Hawthorn Extended Stay by Wyndham Rome — Hotel in Rome

The Hawthorn Sweets hotel is located in a very cool renovated building. The building once was a machinist factory and they've kept that vibe, both for good and bad. The hotel is located in downtown Rome and is only a few minutes walk from stores, restaurants, and things to do. Their continental breakfast is non existent, just some single serve cereal and milk, though I think that is COVID's fault. They were doing some renovating when we stayed there and it appeared that they were making a nice area for breakfast. The beds and pillows were some of the comfiest that I've slept on. One negative thing about this hotel is that the floors are not even. We speculated that they kept the original flooring from the factory and put carpet over it. The floor in our room slanted away from the outer wall and was very noticeable. I would probably avoid this hotel if you are not steady on your feet. There were a few times where I didn't expect the floor to incline or decline and I had to steady myself a bit. The floors in the lobby rest room also slanted up significantly. One very annoying thing about this hotel is that one of the stairwells does not allow you to get into the first floor, the door has no handle, so you have to go back up to the 2nd floor and use the stairwell at the other end of the building. Luckily for me my room was closer to the good stairwell. My sister however, was unlucky. She forgot her key card on her way down one morning and was essentially locked in that stairwell until someone happened to come down it. You have to have a key card to get back onto any of the floors from the bad stairwell, the good stairwell is open to all floors. The only other negative thing I have to say about this hotel is a minor one, but was annoying each morning when I ate their cereal. Since there currently is no breakfast area you have to find somewhere to eat in the lobby. There are no trash cans in the lobby, at all. I asked where they were and they told me that I had to go outside to throw my trash away. Non of these things is enough to persuade me to choose somewhere else to stay in Rome, they are just good to know. They have these really cool red bikes that you can use to see the city, it's a fun way to get around downtown. And though they were closed due to COVID they have a nice looking restaurant and shops located within the hotel. The aesthetic of the building is really cool, I especially liked their live plants that...

We had to go to Rome, GA recently for a funeral and decided to stay at the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, since my wife's sister and her husband were staying there as well.||The good: The Hawthorn is about a block off the old downtown shopping district, which has quite a number of restaurants, bakeries, book stores, and the like. Parking is free and pretty easy acess to the hotel. The room we had overlooked the river, which was quite nice; the bed was fairly comfortable and the TV had a pile of channels on it. The restaurant/bar inside the hotel had good food and good drinks (though a bit on the expensive side). ||The not-so-good: The layout of the hotel, built in an 1890s warehouse, is a bit bizarre with two 2nd floors. My in-laws were on the "other" 2nd floor in a suite, which was quite nice, but one of the floors was a bit angled. The directions to rooms and elevators was a bit sparse, to say the least; it took a bit to figure out where our room was. Our room was comfortable enough, but you can tell that Wyndham (or maybe the franchisee) is cheaping out on supplies inside, as we had ONE tiny bar of Dove soap for both the bathroom sinks AND the tub/shower combo. The Dove shampoo and conditioner bottles were also tiny and there was no bottle or tube of lotion. The towels WERE nice and thick (not threadbare as some places I've been in over the years). The coffee maker uses the "tray" method, but you only get ONE caffine-laden filter bag and ONE decaf, along with some tea bags. The pictures on their website show that the 2nd and 3rd floors above the check-in desk have planters running down the atrium with bright green plants; when were there, everything was deader than a doornail. The "shop" next to the check-in desk had foodstuffs, but no razors or much else in the way of necessities that might have been forgotten at home. The rooms really need new windows to help keep down the road noise outside.||Given the price of the Hawthorn, there's a lot that SHOULD have been available so that they can compete with the Marriott Courtyard that's right across the river within easy walking distance to downtown. The Hawthorn coulda been a contender, but the owner will need to plunk down some more money to make it worth...

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE

Room next to street was NOT sound resilient at all. We constantly were awakened by the sound of motorcycles and loud pickup trucks racing over the bridge.

No hot water. Had to turn shower control all the way for warm water.

Shower head pipe loose and exposed gap in wall.

Mold and missing grout/calk around tub.

No heat or shelter on deck. Asked about a deck, clerk said no deck and told to visit their pricey bar. Found deck later, but it was freezing and wet.

No bacon at "free" breakfast on any day we stayed. Cook said they rotate meats. Finally given a few slices when they ran out their pig de jour. It was thin, limp cardboard that couldn't have been real. Minor issue but indicative of the business culture.

Absolutely shameful for the price paid, but it gets worse...

Construction at the buildings adjacent the main parking lot made for tricky ingress/egress and noise during day.

There is no smoking area, the the staff tells people just to go outside...by the front entrance, no less. There were people smoking in their Wyndam robes at the valet. Nice sight...and smell.

Creaky floors. The hotel is a historic downtown warehouse, granted, but it appears there was no mitigation of the creaky floors during renovations. They simply covered them with carpet.

Solitary elevator constantly occupied, and during the morning, frequently filled by the cleaning staff.

Now the icing...

Billing problems. Our room was purchased through another family member -- an elderly lady -- and our card info was collected "for incidental charges only". SURPRISE!

No receipt tendered at checkout. Lady billed excessively. Others in party billed errantly (including me) Several days back and forth between Hawthorn and banks in dispute. Hawthorn staff kept promising to "take care of it and call us back". We initiated all calls; they never called us back.

In the end, they caused many hours of heartache and embarrassment. The Hawthorn, Rome attempts to pass itself off as a "to-do" downtown establishment, but ultimately, it's no better than a Motel 6 at three times the...