Howe Caverns Motel — Hotel in Town of Cobleskill

I've stayed in countless motels and Howe Caverns might be the cleanest I've ever been in-- it is astoundingly clean. The entire place is updated and quite comfortable. If the review stopped there I would certainly give it five stars.

The problems?

When you arrive to check-in on your reservation a large sign saying "Motel" beckons you to turn into the parking lot, park, and walk up to the office like you've done so many times at other locations. However, Howe waits until this moment to inform you with a note on the door that the motel office is permanently closed and to drive up to the main building to check in. We watched others doing the same thing and one wonders why there isn't a sign under the motel sign to tell everyone to continue to the ticket office to check-in.

The motel sign also calls out to those without reservations by putting the word "VACANCY" on the motel sign.

With rooms priced at $125 and up you not only do not have a clerk at the shuttered motel office to assist you and to watch over things as you sleep, you agree to pay $100 if you call the supposedly off-site night caretaker for anything that is not deemed an emergency by management once the ticket office closes.

This may also be the only motel I've stayed at without an ice machine.

If their one-bed units sell out you will be upcharged $20 for a two-bed unit (no other motel I've ever been to does this).

One reason we decided to stay on property was because we wanted to eat at the cafe after the tour and be done running for the evening. The website said that the cafe would be open until 5pm, so we planned on eating there after our tour ended at 4:30. When we arrived we were given a slip of paper with the cafe hours ending at 4pm. An unwanted drive into town made us wish that we would've just reserved in town to receive everything that Howe doesn't offer and for less money.

To end on a positive, every room does have a...

This is a very fun place to stay. The motel is clean, the beds are comfortable, and the rooms are very quiet at night. As soon you arrived you will see a Howe Cavern gift bag at your room as a welcome gift. I love it. The motel main office is located on the same property and has a nice cafe that serves a delicious breakfast and lunch until 3 pm. and open in the weekends. They cavern tour is fun and the place is beautiful and clean the tour guides are very knowledgeable and make the tour fun. The gift shop is a great place to purchase merchandise and has a nice selection of stones, crystals, souvenirs, and clothing from Howe Caverns, and they open weekends until 5 pm. The staff are Howe Cavern are very welcoming and Mr. Dave, the property caretaker, is very nice and helpful. This is a kids friendly and disable, friendly place. My special needs teenager loves the trip and the cavern tour. We love it so much. We are planning to return for the apple picking season. The only concern I had it was that at night everything was close even the main office, and the soda and water vending machines were not working properly, bring some water and snacks with you for your stay at night because if not you might have to go somewhere else to get water or something to snack on. They don't provide ice machines like other motels I stay in. They do have a coffee machine in the room and a small refrigerator. The trip was a nice weekend getaway. I definitely...

Checking In Was A Nightmare We Spoke To Carol Prior To Our Arrival And Made Arrangements For After 5pm Check In We Managed To Get There Before 5pm And Wasn't Able To Contact Her We Called And Left A Message For David And No Call Back Finally Almost 2 Hours Later After Sitting Stagnant We Were Guided To Another Location On The Property To Check In There When We Get To The Office And Check In With April We Were Provided Only 1 Room Key Which Is An Actual Key Asked For A Spare And Was Told There Were No Extras For The Room Which Created A Issue For Separating We Got Into Room Had A Issue With Lighting Called The Office To Advise And Was Told They Were Very Short Staff And Had To Wait No One Ever Showed We Also Purchased A Package So We Could Explore Cave Before We Leaving Got Wet And Dirty When We Asked April If We Could Check Out A Few Minutes After Check Out She Refused And Affirmed If We Weren't Out Exactly By Check Out Time We Will Be Charged For Another Day Which Is Understandable When A Place Is Busy And Full But They're Were Only 3 Other Guest Near By I Guess The Staff Shortage Is Running This Place Down Not Happy At All Went Home Wet Dirty And Disappointed Overall...