The Clarke Hotel — Hotel in Waukesha

This was an interesting place to stay, to say the least. It was a little bizarre.||The Pros:|Location. I was in town to see a friend in a show at the Civic Theatre and this was right down the block. The Steaming Cup was next door and it’s a fantastic little coffee shop.|Comfy beds and pillows. A glorious shower with multiple shower heads and super hot water. Free breakfast in the pub in the morning. It was a little haphazard but the food was tasty and it was very welcome before driving 6 hours home.|The rooms had robes and coffee bars and fridges. Friendly staff!||The Cons:|The street noise was so loud. It was a Saturday night and there were just groups of screaming people until about 130am.|The smell. My goodness. The place smelled like rotting sewage. No one mentioned it so I assume this is normal for them? It wasn’t as bad in the rooms but it was definitely noticeable in the lobby, the hallways, and near the toilets.|My room was smaller and more inconveniently located (on the 3rd floor but the elevator didn’t go to the 3rd floor) than my friends room and my room cost more. They would not honor the special price listed on their website.|The odd hours. I had to call about 4 times to finally reach someone to make a reservation. They kept telling me they were closed and to call back later.|The rooms are a bit dark and dated. The bed skirt was all torn up and trailing all over the floor. There was a pillow on the floor and the bathroom drawers were open. The bathroom door wouldn’t close all the way.||The Weird:|This place is a maze. The elevator only goes to to the 2nd floor and then we had to wander around to find the stairs to the 3rd floor. Nothing made sense and it was just twists and turns and random rooms. We were cracking up because we kept getting confused.|Again, the sewage smell. Honestly, what was that?!|They have free parking. But they provide it in the most bass-ackwards way. You have to pay the $3 to park when you leave, but they just charge $3 less on your room bill. The parking structure machine even said “insert card or coupon” - surely in 2021 they could come up with some kind of coupon system to by-pass this. We were even told “if it won’t let you out, just hit the button to call for help” and that was not reassuring. 😅 Luckily, we made it out!||Anyway. Overall this was a cute little place to stay. It was an adventure and I’d definitely stay again. The cons are nit picky things and I was up late anyway so the street noise was fine. We had a good time and as it turns out, downtown Waukesha is an adorable little town with good coffee...

I have to admit, when I read a bad review I take it with a grain of salt since there are people who complain about everything. But, I should have paid attention to the bad reviews about the Clarke. When we arrived at the hotel there was a sign that stated the restaurant and bar were closed for renovations. Since it was extremely cold we had planned to stay in the hotel as much as possible. Then when we got to the front desk we were told we would have to park (and pay) in a ramp a couple of blocks away. Again, it was very cold and we weren't thrilled with having to walk so far. I told the girl at the front desk that it would have been nice if we had known all of this BEFORE checking in. Perhaps there could have been a mention on the website? There was so much light in our room that we asked to be moved to a darker part of the hotel, even if it meant being in a smaller room. When the bars on Main Street closed we were awakened by rowdy patrons. We were told by the front desk that the people who renovated the hotel had cheaped out on windows. No kidding. Our room was 62 degrees when we checked in. Hadn't anyone thought to set the thermostat prior to our checking in? We had to wear our coats for several hours. The heat was incredibly loud and the air blew right across the bed and was so strong it moved the window shades, letting in even more light. We were both awake several hours. But the second night was even worse. Apparently the people in the room next to us were having some sort of fight. They ran up and down the hallway and slammed the doors several times. And we could hear them swearing very clearly. Not exactly the type of patrons one expects when they pay to stay in a boutique hotel. This went on for almost two hours. The person working the desk should have called the police and had them evicted. When we checked out the desk manager who hadn't worked the night shift was very apologetic. HOWEVER, because we had booked through an online site and not the hotel directly there was nothing they could do to compensate us. He told us the next time we stay our room is free. Even though the rooms are lovely, I'm not sure a free room...

If I were just rating the staff I would give a 5 star review because 90% of the staff were wonderful, helpful, genuine and really tried to do whatever they could for you.

It's a real mixed bag to review here. We had reserved rooms for a wedding at the Rotunda and location and convenience can't be beat for access to the venue, restaurants, bars and walking/running areas. Room sizes are good to great and I know this because I was in quite a few rooms because of having many guests here.

Unfortunately, the a/c in the large rooms aren't able to cool the entire room and when our son slept on the sofa bed at the opposite end of the room from the a/c he was boiling all night. The manager came up the next day to over-ride the setting which definitely helped so don't be shy ask for help. If you are staying on a Friday night in the summer go out and enjoy the summer music in the street celebration because you'll here it clearly in the rooms, so just be aware and you can't beat them so just join in.

We got here a day before everyone else and there was a very unpleasant odor in our room and in the lounge area on our floor where everyone walks through to get to their room. We just got vanilla deodorizer and sprayed a ton before our guests arrived. Now, few of the other rooms had the same smell as ours so I don't know the cause but vanilla glade is awesome.

By the way the lounge areas on floor 2 are such a nicety to this hotel. It is on the historic register so there will be quirky things that you will not have at newer hotels.

Major positive are the showers, everyone was raving about showers and the comfort of beds with the caveat of the pull out sofa bed in room 201. The mattress is about 4" thick and is made up of all springs and a thin padding on top. Our son actually had a spring imprint on his back the next morning.

So, yes I would recommend this hotel giving you full disclosure on what to expect. Just don't use the sofa beds and realize the refrigerators are actually coolers so be thoughtful as to what you...