ROVE LIVING/KL - 44 Monroe

The only good thing is the location. There’s a cute-ish patio on the third floor, but the pool was out of operation and the restaurant was closed. Inside, the place basically sucks. The rooms are small, sparse, and uncomfortable, with an uncomfortable bed, no microwave or mini fridge, and a TV with very few channels and no guide. You can hear absolutely everything from adjoining rooms, phone calls and TV shows included. There’s no parking offered, so you have to pay for city parking the whole time. The Wi-Fi didn’t work at all during my two nights, no matter the time, and I needed it for work. The front desk said it gets slow when too many people use it, but the fact is they don’t have functional Wi-Fi, and staff were unhelpful.

The location was great, and we made the best of our stay. We got good service and housekeeping was wonderful. The hotel is within walking distance of The Thread, an awesome coffee shop. It’s a historic place that keeps its charm, but comfort takes a hit. The bathrooms and showers are quite small, the beds are terribly uncomfortable, and the walls are paper-thin, so you hear everything next door and in the hallway. Closing the vents helps a bit. There’s also no on-site parking or validation.

Angela, the manager, patiently helped sort out some issues during check-in. The location is prime for walking around downtown, and the hotel has a great historic feel. The rooms are old-school and not as luxurious as typical chains, and the walls are thin enough that you can hear everything. Still, it was a unique experience worth having.

The rooms were clean, and I could tell housekeeping had taken extra care to make them as nice as possible. The staff were kind and helpful too. The hotel really needs an update, though. The furniture was old and chipped, and the carpet looked like it was probably over 30 years old.