The Cheshire — Hotel in Richmond Heights

I read some reviews that said this place was kind of dirty, but most of the reviews were very good, so I kind of shrugged the bad ones off. I thought they were just because it's kind of an old building, or something like that. I thought that again when we checked into the lobby. Everything was a little worn, but in an oldish, atmospheric kind of way. But all of that changed when I walked into the bathroom to pee and found a giant wad of hair stuck in the bathtub drain.

I'm a pretty reasonable person and everybody makes mistakes, so I fished it out and flushed it before my wife could notice and freak out. That being said, I looked at everything with a more critical eye after that. One thing I noticed immediately is that there was a single, gallon-sized trash can for the room and bathroom. We knew that wasn't enough for us and will feature later.

We went out on the town, had a great time, and came back to crash. The mattress sagged in the middle. The sheets didn't seem clean. The shower's water pressure was awful, probably because the faucet's switch wouldn't seal so half of the water just sprayed out onto your feet.

That morning, I went down to reception to ask for more tissues, an extra blanket, another trash can, and (a long shot, I thought) a pair of slippers. Pretty quickly, they came back with everything except the trash can. They said they'd find one and housekeeping would bring it later. Points for having slippers though; the floor in the room seemed a little gross so they were much appreciated.

We had a cat with us, so they advised us to keep the "do not disturb" sign on the door until we could put her back in her cage and then they would clean the room. We went out shopping at some factory outlets, ate lunch, and came back. We immediately caged the cat and reported to the front desk to ask for housekeeping. They said that was fine, we grabbed some Starbucks coffee from the place next door, and sat in the lobby for about an hour.

When we got back, it took a moment to realize how bad it was. The bed was made, but the sheets definitely were not changed. The floor was as we'd left it, completely unvacuumed. Also, they didn't refill any of the amenities. We drank the tea the night before and the coffee that morning and none of it had been replaced. The shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel were all almost completely used and there was nothing new to supplement them, even though we intended to stay two more nights. Maybe worst of all, they didn't bring full sized towels, they just gave us three of those small floor mat towels instead. To top it all off our single, tiny, overflowing trash can was still there, untouched. We attempted to tie up the bag, put it outside of the door, and then replaced it with our dirty laundry bag (which we had used, but was also not replaced by housekeeping).

So, my wife took a quick shower, discovered the floor mat mix-up, toweled off with hand towels, and I called to ask for 3 full-sized towels. A guy came up and didn't believe that the wrong towels were put in the bathroom. He just kind of walked into the room and stopped when he saw the bathroom door was closed. I told him my wife was still in there, so he left to actually get the towels. When he came back (with TWO towels) my wife was done, so I gladly showed him into the bathroom so he could see the two floor mats and multiple wet hand towels.

At this point, my wife and I just kind of lost it. They did such an incredibly terrible job cleaning the room, then have the nerve to think we are lying about the towels? We just packed up our stuff that night and checked out (a day early) the next morning. We couldn't justify giving this place any more of our money.

TL:DR, I've stayed in my fair share of hotels and come to expect a pretty basic level of accommodation. Two or more garbage cans, clean towels each day, clean sheets, vacuumed floors, and in-room coffee each morning. We got literally...

