night clerk let me in and was extremely rude. I told him that I understood there was an event but because we were down there with the event it was too loud to do anything let alone sleep. He said they had the spaces booked until 2am and there was nothing he could do. I reminded him that we ALSO paid for a space and the hotel had a very clearly posted 10pm-8am quiet policy. I was honestly way nicer about it than I could’ve been. He said they had no other room to move us to and wouldn’t ask them to turn it down a little bit. I left even more frustrated and already to cry. There was no where else for us to go. I could’ve gone in an made a scene at the party, but I didn’t want us to get kicked out. We didn’t get to sleep until the music finally went off well after 1. In the morning I complained to the women at the desk (seemed like a manager), and she agreed that we should’ve been told about the late event, but didn’t offer to do anything for us, like discount our room. For the price of a suite, which was honestly already too high the for quality of the room (but anniversary so I went for it anyway), we could at least sleep. I would hope in the future that they require booking that bordering suite when renting the event space since the sound bleed is so prominent and impactful. They also should let guests know when they check in (and even let people know there is an event space when booking) that there will be noise. Many hotels that have bars or concert venues warn you about it, and price accordingly. We had no idea there was an event space or that music would be blasting until the middle of the night. It sucks that our special night was ruined by other people being selfish and a rude and dismissive staff. I loved this old hotel and we have many special memories in Hood River. But we won’t be booking here again and I’ve warned off...

We discovered this place July 4th, 2016, when we just drove up and by chance were given one of the ground floor rooms. These are rooms on the back of the hotel building that enjoy individual entries off the sidewalk. They also give you a great view of the July 4th fireworks Hood River puts on. The stay was a bit pricey, but we enjoyed it so much that we rebooked the same room for July 4th 2017.

When July 4th 2017 came, we checked in and were told the room we had reserved had been rented to someone else, so we'd be put on the third floor. We were not happy, but went up to the third floor and found we were in a room with linoleum floors which were wavy and a bathroom that was the size of a broom closet and dated probably from the time of Grover Cleveland. The bed was small and lumpy. The sole window looked out on a view of an interior air shaft. I complained to the manager, who miraculously found out the room we had originally reserved was somehow magically available after all. We stayed there the night and in the morning reserved the same room for July 4th 2018.

I checked with the hotel well before July 2018 to confirm the room reservation and was told that we had been upgraded to a "studio suite" on the third floor. I insisted we wanted a ground floor room and after several calls back and forth was told we would be in the room we originally wanted.

The night of July 3rd 2018, when we were packed and ready to go to Hood River on the 4th, the hotel called and advised me they were overbooked and we would not be in the room we wanted but in one of their "studio suites." I pointed out that we had a letter dated in July of 2017 confirming our reservation in one of the ground floor rooms. No amount of argumentation got them to alter their stance. They expressed regret that they would not be honoring our reservation and offered to try to rectify the matter but it was clear we would be in a third floor room or nothing. We cancelled the reservation.

If a hotel cannot keep its reservations straight, especially for a customer that will return again and again, its management is clearly incompetent. I would add that the desk staff are invariably polite, but in no position to actually rectify anything.

We will never stay in this Hotel again. I encourage you to avoid it...

Sigh. I would love to have had better things to say about our experience at Hood River Hotel. I live in Dallas, TX and a dear friend of mine lives in Vancouver, WA. I flew up here to visit her and we planned an excursion to Hood River for a little getaway together. Unfortunately, we were sorely dissapointed with our stay at HRH. We had booked the Whiskey Tango room, which included 2 drinks at the adjoining Whiskey Tango bar. Not only was the bar not open, the check-in staff wasn't sure about the establishment in general despite the French doors joining the two spaces. Whiskey Tango was not open (as displayed on Google correctly) and the staff member seemed utterly puzzled. The complimentary drink situation was rectified swiftly enough with a glass of wine in the lobby. We also had booked the mimosa for 2 check in when we booked the room and not only were we not offered the mimosas upon check in but the staff didn't seem to know anything about it until we asked them to check on our reservation. They saw about the mimosa check in and offered it to us then, a few hours after check in, or offered to bring it to our room in the morning. In the morning, my friend went to the front desk to request our mimosas and it took another 30 minutes until they came back. I have worked in fine dining for a decade and my friend has years of experience in boutique hotel front desk staff. We felt very underwhelmed as a whole with the awareness and service of the staff for a small, pricey hotel. The lobby space was very cute and the location was nice, to give credit where credit is due. The room was... fine. There was no mini fridge to store any leftovers/food or drinks so be aware of that. There are complimentary ear plugs to accommodate for the "old historic building" sounds -- be advised, theyd probably best be utilized to help with the train rumbling the room several times throughout the night. For the price point of the reservation, we were both so entirely underwhelmed with the experience. The room itself was fine and would've been much more palatable for the price if the service has been welcoming or hospitable to make up for the difference. As a whole, we felt dismissed and dissapointed in the entire experience. For as special of a trip as it could have been, we really ended up...