The Appalachian Hotel — Hotel in Kingwood

As a transplanted Prestonian who returns regularly to visit family, it was great to hear there was a new hotel option in the area. We booked the Executive Suite because in all honesty, it was the only room available with a microwave, and due to severe food allergies I travel with my own food. I wanted to review because it's important to support new businesses in Preston County and the hospitality industry is under-represented in the area. I travel frequently and have stayed in 30 countries across 4 continents as well as nearly all of the continental US, so I have many experiences to compare to.||||They say always lead with the positive so: Everything was very clean and in good order when we arrived. My travel companion ordered food from the in-house restaurant and pronounced it very good. We arrived on a Friday night and the restaurant/bar was hopping, so it appears the locals agree with this assessment. ||||However, we'd give 5 stars to the food, but 2 stars to the service. No one answered when we called multiple times the inner extension for room service. No one answered when we called the main restaurant number either. After more than half an hour of calling, we had to physically go down and order food. It was after 8 pm so not exactly peak dinner rush, and inconvenient after a long day traveling.||||The decor is minimalist with a very masculine feel - dark fixtures, rustic textures. I liked the decor mostly, though it isn't particularly familial or welcoming. The overhead lighting is minimal, bright white and very harsh. There are a number of other things that did not enhance, or in fact overtly worked against, a comfortable stay.||||1) the wi-fi continually dropped. It was difficult to keep a signal in the bedroom area for more than 2-3 minute bursts, a little better in the living room area, but consistency was awful for the duration of our stay. I was unable to keep a good enough signal to work, so ended up using my own mobile hotspot for service. We had a stronger signal from the health center wifi next door. The Exec Suite is at the farthest end of the hallway, so perhaps investing in additional booster would help, especially since the wi-fi is touted as a selling point for this location and important for modern travelers.||||2) The floors are a big drawback, tbh. LVP is durable, but it's also easy to scuff and residue builds up over time with cleaning, dulling the appearance. That's already happening, aesthetically. But the bigger issues are around comfort. Temps were in the 20s-40s F when we stayed, and the floors were COLD (bring slippers!). Also, the floors are slippery when wet. Most notably, the lack of soft surfaces makes noise a real and quality of life reducing issue both inside and outside the rooms. Voices and actions echo loudly in the room but in the outer hallway it's even worse. Any activity in the hall echoes all the way down and is SO LOUD - housekeeping, other guests, even noise from the lobby travels. The rustic appearance could still be maintained if you added a carpet runner in the hallway, and guests would be able to get more sleep with less disturbance with even that minimal effort at noise control.||||3) Climate control: for the Exec Suite there is one heat/cool unit and it's in the bedroom. The bedroom very quickly got warm but the enormous tiled bathroom and open living room did not. The bathroom especially was uncomfortably cold, since heat didn't want to blow around the 90 degree corner into it. The bare, cold floors definitely didn't help. I read a review above that talked about how hard it was to cool the room in summer with the AC, and I believe it. Ceiling fans? Something? would have helped push warm air down from the high ceilings, at least.||||4) The luxury bathroom is noted as a selling point for the Exec Suite but it is impractical for more than one traveler. There is only one very small sink at the end of a long counter. Most hotels with a suite like this would have two sinks. The rainfall showerhead is so high, our tallest party member at 5'10" was unable to reach it to adjust it even on tiptoe. The regular showerhead was challenging for our 5'7" party member to reach. If you're very tall, you will enjoy this shower I guess. If you are under 5'7", I guess just run around the vast open space of the shower room until the water hits you somehow. There is a deep bathtub, but it's narrow, and the faucet hangs out halfway across its width. Watch your knees. Stylish, but impractical, like the shower. Also - the shower is open to the entire bathroom, so when you shower, everything gets damp. There is one small bath mat to keep you from slipping in the expanse of tile. Be careful. There are no towel bars in the bathroom for hanging anything either - there is one hook on the back of the bathroom door that can probably hang two towels. So I guess you're supposed to pile wet towels on the floor - at least it might make up for the teeny tiny bath mat?||||5) It's been noted above that all the electric outlets are upside down. The screws were also left vertical which just bugs me from a safety perspective, but since guests shouldn't be poking the wall outlets with screwdrivers, hopefully it won't be an issue. If you are bothered by anything on a wall that's crooked, don't look at the not-level outlet above the Exec Suite bathroom sink. It will madden you for the duration of your stay.||||6) With allergies as noted above I am very reactive to scents. I immediately found the essential oil diffuser in the bathroom, wrapped it in the garbage bag and stuffed it under the kitchenette sink for the duration of our stay so I could breathe. If you like EOs, then you will enjoy the diffuser. If you have chemical sensitivities, don't be like me: call ahead and ask it to be removed.||||7) As noted above the overhead lighting esp in the main living room is very bright, white and not soft. Bathroom lighting was very good. Bedside lighting was good but the lamps themselves are tall and the on/off switch not on the base, but up underneath the shade, so you can't turn the light on or off while lying down in bed unless you have very long arms.||||8) Comfort: the mattress was without a doubt, hands down, the hardest mattress I have ever slept on in a hotel in 40+ years of traveling. The pillows and linens were nice, not luxury, but nice. The bed, though, super super hard. Extra extra firm. Not my preference. The couch in the living room area was also shockingly hard - sat down on it and almost slid off, there is no give in the cushions under the leather. It was like sitting on the seat of a bus or the bench in a train station more than a nice comfy couch. The bed has a frame with a foot that has edges that stick out beyond the mattress at the end of the bed. I whacked my shin n the frame 5 times before I remembered finally to give the foot a wide berth. I am not used to a hotel bed not being rounded at the corners and with a solid foot like that. I am sorry, whoever does the housekeeping. That bed must be a real pain to strip and change quickly.||||9) The kitchenette area was sufficient, though not $190.00 per night luxurious - the mini fridge worked well, the microwave worked, the small coffee maker worked, and the sink worked. There were no paper towels or anything but bathroom towels upon which to dry dishes. ||||10) The closet was a good size and held extra pillows, but no extra bedding or blankets. There was one small bench by the TV that one suitcase could be put upon, but we had two travelers, and I am used to finding a luggage rack in the closet of a hotel I can use to put my suitcase on when packing/unpacking. We had to share the lone bench. An extra luggage holder would be a nice thing to add. There is minimal clothing storage drawer-wise, only 3 in the main dresser in the bedroom. Any couple or family coming for more than a day or two will need to live out of their suitcases. ||||One more small thing - there was no paper, no pens, in any of the drawers or anywhere in the room, nor was there any information about local attractions, eateries, or anything other than the in house restaurant menu and info about the (constantly dropping) wifi. We were there for two full days and the only time we spoke to anyone or even saw anyone at the front desk was upon check-in when we arrived. We called the front desk several times with questions and never got an answer - went down to the desk to try to check out, waited 15m, no one was there. This is not a hotel to stay in if you need attention or service from anyone during your stay. You are pretty much left on your own.||||Some of these things might seem like small complaints, but when you are on the road and staying away from home, even the smallest discomfort is amplified. This hotel will likely remain in business because there's very little competition in the area. But there are some really simple things they can do to increase guest comfort, and since some of the lack of comfort comes from underlying design issues not easily fixed (like the hard, cold floors, the design for heating/cooling the rooms, and that challenging to use high, open shower) at least some effort toward the small fixes would...

