Kinn Guesthouse Bay View — Hotel in Milwaukee

Their description uses the word "luxury," but is anything but. "Presidential?" We don't think so. "Service" is not something they aspire to. We liked the location. It is within walking distance to our kid's apartment. We arrived to a room with a broken window shade that could not be closed. Did they really not notice it when preparing the room? It was hanging about 16 feet above the floor at a cock-eyed angle, so was not difficult to notice. Supplied with only a half roll of toilet paper for a four night stay, two washcloths and two of the scratchiest towels ever manufactured, we left a note for housekeeping. Upon returning to our room that night, we found there IS no housekeeping. So we explored and found that the supplies are kept in the "24 Hour Self-Serve Laundry" which is actually a crowded and messy supply closet that they certainly couldn't possibly think guests would be using. We found a roll of toilet paper in there (luxury to them means single ply by the way) and a small number of stained washcloths. The washers were full of bedding every time I checked with piles of stuff in front of them. You'd have to clear out the room in order to use them and the light did not turn on when I tried it. There is a sign in the room claiming that there are "yummy" things on the premises and if we decide to take any of it, our credit card will be charged. How welcoming. Charged how much? Nothing was labeled with a price. None of it looked "yummy." We decided not to risk it and headed to a nearby coffee shop. The bathroom door does not stay closed. That is, it's a barn door and when you close it, it slowly slides open again. We found that by taking one of the door weights from the hall and placing it just right every time we went in there, we could get the door to stay closed. When you are there, you might ask yourself, where is the trash can? There is one tiny trash can in the bathroom. Where there SHOULD have been a trashcan in the room, they've placed a "sculpture" that has a tiny hole in it. We kept wishing it was a trash can. There also is no place to put your clothes and things in the bathroom besides the floor. There is a useless table crowding the entrance to the room littered with knick-knacks. I contemplated putting THAT in the bathroom, but decided the floor looked relatively clean. In place of a closet to hang my clothes there was an assortment of interesting hooks on the wall to use. Perhaps some of THOSE could be moved to the bathroom where they would be more useful. We were grateful that we could not hear the restaurant below us, but really surprised at how noisy the wooden stairs were (lots of stairs, no elevator) and how well the sounds from the hallway and kitchen carried into our room. Once the blinds were fixed so that the world could not see our entire room at night, we found they would not always stay in the position you put them. In case you are there trying to figure this out, I found that you can tie the cord with dental floss to keep it in place. Make sure you tie it in a bow so you can adjust them again later! We did find that the bed was fine. I have a Bear mattress at home and this one is similar. But given the price and the problems, we will be looking for a different place to stay next year when we...

Interesting place. Almost like an AirBNB in a sort of small hotel format. Located mostly on the second floor above a restaurant.

The location is pretty cool. Plenty of interesting places to go nearby. Room had a cool vibe. The communal kitchen area was nice and was useful. Free breakfast cereal, milk, tea, and coffee. There were sections of the fridge designated for each room. The much-appreciated EV charger was a Level 2 J1772 and charged surprisingly fast. There's nothing highlighting the spots accessible from the charger, though, so it's easy for non-EVs to unknowingly block access, especially since there aren't enough spaces for all eight rooms. Parking is behind the building. Entrance in the front.

The keyless access worked well. Our room was large and attractive and had a lot of character. Nice shower with great-smelling sage bath products from URSA across the street. No place to hang anything apart from several hooks in the wall, but it looked like there might be some sort of rolling rack collapsed and stored under the bed. Mattress was comfortable, but the pillows constantly fell off the head of the bed due to distance from the wall plus no headboard.

Walls (or at least the doors between adjoining rooms) are very thin, making it VERY easy to hear the folks in the room next door. Floors creaky. Odd aroma in the stairwell. But hey, it's an old building. It has character.

We had several tech issues that were a little surprising at a property that seems generally forward-thinking. Bring your own FireTV / Roku / Chromecast if you want to watch anything other than regular cable. There was an old Chromecast attached to our small, older TV in the room, but it wasn't possible to cast to it from either my up to date Pixel phone not my wife's iPhone. No staff on-site, apart from a cleaning lady early in the day. Texts for help went unanswered. Phone calls went to the downtown location and the staff seemed uninterested in addressing the Chromecast issue. I didn't really expect them to do technical troubleshooting, but thought they might offer to swap out the Chromecast with another. But with no one on-site, perhaps this wasn't possible. No USB outlets in the room. Thermostat had a mind of its own.

I smashed my knee into the leg of the bed frame a couple times, as they stick out a few inches from the rest of the frame. The non-blocking, sliding barn door on the bathroom fit like a barn door, so don't expect complete privacy.

There's a laundry room adjacent to the kitchen, but it's so jammed with cleaning gear, you can barely get in the room, let alone do laundry. I'm not sure it's still offered for guest use, but the door to the room indicates that's what it's for.

Little frustrations diminished our experience. It's a really great concept, and it definitely has the potential to be really excellent with renewed attention to the details. In spite of several mostly minor frustrations, I would stay at Kinn again in the future. It was a...

I was meeting up with some old friends in Milwaukee and I wanted a fun laid back place to stay overnight. After looking at a bunch of different places I ran across this little gem. I am SOOO glad I did. It had everything I was looking for! Within walking distance to great restaurants and bars. The taste of old Milwaukee in my room with beautiful cream city brick, vaulted ceilings, and large windows in the room. The room was large enough that my friends could come and visit and we had plenty of space without feeling like we were in a hotel room (you know unlike other hotel rooms were you are basically sitting and visiting on top of your luggage). Not only was there plenty of space in my room, there was a fun community space that had a fireplace w/ some board games and a full kitchen (with complimentary wine and snacks). My friends and I were so impressed with how cool it was that the large fridge had a little tray for each room to keep our personal items. The whole place had a very inviting feel to it. The Kinn guest house also is a little different than other hotels in the way that there isn't a front desk or employees around. I was unsure of how that would feel but it was amazing! Charles (The hotel owner) sent me a text the morning of check in showing me how the personal padlock worked to get into the guestroom part of the building. He then also checked in a couple times via text throughout my visit to make sure everything was going well. And then in the morning him and his son were there to give everyone a good morning w/ breakfast and an easy check out process. It felt like we were staying with old friends.

So many other little details that make this guest house the perfect place to stay when you are in Milwaukee that there are too many to list.

OH! And make sure to check out the AWESOME Shampoo, Conditioner, and body wash in their gorgeous rain shower! Being someone with very long and thick hair it was SO wonderful to have actual full size bottles awaiting me! Most hotel bottles I would need at least 3 of those little bottles to get enough conditioner in my hair and it still did not condition. This stuff was so rich and lovely that I only needed a small amount to cover my hair and it conditioned it so well that I didn't even need to spray with detangler. Plus my hair smelled GREAT for 4 days after, even with washing it every day at home.

I highly recommend this place and will be telling all my friends and family visiting Milwaukee that they need...