Stanley House Inn — Hotel in Marietta

I think this functions better as an event space and would be a wonderful place to have a small wedding or other event. As a BNB, there are a few things that could be improved upon. It’s beautiful, decorated well, and clean. The location is within walking distance to Marietta Square which makes it the perfect place to spend a night or two away from the kids. The bed and linens are soooo comfy! There is no wine and cheese/hors d’oeuvre hour, but the room had a bottle of wine and snacks. Staff are all extremely friendly and their hard work is evident by the pristine condition of the building and grounds. Now the bad parts:( Our room was the same temperature as outdoors when we arrived (93 degrees according to car). After some back and forth with on call staff, it eventually lowered to 75 degrees by 1130pm. Still too hot to sleep comfortably. Ultimately, we carried a fan upstairs and my husband slept on the floor, nude, between the fan and door crack which created enough cool air flow that he could fall asleep at 330am. Being hot and tired will make you irritable so all of the usual BNB quirks that are endearing just made us more upset. The sink is in the room which is fine. But the light for the toilet is connected to the super bright lights over the sink. So you can either fumble in the dark to use the toilet or turn it on and light up the entire room, waking your partner who somehow was able to fall asleep. Just put a night light in the toilet room or softer bulbs over the sink. There is a nail sticking out of the floor which is not fun to step on at any time, but even less pleasant when you’re sleep deprived. We were told there would be a continental breakfast so we didn’t pack appropriate clothes for dining. We planned to just bring some coffee and muffins back to the room. But they actually did serve a hot breakfast, which would have been a nice surprise. But again, we were exhausted from lack of sleep. Instead of being happy, we were irritated that we didn’t bring clothing to wear for a sit down breakfast. We were given plastic forks which, again, wouldn’t normally bother us. But it was just so irritating that after such a terrible night, we had eat with a plastic fork. The breakfast was ok but no where near what we’re accustomed to at a BNB. We stayed here a while ago and breakfast was really good then. This BNB has a lot of potential and we would consider staying again when the weather is cooler just because Marietta Square is so close and we enjoy mini staycations there. But our expectations will be much lower to prevent the disappointment and frustration we experienced last night.

Reply: Thank you for your reply! We called after hours at 658pm but there was no answer so we texted twice and there was no answer. We called again at 736pm and the lady said she would have someone fix it. We had gone to a restaurant to cool down by that time and when we returned around 9pm it was still very hot. We weren’t sure when someone came to fix it, so we waited until 1008pm to give it a chance to kick in. We were told there was a breaker issue that had to be fixed and to give it a while. We asked for a fan and were told we could fetch one from downstairs. We are totally understanding about how difficult it is to heat and cool these older homes, especially in extreme heat. But if there was another room available, why was it not offered? Especially considering the late hour. By 1130pm the thermostat was still registering 75 and we did not want to bother the on call staff. We figured they would be waking early to come to work the next morning. I take call for work myself, so I know how difficult it is to work on such little sleep.

We will make note that this b&b is on the casual side so that we do not feel the need to dress up in the dining room.

The nail is in front of the bench near the window. We usually find these quirks in old homes charming and understandable. But surely you can see how irritating it was to be hot, tired, woken by bright lights and then step on a nail?

We look forward to returning and...