I came in this month (3 days ago) to attend a funeral. The hotel was more on the level of a motel but was nice. I was not a fan of all the dead animals but I guess the setting is supposed to more like a mountain lodge. The A/C was set so you could not cool the room down. I had to keep walking outside of the room to get cool since it was much cooler in the lobby. I couldn’t sleep all night because I was hot and the bed was far too firm. The desk clerk did check the AC and said it was working. There were no fans available. I made coffee but the pot was broken so it overflowed everywhere. My daughter n law had to drive to Kingwood to get coffee for me. Next, the outlets are installed upside down and the exterior gutters leak in the seams. I burned myself with the hot water because it’s backwards. You have to turn it to hot to get cold and visa versa. Next, the sign says the restaurant closes at 10 PM so we rush back from the viewing only to learn it closed at 9 PM., so we couldn’t eat. We asked what time they serve breakfast and were told that they don’t serve breakfast but do have breakfast foods but not until 11 AM at which time we would be gone because the funeral started at 10 AM. We checked out in the morning and left for the funeral then had a long drive home. Once we got home we looked at our bill to find out they charged us $10 for a damaged hand towel that had something orange on it. We did not damage any hand towels or use one for that matter. They refused to provide proof or refund the $10. If an establishment is this particular then they should do a walk-through with their customer before they leave so the customer is aware of what they’re being charged for. The lady we spoke to on the phone with was extremely rude. There were three cars in the parking lot so I don’t see anyone lining up to utilize their services. I should’ve charge them for getting burned, no working coffee pot, AC (vital in the summer), and the horrible attitudes! This place will go under based on customer service alone. I know they’re struggling since they built during the pandemic hoping to get loads of business from the buckwheat festival, which may never return. I will NEVER stay there again. I’ll use the bed and breakfast in Reedsville, or drive to Springhill Suites, in Sabraton, which has great...

I am very disappointed with my experience with the Appalachian Hotel. And if you’re thinking about taking a risk on this new place, I wouldn’t.

When I heard about a new hotel opening in Kingwood, I was excited because I have family close by. We were so excited, in fact, that my fiancé and I booked a suite to visit over Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the day before our trip, we learned that one of us had close contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus and I started showing symptoms. Needless to say, we canceled our trip.

I called my airline, my rental car company, and another hotel, and all of those companies worked with me on some kind of refund. But not the Appalachian Hotel. First, I was told that the 48-hour cancelation policy applied to the entire reservation, I could not come, I would be charged for the entire stay, and they couldn’t work with me. I called back the next morning to talk to the Manager, but there was no difference. I know it’s a tough time for a small hotel, so I asked if I could get a credit to stay there sometime soon. They said no. I asked to cancel/refund the later part of the stay or for me to pay half of the almost $600 bill. Nope.

After pleading for a bit, the best they could do was push the date 14 days (so I could quarantine)... I asked if the manager could please speak to the owner about it because this isn’t a normal cancelation, and I had to think that we could work something out. (I would have happily paid a cancelation fee.) The manager said she would but all I got was an email of the bill with a note saying not to give a refund IN ALL CAPS!! Season’s greetings, I guess?

For a hospitality company, I hoped for a little more...