Crowne Plaza Lake Placid by IHG — Hotel in Town of North Elba

I'm in the unique situation of being able to compare Crowne Plaza and Golden Arrow from a single trip, because Golden Arrow was shutting down for construction part way through our stay (during off-season).

Crowne Plaza is obviously a fantastic hotel, but I will say that it felt like a slight downgrade from Golden Arrow, particularly if you're just doing a family or romantic getaway. I'm not rating it 4 stars because anything was bad, but you have to compare it to the competition if you're going to be honest. The common areas are debatable between the two, and I'd suspect that most would prefer Crowne Plaza in this category. The great rooms are huge, there's nice fireplaces, lots of seating, and a very nice rustic feel in Crowne Plaza. There's also a lot more outdoor accommodations that are a bit more sparse at Golden Arrow.

Balcony views could also be debated, because while Crowne Plaza does offer a wider view of the mountains and town, it all gets washed out once it gets dark enough for the beaming orange street lights to wash out the scenery. The balcony itself (for the mid-grade rooms) are larger at Golden Arrow.

The rooms, however, are a clear cut win for Golden Arrow. Crowne Plaza has a very "The Shining" look to it, and not in a good/intentional way. Once you're in your room, you'll see some slightly dated technology and decor. It doesn't seem like the type of stuff that they're stuck with either -- they could improve it. The carpets are getting pretty old, and one of the elevators smells almost moldy; a stark contrast from the luxury that you see in the common area near the entrance. The odor in there could literally make you nauseous.

Lastly, there's the annoyance of EV charging situation, which should be a non-issue in 2025. Golden Arrow did it right, by installing regular J-Plugs in their garage (4 total). I drive a PHEV, which means that the charge is much less important, but it was great to have it available right on site (and located near each elevator). This is NOT the case with Crowne Plaza. They do have Tesla chargers in their front parking lot, which is totally fine. However, they pulled the stupid move of putting Chargepoint CCS chargers in the rear lot. These are DC fast chargers, which are absolutely NOT necessary at any hotel where people will likely have a minimum of 6 hours to let their vehicle charge. There's not likely to be a guest who will come in and NEED to charge in 1 hour, and if they did they should have that accommodation somewhere in town.

If you're hosting overnighters, equip yourself with J-Plugs for overnight charging -- it's that simple for a hotel, and I'm perplexed that a high end hotel in a resort town has failed to figure this out. Instead, there are regular J-Plugs down the giant hill at the municipal lot, and DC fast chargers up at the hotel (yes, the town and the hotel have done it completely backwards). I don't need Level 3 charging for my vehicle, but if I did I would find it very annoying to have to plug in at the top of a giant hill that's away from the main commercial strip, despite the stellar view. I could have charged there if I'd owned my own Tesla adapter (not worth it, and shouldn't be necessary). People who are just driving through for a restaurant should have Level 3 right there near the restaurants, and the hotel guests who are staying in town should have an easier time charging while they sleep. Figure out the technology, please, because it's starting to get a bit sad, while also becoming an indicator of whether or not a town/facility is in touch with...

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid for 4 nights. We enjoyed the hiking so much that we extended our trip, but due to our disappointment in the property we moved across the street for the additional 2 nights instead of staying at the Crowne longer. When you walk in the property initially seems nice, but the more you look around and the longer you are there the more you see that it is a very tired property that is run down and poorly maintained. Starting with the grounds and gardens that need edging/weedwacking and weeding. Every garden looks horrible- they appear to not have been edged in 5 years. Every patio and interlocking sidewalk is full of weeds and a hazard to anyone with the slightest difficulty walking. Whoever is “maintaining” the grounds (a service or maintenance crew) either doesn’t know what they are doing or doesn’t care and management isn’t doing anything about it.

Now for the room - there is clearly no thought to the layout because one corner of the room was completely empty. The balcony, which I had hoped to use while having coffee in the morning or evening, has concrete that is in such poor condition that it looks dangerous. Also, there is only a metal bench with no back making it not comfortable or appealing for one, let alone two people to sit there to enjoy the view (that is somewhat ruined by the hedges that haven’t been trimmed in ages.) Also, there is no screen so getting fresh air means you’re risking letting bugs, birds and bats into the room. Lastly for the balcony, the lock on the door has been thrown together and botched with parts from the local hardware store by an unskilled maintenance person. It is not what I expect to see at hotel of this price range. Additionally, the carpet in the hallway is ripped and a tripping hazard.

