Best Western The Inn At The Fairgrounds

The room's closet door was broken, and the hotel feels like it's seen better days. Best Western doesn't have much to boast about here, and I wouldn't recommend it. A friendly welcome would have meant telling guests at check-in that the included breakfast is only available until 9 a.m. That's not what you need after a long flight.

We picked this hotel because it was near the Fairgrounds, but the stay was only okay. The beds were really uncomfortable, and parking was tight because of the attached Steak house. The lot hadn’t been cleared well, and neither were the sidewalks to the side and back entrances. Even with working key cards, we couldn’t get in through those doors. Breakfast cereal was stale, too. We won’t choose this hotel again.

Paying a premium for Parents Weekend made the problems here even more disappointing. I had to move rooms several times because of cleanliness issues, including one room with blood-covered, soiled sheets. The front desk response was unhelpful: I was told to take the dirty sheets off myself or use the other bed. It wasn’t at all what I expected for the price. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this place, so save your money.

There’s no 24-hour coffee, no laundry, and no microwave in the rooms. You’re told to use the one in the hallway. They also require a $100 deposit, even from a diamond member, and don’t expect to bother anyone before check-in time. Money seems to be their only concern, and the staff came across as resentful of guests. The elevator is right in front of the desk, but employees kept their heads down and didn’t greet anyone. The two housekeepers I ran into, one man and one woman, were rude too. When I asked the man for help with my key, he scolded me in a language I couldn’t understand, then threw the key back when it didn’t work for him either. The room had a stale smell, with no hint of bleach or anything suggesting things had been washed. Since the windows don’t open, it felt like sleeping in a stench oven. There was a long bug in the bathroom, and from the bathtub you could see the filthy toilet. That didn’t make me want to try the restaurant on site. This was a terrible, inconspicuous nightmare of a property. I’ll stay somewhere else on my next of many visits to Syracuse.