Foley House Inn — Hotel in Savannah

We decided on a last minute weekend in Savannah for my birthday. Since it was last minute, I didn't have time to find a place for my dogs to stay so we found this place with a very nice pet policy. As the owner of 2 pit bulls, we face a lot of issues in general... most places have size restrictions, only take 1 pet, or freak out when they hear pit bull. None of that here. There is a small deposit for the dogs, but compared to other places, it's really not bad at all. We got in late Friday night so they had given us the code and left the key and directions to our room at the desk. Our room was nice with a king size bed and a very nice modern shower. The bed sat up pretty high, which made it a little difficult to get in and out of. It was a bit firm for my tastes, but I find this true with nearly every hotel or B&B I've stayed in. Which brings me to the place being pet friendly..... you couldn't ask for more out of a place if you have pets with you. While they were good while we were gone Saturday during the day, they apparently were a little upset Saturday evening when we left for dinner. We got a phone call saying they were making some noise and the person in the room next to us had complained. They apologized profusely for interrupting our evening and asked if there was anything they could do to settle the dogs down a little so we didn't have to come back. She even offered to go get them some sausage from the kitchen and walk them in the park across the street. Thankfully we had only left for dinner and didn't plan on being gone all night, so we got back in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately they hadn't settled down. It was a nice evening so she had brought them down to the courtyard and tied them out until we could get back, which was fine. She kept apologizing for having to interrupt the night. I felt bad they had disturbed any other guests. Unfortunately we haven't traveled a lot like this and it was actually the first time for them to be left in a hotel so they were a little uneasy anyway. But staff did everything they could to try to make it better for them. Seriously, they completely won me over. We found out the next morning that the couple who complained had checked out, in part because of my dogs. Eeek. However, they assured me they were not worried about it and that the dogs really hadn't been a big deal. That they were a pet friendly place and they were only being dogs. I still felt horrible about it but they were so sweet. (LOL And said usually the pet owners were far nicer than the non pet owners anyway). Overall our experience was VERY positive. There are a few things to be aware of tho.... First, this is an old building so there are a lot of steps. No elevators, so some people might find it off putting. We didn't mind it. And even my 3 legged dog did fine. Second, those front rooms can be noisy from the street traffic. I was told the next time to ask for a garden level room, which was quieter and the dogs might be happier there. Third, it IS pet friendly. Something they are very proud of and adamant about. If hearing a dog bark at some point is going to bother you, this probably isn't the place for you. The only thing I would suggest to them is to maybe have some crates available for guests. I suspect my dogs might have been a little more at east when we left if we had some. Unfortunately we couldn't fit them in the car with us, so we left ours at home. Being able to even possibly rent a crate or two from them would actually have been good. We will gladly be back at some point to continue exploring Savannah. I was shocked at how dog friendly the city is. Not a single person batted an eye that I had pit bulls. Many of the shops by the river have water bowls out and biscuits available. Several restaurants have space where you can bring your dogs. Can't...

Underwhelming and disappointing. We've stayed at multiple bed and breakfasts across the country, and Foley House was hands down the worst.

For starters, the property is not well maintained. We booked 204 Stafford, a room promising a whirlpool tub, a balcony overlooking the square, and a working fireplace. After checking us in, and while leading us to the room, manager tells us that the room's fireplace is "having issues with its pilot light." When we arrive at the room, he manually lights the fireplace and tells us that we can come and get him whenever we need it lit again. Seriously?!! It did not sound like a recent issue, but one that was known and ongoing. He seemed like he was hoping we would overlook it.

So he lights the fireplace and then says that we can keep resetting the timer so that we won't have to get him for at least a few hours. But the timer dial is busted. "Don't worry," he says. "I'll have it fixed in a moment." If that's the case, then why didn't he fix it before? He also says that the broken fireplace isn't a big deal because the room has a whirlpool tub. That's no consolation; we paid for the room with the tub and the fireplace. It was also freezing outside, so the fireplace took precedence.

Off the manager goes to fix the knob (presumably by swapping it out with another room's knob), leaving us in a drab and dull room that looks almost nothing like the pictures online. The furniture did not even match up. I know we are not the first visitor to recognize this. Many reviewers have said similarly. The manager comes back and, presumably judging by the disappointed looks on our faces, says that we can switch rooms to have a working fireplace since "it's only going to get colder" during our stay. No apology. No offer of a discount for failing to deliver as advertised. Because it's freezing, we accepted the move.