I’m not sure if the Crowne owns the steps to Main St or the Tennis courts. I tried asking at the front desk but they also seemed unclear on that, or unable to understand my question. If the Crowne owns them they are in even worse disrepair than the grounds. If they do NOT own these, they need to be petitioning the town to do something about them. The stairs that everyone uses all day long are crumbling, overgrown, broken and downright dangerous. They are an accident waiting to happen and the tennis courts and their foundation are falling down and apart.

The pool - the pictures on the wall were probably very nice at one time, but are now faded and falling off the walls. The tiles are also cracked and in need of an overhaul and replacement.

The fire pit - the burner for the fire pit looks ridiculous sticking up out of the stones at an odd angle and is much too small for the pit. If you can’t have a real wood fire, at least get a decent burner and maintain it. It is certainly not complimentary to the rustic feel of the Adirondacks that people come here for.

Lastly, the fireplace in the main lobby isn’t always on in the evenings and the staff in the evenings doesn’t know how to turn it on. It also has a tacky “Master lock” on it that looks like junk and a burner that is way too small for the large size of the fireplace - both take away from any ambience the fireplace may give.

Overall, we were very disappointed in our visit and would never consider staying at this property again. We visit the Adirondacks to hike 3 or 4 times a year and we will not be returning to the Crowne when there are other better maintained and more pleasingly...

Very disappointing stay at the Crown Plaza for a two night stay. Yes, the location is excellent and the view would be great if you were not in a room overlooking the indoor pool. You get no view but you do get the noise from the pool. Pool patrons can see inside your room if you don’t close the blackout shades. The pool noise itself wasn’t as bad as the sounds from the Cornhole set that was set up just outside our single paned window. Hearing the thuds outside out window with the echoing from the concrete flooring enclosed in a two story building is a crime against good architectural design.||||Although it was not very late, it made it impossible to sit in the room and read or watch TV. Management at night had the security guard move the set to a more distant end of the room but it was still in that enclosure outside our room. More than one front desk person said that may guests like to overlook the pool (an indoor pool with no natural light entering the guest room)s let alone not being able to open your darkness blinds because you have guests in the pool area sitting right outside your window.||||My mistake was to not insist on a different room upon check-in. We asked, does the room have a view? We were told no view. That was an understatement. ||Did we get a dumped upon because we used Chase Sapphire Points through Expedia? We did pay a full price for the hotel room. We arrived at the hotel around 4pm. There were probably plenty of yet unoccupied rooms upon our arrival as we saw many people check in after us.||||When I started to complain about the noise, the night manager did seem concerned. She did offer to move us to a second floor room but at that point It was bit worth the hassle as we leaving the next morning and she promised that the noise would soon stop (30 mins later) She did comp us for breakfast. In the morning at checkout, the day manager gave the most inane response, “It was not yet bedtime. The pool area closes at 930PM” Are guests not entitled to quiet enjoyment of their rooms when they are not sleeping? We were out touring all day and just wanted to relax. According to my Chase points summary reservation, the trip total was listed at $743.54 for the 2 nights. That manager gave me $60 to go away!||||Additionally, housekeeping was not very good. The housekeeper didn’t wipe down the counter. Made a sloppy bed. I know to carry USB plugs but most modern hotels do have at least one attached to some outlook. (Our next stop was a Vermont Inn built in 1899. They managed to have USB plugs on the nightstand)||The buffet breakfast was fine. Good omelets. Fresh fruit. Poor waiter. We asked for a refill of water, which never arrived 10+ minutes later. The breakfast was comped but we presented the paper. The waiter didn’t know what to do. First he took the paper, then returned it. Said to charge to room which we did along with the gratuity. We then checked out. While telling our saga of the rooms which supposedly was documented by the night manager, we said that we left a tip that would be charged to the room. The bill did not yet make it to the front desk. It was a nominal amount. The inane manager said, don’t worry, he’d write it off. I got home and it was it was on my charge card. (I planned on paying the gratuity but don’t say that you will wipe out the charge and then have the charge go through)||||The hotel is being rebranded in the next few months. It will not be a...