I was on a brief vacation and decided to spend the extra money to treat myself to a "non-chain hotel experience."||A good experience it was not. ||After arriving upstairs from the tight underground parking, I finally found my way to the front desk. It was check-in time and there was no one in the area except for what I assumed was another casually-dressed guest sitting in a chair scrolling on his phone.||As I set my bag down, waiting for someone to come to the desk, I suddenly hear behind me "Checking In?" I turned around to see Mr. Cell Phone getting up from his chair to walk around the desk.||There was no "Welcome", no "How are you" only, "Last Name." He gave me the perfunctory instructions on dinning options and handed me a room key. No "thank you," No nothing.||(Dining options are limited. The pub is a one man shop handing drinks and cooking appetizers.The restaurant next door was an even worse experience, see my review for Basso.)||I sure didn't feel very welcome and so far, this wasn't much of an "experience." I felt like I had checked into a Super 8. ||Then there's the room. I was given the first floor with a door accessing the courtyard and pool that hasn't been touched since they closed it last fall. The door accessing the courtyard did not seem very safe. There is also no extra security features on the room door. (Single female travelers, beware.)||The room was clean. Just tired looking - like the whole property. I wasn't sure of the "room theme." The bathroom is uber-small. ||Then came the real kicker. The next morning at 7:15 a.m., I am woken by metal scaffolding being slid across a floor and a bunch of banging. Turns out, the room next to mine was being remodeled. Being on vacation, I was hoping to sleep in and have a relaxing morning enjoying my overpriced room. The property was not full and it would have been very easy not to place me - or anyone - in the room next to the one being remodeled. ||The really gross part? When I laid the bath mat down in front of the shower door, it held dirty footprints from the previous guest. Eww. ||They were also having water issues: a big tube was running down my hallway sucking water away from somewhere. ||When asked at check-out if I enjoyed my stay, I said, "No, I did not." The front desk person just stared at me for a few seconds, said, "Oh, sorry" and then proceeded to print out my receipt. ||It was obvious that she wasn't going to ask what the problem was, so I did tell her it might be a good idea not to book people in the room I vacated until the remodeling next door was finished. I could tell immediately that wasn't going to happen. So, should you stay here, make sure the room next to yours isn't under construction. Better yet, book a room at the Quality Inn and Suites. I had a wonderful experience there the next night - and I...

✅ THE GOOD ✅ Location is ideal Dog friendly Historic vibe and quirky decor was really cool. Loved the rustic/antique furniture and art. Staff was courteous (during the brief interactions we had). But to be honest we only saw like 2 staff members the entire time. It felt like... "where is everyone?" Safe parking area. A/C worked.

❌ THE BAD ❌ Effectively, we feel we have been the victims of false advertising. The pictures on the main Google page do NOT represent reality. At this price point ($300 per night), the problems I list below are totally unacceptable.

It feels old, but not in a good way. Like the heyday was 20 years ago, but has since been on a steady decline due to increasing neglect, short-staffing, and little investment in maintenance/upkeep.

Our biggest issue is the room was visibly dirty and worn out (please see pics), which makes us feel like the room wasn't cleaned before our arrival.

Carpet smelled strange/funky, with a hint of urine. It is thin and worn out, with significant fraying in main foot traffic zones.

Bathroom air vent was covered in grime.

The tops of various high use/high touch surfaces contained a visible, thick dust layer.

Ceiling tiles are damaged and/or partially falling out and need to be replaced.

Main air vent is coming out of the wall, and is LOUD. The air intake filter hasn't been cleaned/replaced in a long time, as evidenced by the thick accumulated dust, grime, and lint (GROSS).

Bedsheets had holes in them.

The only window doesn't open because of a poorly executed renovation job (see pics), the windowsill is filthy and debris covered, and the shutters are installed so badly that I don't understand how it was accepted upon inspection.

One of three bathroom light bulbs was burnt out, and the two remaining bulbs were two different colors. Crazy.

Walls are PAPER THIN. We heard every word of our neighbor's relatively quiet conversations, and various... movements ...

Breakfast was a solid "meh". Weak coffee, carb/sugar heavy, eggs tasted slightly "off", fruit was not fresh, white bread was approaching stale. (Side note: the unacceptably dirty state of the rooms REALLY makes us question if their food safety standards are on the same level as their room cleanliness standards, i.e. non-existent.)

I could go on, but you get the picture.

There are so many similar reviews to mine over the last couple of years, and yet these problems have not been addressed by staff, management, or owners.

Shame, as this could be SUCH a great place. However, in its present state, I do NOT recommend...