Aloft Newport on the Levee — Hotel in Newport

This was an interesting one. To be fair, it just apparently wasn't my style. There were too many "this could be nice, but..." moments. Walking into the lobby, it was nice. Trendy, nice staff... but, the air freshener was a tad offensive. It had that cheap aftersmell that hurts your nose. The staff and service here were great. They get all of their stars (housekeeping dropped the star level). It was nice that the building was secure, but needing your key to operate the elevator once your in it was also weird and slightly inconvenient when you're carrying stuff up. The room has pros and cons. The layout of the 2 queen beds was decent. Great TV and I truly appreciated the channel guide. These are becoming harder to find and for me it was a major plus. And now comes the but. The on screen guide was inaccurate. However, this was mitigated by having the guide. So overall plus. Not sure if it's an eco thing or something, but it was kinda weird that there were no trash bags in any of the cans and no can by the toilet. Sadly, the room was quite icky. One of the towels were crumpled on the floor next to the toilet. Housekeeping was called and rather than replace it, brought a whole new stack of towels. Kinda overkill. The toilet seat was also dirty and there were some weird spots on the wall near the floor. The layout was kinda weird. I have no problem with the sink separate from the rest, but there was nowhere to put anything when showering except on the toilet. It was also a little depressing not having a fan in there. Smelling my own poo is unpleasant and it gets very humid very fast when in the shower. Sadly, the shower wasn't properly graded, so the water tended to pool away from the drain. The tissue box was deceptive. 2 tissues during allergy season. Toiletries were lacking. Only body wash in the shower, so bring your own. It wasn't a problem for me, but just be prepared if you rely on them. My room faced the apartments. The natural light was good, but there were no light filtering shades. Either full blackout or you and people on their balconies looking at each other. The desk was quite nice and I was able to adequately charge my devices. I'm not sure why, but that's been a problem for me lately at other accommodations. Certainly a plus. I was only there for 1 night, so I was irritated when I had housekeeping trying to walk in at 0945. That really put me in a mood, as I was in the middle of something. They had the door partially opened before I accidentally yelled at them. The parking situation was great. Reasonably priced and plenty of space available. The pet friendliness was also great. Many cute pups, including my own. The location was great (though you had to search for an adequate location for pet relief. There's mulch around...

I have to say that I was completely and utterly disappointed with my stay at Aloft Newport on the Levee. I absolutely love getting away and staying in different hotels and enjoying the amenities, but it was hard to be excited about this trip. When I arrived in my room, the first thing I noticed was that the bathroom floor hadn’t been cleaned thoroughly. There were shoe prints all over and little toilet paper lint balls in front of the toilet (ew). When I saw the TP residue, I noticed a brown liquid had leaked down the bathroom sliding divider door and dried there, and behind the toilet was a white splatter residue as well. The grout in the shower and the corners are turning brown. There’s no plastic edge at the bottom of the shower door to keep water from leaking out onto the floor, and the door doesn’t want to stay completely closed. The water pressure in the shower was poor, and, at times, it would slow down to a trickle dripping down the wall. There was no hand soap or hair dryer in my room, although the front desk was able to get that for me when asked. There were dust bunnies under the bench in the bedroom. All of the USB charging ports next to the bed were broken. 1 light socket worked. I didn’t see any of the “enhanced COVID cleaning protocols” in the general areas that Marriott brags about online. They also say they’ll leave disinfecting wipes in your room, but I had none. The cleaning staff that I saw in the hallway were also not wearing masks. I just left my “Do not disturb” sign on the door so they wouldn’t clean during my short stay. There was construction going on around the hotel, which isn’t their fault, but it’s LOUD, and my upstairs neighbors felt a strong desire to do some tap dancing or something around 3AM one morning.

A couple of things I will compliment: I absolutely love the shampoo/conditioner combo and body wash they provide in the shower. The smell is amazing, and my hair was so soft! Also, the hair dryer I retrieved from the front desk had some power! The location is pretty handy as well, as you can walk to dinner, the Aquarium, etc. It’s right across the street from a German restaurant, and I could’ve eaten there every day for a week and not been tired of it.

I can definitely say that I will not be staying here again. If it weren’t for having prepaid tickets to several area attractions (thanks to COVID, everything must be pre-purchased with timed entries) and a fear of cancellation fees, I probably...

4.0 star rating10/28/2019 We had a wonderful visit to Cincinnati/Newport area and enjoyed our stay here. -during a broken leg recovery we decided to get away for a few days before winter. It was our 1st time here & haven't been to Cincy for years.
--so off we go & chose Aloft. Pros: location, decor, price, pet friendly, affordable safe garage parking, the fact that they were built in the last few yrs a definite +, & sensitive to accessible. I did call ahead to verify our accommodations and arrived to have everything as we expected. The hotel is very clean and even the wide halls are clean, well lit, w/nice decor. The pool room is nice and warm although we didn't swim. There are a handful of nice restaurants in walking distance and for a hoot try the German eats across the street on a Sat night for the accordion music.
We were aware that this hotel lacked one big thing on our bucket list, any kind of view. --so being aware of this, we were totally satisfied with this fun trip to Newport Aloft and visited many parks and river view places, & restaurants. -believe me, this wkend was full of pros.

Cons: The mattresses are extremely hard. I haven't slept on spring mattresses for 20yrs and the pressure points killed us. We were glad to have queens although not our usual choice. For such an up to date Hotel, please update your beds. -memory? Our weekend was an off for sports/games, but was active enough. Our room location didn't have anyone above us or next to us until the last night and we noticed that if the place was packed out, it wouldn't be too soundproof. The entry doors slam loud in the hall ways also. None of this was a problem for us on this fortunate weekend!
The pet friendly uncarpeted room requested was not available so we were given another that was carpeted. Obviously it was the pet friendly overflow room because there were 2 obvious pet spots. Our 4lb chi lives in a blanket so he was on the bench & not the floor. -so with that & us wearing slippers, we didn't complain.
---Breakfast, well*after sampling many breakfast items via hubster, it was in the trash and my pup wouldn't even touch. (ok I'm a home chef w/a true palate sensitive to over processing & chemicals). I mentioned to the mngmt and he offered me 2 comp's. Ha ha ha-- I said it was uneatable thx anyway. Much to my surprise my final bill just rec'd has been adjusted to exclude breakfast. Kudos Aloft....