Grayhaven Motel — Hotel in Town of Ithaca

My family of 5 stayed here (2 adults and 3 kids under 6). Plus, we had family members rent rooms... around 10 rooms in total for a my sisters wedding. When I had called to book a room the owner was so rude! She basically told me that she didn't have room for my family with kids, even though my sister had blocked out rooms. So I looked elsewhere, but because it was a busy weekend, I could not find anything. So, I called back and talked with Robin, a very kind worker. She helped me book one of the cottages with a kitchen and an extra room with a futon.

When checking in the owner told my husband to watch our children because the cottage is special....whatever that means. When opening the door to our room it smelled old and musty. We stayed in cottage 9. The bathrooms are very small. My husband is 6'1 and had a very hard time using the bathroom and brushing his teeth because there is no room to bend down to spit. The size of the bathroom might be something to mention! The shower is across from the bathroom in a closet with little to no room to dry off. We are not overly large people and it was just not comfortable. On the website it states that you need to be of "normal size" to stay in this room. What?

My husband went to ask for 3 extra pillows (because the ones in the bed were small and flat. They also had yellow stains on them). The owner gave my husband an attitude and said, "you now have 8 pillows in your room for 5 people! If you want more your going to have to take them off my bed!"

One of my aunts said she had mold in her room.

It may look friendly and a great place to stay, but from our experience, we will not be returning. Our room was expensive and there was a note in the kitchen to use the cleaning supplies provided to clean it before leaving. I understand doing your own dishes, but scrubbing the kitchen? Isn't that why you get a room.

We left cottage 9 in great shape. We were so afraid the owner was watching us and the possibility of getting charged an extra $50 for breaking a rule freaked us out.

Not very comforting and friendly. I do not suggest staying...

We really wanted to like this place. It is quaintly set up with mid-century furnishings, and it sits on a nice piece of property with hiking trails just outside of Ithaca on RTE 13 near Buttermilk Falls SP and Treman SP. The staff was really nice as well. The problem is that our room (Treman Lodge room #8) smelled like a dank musty basement. The odor is noticeable as soon as you step into the room. We checked in around 7pm on a Friday night on a weekend where hotel/motel is sold out. So, we made the best of it and spent as little time as we could in the room, which was $230/night. The room is also closest to RTE 13 and is loud at night. You can hear the road traffic even when the freight train room air conditioner is humming all night long. Additionally, some of the bathroom and entrance fixtures are in bad cosmetic shape. It's one thing to be mid-century modern but some of the fixtures are obviously in "original" condition and the restoration is still in process.

Upon returning home from our weekend in Ithaca we had to wash all of our clothing twice to get the musty smell out, and my wife’s purse, backpack, computer bag, and my travel duffel bag all still smell musty after a week of airing out. I raised the issue to the PM after checking out, and he stated he hadn’t noticed any odor in the room (maybe it is different for different people – we are non-smokers and I have allergies to pretty much everything – so I’m probably more sensitive to this than other people would be). Regardless, I feel if you are paying almost $500 to stay somewhere for the weekend you shouldn’t have to deal with a dank musty odor that forces you to limit your time in the room. Again, it’s a nice, quaint property and the staff is nice, but if you stay there do not stay in Treman Lodge room #8. You’ll spend your whole time there dealing with the musty odor, and probably having to limit your time in the room as...

I want to be fair in this review so I will begin it with what was good or overall serviceable about the room and stay. First off the location is PERFECT to explore Robert Treman and Buttermilk Falls State Parks, for that Grayhaven is ideal. Next the cleanliness of the facilities were superb- everything was very clean. Also the memory foam mattress on the bed was very comfortable and the pillows were perfect. Moving on to the decor it was dated but I thought worked well with overall aesthetic of the motel lodge theme. Also the staff were very accommodating and willing to help with requests for food and drinks to be waiting for you when you check in, and I thought that was unique and kind of cool, so kudos for that. I now however need to address the elephant in the room...the heater. It is a through wall unit that kicked on every 30-40 minutes and ran at a deafening and coincidentally sleep destroying 90-95 decibels. This is not exaggerated, it was measured using a noise measuring app. I didn't get much use out of the very comfy bed because of it. They absolutely need to address this. My next bone of contention was the TV situation. I know it is 2023 and "most people subscribe to multiple streaming services"...I know I watch TV like a "boomer or boomerish" but is it honestly too much to ask for a TV that has live broadcasting in a room that wasn't cheap (still over $150/night)? Also their explanation of how the fire stick works in theri welcome packet was nothing less than condescending, I am sure it was meant tongue in cheek but it hit wrong to a guy that just wanted to click on the TV and watch the NFL playoffs... probably for the best I wouldn't have been able to hear it any way. I hate to bury a place with a review, it is a cute little motor lodge located in a great spot but the heater absolutely ruined my stay...