The Nittany Lion Inn — Hotel in State College

I recently stayed at this hotel, and can confidently say I will never stay there again. When I checked into the hotel & went to my room initially, I was in & out & didn't have time to check everything. When I got back to my room that night at 10 PM, it was 74 degrees & the AC was not working. When I called the front desk I was informed that the AC was not working on the side of the building. I was given the option to either "stick it out" until the morning, or switch rooms. Given sticking it out wasn't an option, I opted for a new room. Within 2 minutes someone came to give me my key for the new room. When I got into the new room it stunk like stale cigarette smell. When I called the front desk to let them know, I was told that no it did not & the woman who brought me my key checked the room prior to giving me the key. This apparently all happened within the 2 minutes that it took her to give me my new key. She did not check the room. The new room's toilet water ran all night as well. The same night, a co-worker who was staying there as well sent me pictures of empty liquor bottles & cleaning supplies that the staff at the Inn left in there. After he informed the front desk, the next day, everything was still there. So clearly these rooms are NOT being cleaned. The same room's AC sounded like a freight train to the point of not being able to sleep because of it. I am a smoker, and while standing outside in the smoking area, a guest asked me to move away from the area where it's allowed to smoke in. If guests have an issue with where the smoking section is, they need to move the smoking section instead of having people reprimand grown adults for doing as they are asked. We also had a conference room reserved for this business meeting, and the issues continued there. The room was not set-up when we got there (even though we were told that it would be set-up from the night before), and I had to ask for this to happen. The room is also used for storage, which we were not told was going to happen, and this stayed in the room the whole time. i.e. about 100 chairs & 20 tables. The AC stopped working in this room after 2 PM and could not get it back on. During our meeting, the kitchen staff were YELLING behind the wall. I kindly asked the manager to have them quiet down since we had a meeting, and this was asked 6 times, and it never stopped. Maria stated that she stopped by our room, but I never met any staff that we had been dealing with via email. We are all human & deserve respect. A simple hello would have gone a long way. Also, given that this was a business trip, we were given a discount code, but this code did NOT work. The most unfortunate thing about all of this, is the fact that not once did anyone accept accountability for anything. Every single thing was "I'm sorry you misunderstood." My misunderstanding was not the problem. It was lack of communication that topped off all of the above. All in all this was a very disappointing experience, and we will not be doing future business with this...

The NLI is special because we celebrated our wedding there 11 years ago. The new lobby area is lovely, spacious, and comfortable. The old time PSU decorations found all over the hotel are nice and I'm glad they kept that vibe and the apples! However, there is still work to be done.||The hotel is terribly understaffed. At one point I saw the front desk person helping at valet. There was never more than one person working in the coffee shop and the line was always 9 people deep. The parking just sucks. It’s expensive for both valet and garage and there are no in/out privileges in the garage unless if you pay each time. I don’t mind the short walk to the garage, but something needs to change here. For newcomers it can be a bit strange to walk in the front door and not know where to go since the check-in desk is now in the atrium. Maybe put up a sign or at least label the desk. There is no ventilation of any kind in the bathroom so not only do you have to deal with odor, but there is no head or AC in there either. We were there during a heat wave (temps in 90’s) and our bathroom was always way too hot. We had to keep the bathroom door closed so that room itself would cool down appropriately. ||My biggest complaint has to do with something SO basic and should never happen to anyone. We reserved one pet friendly room and one ADA room for my 80-yr-old father. The pet friendly room had a walk-in shower and the ADA room (#102), while in a great location, had a bathtub with a bunch of grab bars. We would have switched rooms but didn’t because of the dog. I also didn’t ask for another room because the front desk person was so busy and was getting yelled at unnecessarily by some overly entitled guest. Fortunately, my dad was able to safely use the tub very carefully. If it had been another elderly family member it never would have worked. Wanting a walk-in shower was the main reason I had reserved an ADA room. This room has a wheelchair logo on the room number plate. Not only could a disabled person NEVER shower in this room, I’m pretty sure a wheelchair would not fit through the bathroom door. The room needs to be reclassified or some construction is needed. The pet friendly room was actually more spacious (with a hot bathroom) but required a few steps in the hallway to reach it. ||Overall, we had a really nice stay, but these issues are not worth the price you pay to stay at what has historically been an...

I was greeted with a deadpan "I can help you over here" when I arrived. They did allow me to check in early. I asked if they could keep an eye on my laptop/hanging bag for a moment while I continued to unload items from my vehicle and I was told to "Leave it anywhere here or around the corner (out of eyesight of the front desk staff?) You are the only person in the lobby, I'm sure it will be fine." Not the helpful happy welcome I typically received upon arrival in a hotel.

There is not coffee/tea available in the lobby and there is no coffee/tea bar in the hotel. In all fairness, I was told that I could go to the sit down restaurant to purchase an overpriced cup of tea if I had the desire...but that was not the portable option I had in mind. I could use the Keurig in the room (complete with shrink wrapped powdered creamer/sweet & low/red stirrer) but there are no disposable cups available so again, not the portable option I was hoping for.

The room numbers are not always consecutive...it can be an adventure finding your room. Might want to ask for a map.

The rooms are consistent with any dated lodging facility. Brass fixtures, dark lampshades, faded landscape art, mini refrigerator randomly shoved against a wall (nothing around it...just a refrigerator shoved against the wall), a dark, scratched armoire angled across a corner...it reminded me of a Country Inn and Suites. The overall atmosphere is heavy, dark and dated.

There are vending machines available; there is a gift shop with PSU memorabilia and standard snack fair (pretzels, Nature Valley Granola bars, etc.) in the lobby.

The bathroom is clean (even the white grout between the tiles was clean) and there was a supersized bathtub...this was an unexpected treat. Towels are average hotel towels (consistent with Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, etc); no robe, no disposable slippers, average toiletries.

The fact that it is used for so many Penn State-related functions makes the location convenient. I will stay here again if I have to attend another event in the facility...I can't imagine returning outside of that...