Mckinley House Bed and Breakfast — Hotel in Town of Clayton

I want to be fair and impartial and truthful about this B&B. Having stayed in many such places in the United States and abroad, I can say that it was one of the nicest, although there is always room for improvement which I mention later.||||You can read the other reviews for the breakdown of rooms and quaintness and cleanliness. We stayed in the Grinder Room, which is really two rooms, and it was surprisingly huge. Our window air-conditioner cooled down one room, struggled to cool the other one which was the main sleeping area. Overhead fans helped circulate the air. (One guest repeatedly had their conditioner freezing up and told the proprietors that it was time to get rid of it.) They were not happy since it was very hot at the time of our stay. Same goes for downstairs. One window conditioner (for the entire floor) that was not turned on before quests dined. Hot and stuffy and guests complained to one another, but once it was turned on, the lower floor was comfortable.||||Host and hostess were very nice and extremely conscious of the Covid regulations. Breakfast tables were scattered in the rooms on the ground floor. Staff wore masks and rubber gloves at all times||||Location is superb! Walking distance to practically everything. Huge front porch divine for relaxing! Free parking. Safe surrounding area.||||Now for the con: This is called a Bed and BREAKFAST. You go to a Bed & Breakfast for a certain kind of experience. If you just want a bed…then you go to a hotel. Unlike a previous review where he brushed off the fact that the breakfast was bleak, I cannot do that; intimate and creative breakfasts are part of the experience. Morning #1: Untoasted/unbuttered English Muffin fried egg sandwich with one 3” dish of diced fruit. (no juice offered/no meat) Morning #2: Two slices of French toast with syrup and one 3” dish of diced fruit. (no juice offered/no meat/asked if we wanted butter) Morning #3: Two fried eggs, buttered toast and one 3” dish of diced fruit. (no meat, but orange juice offered).||||No pastry offered (of any kind) with morning coffee and unlike MANY other B&B’s, there was no baked goodie around 3:00 PM waiting on the sideboard. Not even a bowl of candy sitting somewhere.||||Grumblings among the patrons, but no one said anything to the proprietors except for one lady who tried to give some suggestions, all met with a reason why they do not offer one thing or another. (So she bought pastries one morning and offered them to everyone.) The breakfasts were so limited that, unfortunately, they rank as the poorest we ever experienced anywhere. ||||A suggestion: Place an iron and ironing board in the room to freshen up clothes wrinkled from packing.||||Another suggestion: Provide new pillows of higher quality. The present foam rubber ones are broken down.||||That being said, we would stay at the B&B again since it was nice in every other way. Unless the morning meal changes, we would probably opt for a heartier breakfast in one of the many really good restaurants Clayton...

My wife and I visited Clayton for her birthday and stayed at the Mckinley House Bed and Breakfast for the weekend. The home is an 1880's (approx.) Queen Anne Victorian with beautiful period detail and architecture both inside and out. The location of the BNB is incredibly convenient being that it is only a couple blocks from the river and Clayton's restaurants and shops. There is secure, off-street parking for 1 vehicle per room.

The proprietors take great pride in running their business and it shows through in just about every experience we had. Here are some examples:

Excellent customer service -Owners were very communicative and quick to respond to any questions we had prior to and during our stay. They communicated all pertinent details to us regarding parking, check-in, check-out, home details etc. ahead of time and during our visit. We had all the information that we needed for a seamless and enjoyable stay. -The owners were keen to know about our trip plans and proactively provided us with recommendations of places to visit, coupons/discounts for our activities, and even shared a book about the Singer Castle with us before we went on the tour. -Breakfast is included and the owners took the time to discuss our breakfast tastes/needs well in advance as opposed to serving up something and hoping that we'd enjoy it.

Clean and well maintained -The owners and staff take great care of the Mckinley house. The grounds were well kept, the inside was clean, and everything seemed to work as it should.

Friendly, entertaining hosts that really love what they do! -The proprietors are incredible hosts. We enjoyed our morning/breakfast conversations, with our hosts taking the time to check in every day to see how we were enjoying ourselves and to ask about our plans for the day (see aforementioned customer service experience).

I really can't think of any negatives about our experience. If you prefer a "sanitized", ultra modern stay where nobody knows anyone's names then the Mckinley house might not be for you, however. If you enjoy the personal touch that can only be experienced by working directly with people who have a seriously vested interest in your satisfaction, and a bit of an elevated community feel (we enjoyed the friendly morning conversations with other guests in the living areas), than I would highly recommend booking your stay here.

We would 100% go back and recommend to our...

The house is immaculate and beautiful. Restored to perfection. The bed was very comfortable.

The owners have a lot of very rigid rules you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO FOLLOW. Example: you aren't allowed to come in too late on the first night because you need to be shown around the property on the owner's schedule, not on yours (we were half an hour away, with family, sailing in Chaumont Bay, and the owners forced my husband to drive all the way to the house at 4:30 pm because it was getting too late for their liking!!); they only serve certain kinds of food at breakfast, so don't go here if you're gluten intolerant (I tried to explain I couldn't have toast but kept getting offered it, because it was "organic"); you can only use a certain towel in your room if you are wearing makeup! You have to park in a very particular way in the parking lot because they haven't painted lines on the ground. All of the rigidity sort of put a damper on our...