Sara Placid Inn & Suites — Hotel in Town of North Elba

I’ve stayed here a bunch of times, stayed in most of the rooms in the main building, here are my pros and cons.

Edit: changing from five star to three because of the staff just letting themselves in while I was sleeping, causing me an anxiety attack. Check in paper work says checkout is 11am, so why was staff trying to get into my room around 9:45?

Pros: fantastic location, other guests usually not rowdy, clean rooms, no dingy smell or moisture problems. Rooms have two entrance doors, both with locks which makes me feel safer staying here, the first entrance door has a window that pulls down uncovering a screen, so you can get nice air flow without unlocking or opening the door, big window to let in a ton of light, every room has a mini fridge, microwave, AC and heating. Large roku tvs makes it feel a little more like home with most apps I normally use to stream, available. Pretty hands off, staff available with a quick call, ice machine in office along with toiletries (I don’t use them, they’re not great). My few encounters with staff were always nice and genuine. Grounds seem manicured, I love the stone pathway, there is a large pond and gazebo as well. I really love the diamond shape around the door handle, I hope they never get rid of those. There is an iron and ironing board available hanging up behind the door, chairs available right outside of each room and multiple fire extinguishers available for emergencies. Every time I’ve stayed here, there weren’t kids and I hope it stays that way. Please leave these small quiet motels for the rest of us, there’s a bigger, nice hotel next door I’ve stayed at before, also a great place!

Cons: rooms are outdated (but have massive room for easy improvements like fresh paint, deep clean the bathroom grout or updating the outdated lighting and mirrors in the bathrooms) I dislike that the bathroom fan comes on with the light, it’s loud. The toilet paper in every room is positioned in the most inconvenient spots, especially for someone like myself who is disabled. The AC in some rooms will decide to just not work, woke up sweating lol had to turn it off and on to get it going again. Not every room has the same size fridge, some are smaller than others which ended up being a problem when I first encountered it as I had brought prepared food to heat up during my stay so that I didn’t rely on unhealthy food options, it all didn’t fit like it did in the room I had previously. Hulu has ads lol which cuts off the end of each episode and for some reason mutes the first few seconds of the next episode. I blame Hulu for that one lol. The beds aren’t comfortable, you hear a lot of noise from the box springs which is an indicator that they need to be replaced. According to the sleep foundation, it’s not just noise, it indicates that they aren’t supporting the bed properly anymore. So hopefully they replace those soon so that the beds provide comfort and support. There’s a keurig available, but coffee pods aren’t exactly environmentally friendly so I don’t use it. I much rather have a regular coffee pot, I would even bring my own coffee. Staff twice now has tried to get into my room WELL before checkout. Today they opened the door, scaring me awake and I’ve been dealing with shakiness and anxiety through the roof since. Both times they were gone before I could say something. I don’t know why they don’t have a system that tells them which rooms are checked out of. On the day you are checking out, they will lock you out of your room before check out, so make sure you have everything first 🙃

I think for a motel they are doing an okay job with so much potential for visual improvements (and customer service) that are both aesthetically pleasing and pay homage to the beautiful surroundings. The location is so convenient, positioned right between the two main parts of the village of Saranac Lake, with a lake view right across the street. I’m particularly impressed by the cleanliness and lack of odor, as these are things we all often...

Absolutely disgusting, pubic hairs on the pillow , mold in the bathroom, smelled like wet dog, son had flea bites all over his legs. Owner was absolutely rude felt like our complaints were not taken serious. Could not control heat , sheets had rips and they were worn out . Key pad did not work, went to office and nobody was around , had no toilet paper and only one of us could take a shower every 30/40 min no hot water . Mold and cobwebs every where . Curtains had about an inch of dust on top and stains ,internet kept shutting off every 20min we paid $150 a night booked it for 3 night went to office to check out after first night and again no one was there.. so we packed up left and got a room at the best western told them our story and said we are not the first ones to complain. We stayed ate the Sara placid inn a few years ago and it was amazing but not sure what happened in 2 yrs. It is a place to where if you needed a place quick and desperate then it’s fine but the state needs to start going in and checking these places out . We did enjoy talking to the group that lived in the big blue house the air B and B which is absolutely beautiful I might add if that was available we would have stayed there but realized it was clean because they lived there and they took care of it . The ones that lined there took more care of us then the actual workers .The house keepers where sweet also but it was the owner that acted like we where more of an inconvenience then guest . If we where treated with more respect I would have given it at least 3 stars. Bed where comfortable and the rooms where big enough for us . I have stayed I. Many rooms over the years do to sports and I might say this is at...

We arrived at the Sara Placid early in the afternoon before the 3:00 check in time on Friday, July 8th. We were told that the room wasn't ready yet. That wasn't a problem, as we had other things to do and said we'd return later when it was ready. I returned at approximately 3:00 PM and unloaded our things and left quickly to attend a social commitment. Upon returning to the room at 9:30 in the evening, we found it to be filthy. the shower curtain was very dirty with unidentifiable spots on it. the mat as you walked in the door looked like it hadn't been vacuumed, there were brown spots on the heating/air conditioning unit above the bed where the pillows are, a paper bag with a little trash in it was left behind the door. These are just a few of the things we found. This was unacceptable and we decided that we wouldn't stay there. I then went to the office and handed the key back to and spoke with who I assume is the owner/manager. I brought all of this to his attention and showed him pictures. He became very argumentative and got very defensive saying that he personally checked the room after it was "cleaned", and it was fine. I told him that I wouldn't let a dog sleep there, it was that bad. He then told me to "GET OUT, JUST GET OUT". I guess that made him feel better thinking that he kicked me out, even after I gave back the key. We then checked into the Saranac Waterfront Lodge down the street (for just about the same price), and had a wonderful stay. We have stayed here many times in the past with none of the above issues. Ownership has changed in the past year and...