My husband and I booked a room here for one night so we could enjoy a short weekend in Marietta. We had our wedding here at the bed and breakfast, so it had not only nostalgia for us, but wonderful memories. We were looking forward to an enjoyable weekend away from home. Unfortunately, I received a very condescending call from Lloyd, one of the owners during my day at work today. He called to tell me there was an issue with my booking (I booked online) and it needed to be discussed. I told him I was at work and presently with a client and could not talk at the moment and would call back once I finished up. He responded to this by telling me the issue needed to be resolved immediately, so I excused myself from my client to speak with him. He told me that the room I booked two days ago for the upcoming weekend was already booked prior to my booking and was unavailable and that we would have to stay in a twin bed room. I asked him how that could happen and what could be done to rectify the situation and the only answer he had for me was "this kind of thing just happens". He continuously accused me of booking an already booked room. If the room is not available, it shouldn't be listed online as available. My husband is very tall and cannot fit on a twin size bed and that was not the room we asked for. I told him I would have my husband call him back to figure out the situation since I was at work and my client needed my attention and Lloyd became even more unpleasant and his responses were very short and demeaning. I told him I did not have the time at this immediate moment to make a decision and it seemed to make him even more upset. Once I convinced him that my husband would call him back to figure it out, he impatiently told me the number, his name and then hung up on me. My husband called to figure out what was going on and why Lloyd had decided to take such an unkind tone with me but Kathy was the only one available. Turns out, when she noticed the room was double booked, she decided to place us in a nicer room, but did not communicate it with Lloyd, so he took it upon himself to call and accuse me of booking an already booked room. At this point, my husband decided this place was not worth the headache and there is no sense staying somewhere when the owner has no tact, hospitality, or manners, even if it has sentimental value.

We will cherish our memories of our wedding here, however, we will never return.

** Lloyd may be a gentleman as you stated and your guests may love him, but he is certainly talented at losing his tact and professionalism while speaking with a repeat customer in "under a minute". I wouldn't agree that the review of his behavior was harsh, I would definitely say he was incredibly harsh over the phone. Instead of accepting the fact that I was unable to deal with the situation your second party booking company caused at that moment due to being at work, he raised his voice and acted as though I was inconveniencing him for someone else's mistake (it makes no sense to me why he chose to treat me this way either, but facts are facts). I told him multiple times I could call back later to work it out but he chose to be short and have attitude. It's impressive how condescending one person can be in under a minute. Not sure if I am more shocked...

This beautiful venue with a great business model fails due to its absolutely unprofessional management staff. Having now used it for my own wedding, and been a bridesmaid for another wedding, I have personally experienced the Meg and Sherry’s lack of courteous communication enough to warrant a public review. If you plan to work with this company, be prepared to be very on top of them to make sure they don’t treat you as poorly as they have to us. And I am editing to add that their response perfectly demonstrates what they will do, rather than realize they might have acted less than professional, they double down and point fingers at you….

A few choice things they did: quoted me a price to book, then increased it by $250 per night after I toured the venue and was ready to book, citing they had just increased pricing two days prior but failing to share this at my tour; did not confirm number of breakfast meals our first morning, then got mad at me, claiming we had too many people at the venue (we had our bridal party stay the night and only expected our meals, but rather than talk to us the manager thought it appropriate to call and berate me without asking any questions). I had assumed that the small hiccups for my wedding were just the staff having an off day, and so had given them the benefit of the doubt and even recommended the venue to others and my friends, but then for this recent wedding I was a part of, the treatment we received was surprising and hurtful. they did not communicate that there were booked tours happening while our bridal party was getting ready until the morning of, right before the first tour, making many of the ladies uncomfortable as we were in our pajamas, and many people’s rooms had personal items they were not expecting to secure. The inn has a policy that they reserve the right to hold tours at any time in the common spaces when the inn is booked, and you can pay an additional fee to avoid this, but they didn’t tell us the tours were happening until right before the first one, and I know if I had toured during someone else’s event I would have been highly uncomfortable, so I don’t know why they even choose to have this policy and just schedule tours when the venue is empty. Having worked in the events industry, I know that I would not want to show a potential client the venue in the middle of someone else’s event, as that would present quite an unprofessional face. Lastly, despite the fact that the ceremony was booked for the space, the time had been set for 4:30 the entire time, and the chairs had been set up the day before and sat all night, the managers put their foot in their mouths again by having the time wrong and getting upset about needing to put away the chairs and trying to rush photos and guests. All in all, Meg and Sherry acted like this was their first day on the job, and rather than be a bit gracious and recognize that they failed to communicate, they felt it appropriate to dig their heels in and act rudely to their clients. The venue is gorgeous and in a great location, just sad that the staff feel that they can coast by rather than take care of...