The SPARROW

Sara was great, and I had the window open. The city noise wasn't too bad. The room was cute, with an Idaho potato theme, and the shower pressure was good. That square toilet seat was weird, though. 🤣 I usually wake up at five or six when I stay in hotels, but this mattress was so comfortable I ignored the alarm three times and stayed in bed until 7:45.

Front of house was polite and they seemed to be trying, but the experience was average for a premium price. The room was $170, then parking added $15. A movie costs $25, and unless you want to eat tea bag grounds for breakfast, that's another $30. If you can find another hotel around $250 with normal amenities, you'd be way happier. The shower was nicer than a motel's, and the square toilet was lucky for me since I've got the physique of a Minecraft character. The TV says you can stream from your phone, but save yourself 30 minutes and 19 swear words, it doesn't work. The bed frame felt cheap and slanted so it seemed like I was falling toward the headboard while somehow not moving. Hard to explain how uncomfortable it was. I thought sleep deprivation was considered a war crime, but maybe there's a commercial exemption. The AC roared like a General Electric F404 F-18 turbofan jet engine. Overall, three out of five.

The Sparrow's location is great, the bed was comfortable, and the staff were friendly and helpful. They also removed our parking charges. But the rest of the stay was one of the most unpleasant hotel experiences I've had in a while, and I don't understand all the positive reviews. I stayed February 12th thru the 15th. I paid extra for parking and was assigned a reserved spot, but another car took it the first night. The desk sent me to a very tight area near the lobby. The next night the reserved spot was still taken and there was no room by the lobby either, so I parked temporarily off site and walked back. Luckily, a lobby spot had opened up by then, and I hurried to move my car before someone else took it. The room was cramped, with no closet or microwave, no bedside tables, and only four inches between the left side of the bed and the wall. Once the sofa bed was out, the space was even tighter. The bathroom's sliding barn door wasn't adjusted right, making it hard to open and close. The elevator was down when we arrived, working the next day, then broken again at checkout. We carried our luggage up and down three flights of stairs. Across the street, construction woke us at 4:30 a.m. on the first morning, and nobody had warned us it was going on. On the second night, a loud party on our floor went past midnight. We're right next to Boise State, but the hotel is small enough that staff should have known about the noise and ended it sooner, even if nobody had complained. Thankfully, there was no loud party or construction waking us the final night.

I came to Boise for the first time last weekend and had a great stay at The Sparrow Hotel. The staff offered personal, friendly service, and the rooms were very comfortable, with a cool modern look. The bath products were high quality, and I liked the steeping coffee packets, full couch, and comfy bed. The front desk also gave me a great casual dinner suggestion. Best surprise was the adorable puppy who comes over to greet you at check-in, then naps behind the front desk.