Cambria Hotel Appleton

We’ve stayed here for the past two years, and the place really needed the renovations it’s getting. But check-in was a bad start: we were told the pool closure had been disclosed at the bottom of the online booking page, even though we’d booked by phone. They said the hotel agent should have mentioned it, but our call had been transferred to someone off-site.

The shower drained so slowly that after my usual seven-minute shower, water was up to my ankles. The fridge also froze all my food, and there was no way to adjust it. Otherwise, I had a great stay: the room was clean, the bed was really comfortable, and I slept soundly both nights. I was on the first floor by the gym, which was spacious and excellent.

The location worked well for my job, but I wish I’d known about the renovation before arriving. The place looked like it was being worked on as soon as I saw the lobby and outside. Upstairs work kept going until 7 p.m., and my room was noisy. It was also very cold because the window had been left open, which I found strange for a hotel. The curtains were torn to shreds. When I told the front desk, they said the open window was weird but the damaged curtains were “completely normal.” They didn’t offer a fix or follow up. Maybe housekeeping had opened the window because they were warm and forgot to close it, but who knows. Shredded curtains aren’t normal, and they should be replaced before more guests complain.

I won’t be back. After breakfast, which was pretty plain, I was told there’d be a charge. No one mentioned a fee when I checked in, and there wasn’t a sign by the food. I later noticed I’d missed an asterisk on the website saying breakfast may cost extra, so that part was on me, but it still felt like a scam. A very nice woman in the breakfast area said this happens all the time, which makes me think Cambria knows about the problem and hasn’t fixed it. I was in town for a nearby conference. Renovations were going on, which was fine, but my room was in poor shape: a ripped mattress, faulty AC, hair all over the bathroom floor and shower, and empty supplies like Kleenex and soap.