TRYP by Wyndham Pittsburgh/Lawrenceville

The front desk was fantastic about our needs, and the valet staff were very nice and quick to bring the car around. The three restaurants also served wonderful, high-quality food with fast service. It was a bright spot while we were in town for surgery. Our first room felt small, but it had a great big shower. There weren’t any handholds, though, and the shelf broke when I used it for balance. The staff couldn’t fix it during our stay, so they changed our room and upgraded us to a spacious accessible room that met all our needs. The only other downside was road noise, which is expected right beside a busy road. The hotel is very clean and updated.

The one awkward thing was the bathroom door. It’s a sliding barn door that closes but doesn’t seal all the way, so that might matter if you’re sharing with coworkers. It wasn’t an issue for us. Otherwise, this place is quirky, quiet, comfy, and fun, and it takes pets. The location is great, the rooms are roomy, and the beds are awesome. I especially loved the mechanical blackout curtains. The staff were very nice, and for the price it felt surprisingly upscale. I’d recommend it to anyone.

For a relatively low price and a great area, this was a pretty solid stay. Still, the place needs upkeep to make it feel about 20% nicer. We’d heard the valet parking was nearly required, and there were also a few problems with the room and service. The room is small but laid out well, so just don’t expect to spread your things out. Some things were already coming apart, which surprised me in a recently renovated hotel. The faucet was so loose I thought it might fall off, and the ceiling had strange flaking that worried me because of allergies. The room was set to 60 degrees when we arrived. It was easy to turn up the heat, but once it was on I got very sneezy and congested. That makes me think the air ducts need cleaning. On our Saturday checkout day, they texted at 8 a.m. to say it was time to check out online. Checkout wasn’t until noon, and the message didn’t state the actual time, so it made it sound like we should get moving early. That annoyed me.

Lawrenceville is a great neighborhood for hanging out, shopping, eating, and enjoying the people. The hotel is in a lovely area, but it falls short in many ways. The rooftop restaurant is nice but extremely loud. There were around 20-25 people at a party, talking in small groups, and the combined noise made it hard to hear anything. The downstairs bar didn’t seem to be open during our stay, breakfast was very expensive, and the coffee shop had limited hours. The espresso was the best quality and least expensive thing there. The hotel makes itself out to be a wedding destination, but the rooms aren’t romantic when the toilet is a half bath with a sliding door that has gaps, and the sink and shower are open to the bedroom. There’s no privacy, and using the toilet can make the whole room smell. The rooms are small and claustrophobic, with thin covers and no extra blankets. The king room I booked had a queen bed instead. The bed had metal sticking out of the side, making it dangerous to get in. There are no carpets or soundproofing, so the hard surfaces carry noise from inside and outside. The shelving and fixtures feel cheap, the light switches are hard to find, and there’s an end table on only one side. The windows sweat when it’s cold outside. Parking is $28 a night, plus a mandatory valet fee. Online early check-in costs an extra $100. Movies in the room cost $26-32 each, and breakfast isn’t included, even though rooms start at $175 a night. The TV requires you to cast your own services or pay those movie prices. It feels like every little thing costs extra. The common areas are beautiful, but the rooms need work. They should be redone, made larger, or combined in pairs into suites, and the policies should change. Include parking and breakfast, stop charging extra for everything, and upgrade the rooms. Then it could be fantastic.