The next room wasn't much better. The fireplace worked, but there were huge gaps in the windows and the bathroom paint was peeling. (I've attached a picture with me putting a tv guide through the window gap in our room). Because of the window gap, you could hear everything outside. They were doing construction in the square, so at 7:00 am on our first morning we hear jackhammers going. What a way to start a day.

Other things making this a one-star B&B:

• Breakfast food tastes like it’s straight from a box. And it likely is. There was nothing special about it, even though they made a great deal about how amazing it all tasted. • Afternoon hors d’oeuvres taste like they are the cheap, store-brand dessert mixes. They could have at least bought a $2 Ghiradelli brownie mix rather than the 99 cent version. • No telephones in the room to call the front desk if we need anything. You have to go down and tell the front desk. (We saw other guests do the same thing.). The staff seemed bugged by this as well and even said that they had no idea why the owners cut out the phones from the rooms. • Awkward entrance where you walk right into the manager’s desk and have to go past the manager every time you enter the B&B and be accosted with questions about what we saw that day • No DVD library for guests to use • No game library for guests • The décor is run down and shabby throughout the B&B

The furniture in the rooms is not what appears on the website. The website photos are maybe 10 years old as the actual property looks quite different than what it portrays itself as online. (Its videos on Youtube are over six years old.)

The place has to be living off of its old reputation and people who are unfamiliar with staying at a B&B and what a B&B experience should be like. That is also evident by the fact that Foley House has not had a Diamond Rating with AAA in three years (the plaques displaying the award stop in 2015).

Bottom line: stay away if you want a rewarding experience...

The Good: 1. The staff is exceptionally friendly and accommodating. They are just lovely, nice people. 2. The location is ideal and convenient, close to everything in the historic district. 3. The bed was extremely comfortable. I could sleep for days in it. And now for The Bad: I wanted to love this place. I hate giving bad reviews, but my stay was M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E in capital letters, from start to finish. We stayed 3 days and by the 2nd day I felt like I hated The Foley House Inn and couldn't wait to go home. I'm baffled by all the amazing reviews. If I were hard to please I could understand the disparity in expectations, but I'm not hard to please and I found The Foley House Inn middling at best. 1. On street parking, which you pay $12/day until 8:00 PM, after which it is free until 8:00 AM. I don't mind paying, what I mind is having to move my vehicle to the opposite side of the street every night because of street sweeping. It's too much to keep track of, and makes vacay more like work. 2. This ties into why having to move my vehicle every night is such a chore. The Foley House Inn is handicap unfriendly. If you have any ambulatory disabilities at all forget about this place because it's a beast. We had to go up stairs then over stairs, then down stairs, then up stairs again to get to our room, and we had our dog with us, who would need to go out to be walked. My husband got a lot of exercise. I couldn't talk and had to use my asthma inhaler after getting to the room. I never really recovered because the air conditioner in the room kept cutting off and the lights and ventilation in the room are poor. The humidity in the room ruined my hairstyle.3. The room we were assigned though deluxe, had a shower only, no bathtub, and no handheld showerhead. A regular showerhead only spouts water down. This means pretty sophisticated acrobatics are required to get water into cavities that go up and if the showerer is disabled...enough said. I wish I could send a universal memo to all hoteliers: if you're going to have a room without a bathtub, at least provide a handheld showerhead for your female guests because this is 2021 not 1950, women need to wash everyday, and we have innies, not outies. I won't get any more graphic than that, but I'm starting to get fed up with the lack of sensitivity, awareness and accomodation. It wouldn't hurt to have a well lit vanity table somewhere in the room either, because most women put on makeup and need somewhere to do that. Moving on to the "Breakfast" in Bed & Breakfast. If we're paying extra for it at a supposedly luxurious place to stay, shouldn't it be better than what I can get at an express hotel chain? It wasn't. This is where the "middling" came in. That describes the breakfast. No choices, just French Toast, blueberry preserves, scrambled eggs, coffee and orange juice. No breakfast meat, no fresh fruit, no cereal, oatmeal or yogurt.

So that's it. I have nothing against the staff of this establishment. They we're very nice, but I expect more for over $200/night. I expect the things I feel I shouldn't have to ask for. I expect hospitality to be an anticipation of the needs of more than one...