Hotel Sylva

We’ll be back to Hotel Sylva whenever we stay in Sylva. My husband and I like small-town motels that have been redone, and this one had just the charm we were after. It was modernized, cozy, and very clean, with a perfect location for walking everywhere we wanted to go.

I’d pick Hotel Sylva over the big chains any day. It’s reassuring to know locally owned independent hotels like this are still around. The rooms were clean, the staff pleasant and helpful, and check-in and check-out were easy. It’s right downtown, just a short walk from the bars and restaurants.

We’ll keep staying at Hotel Sylva. After management heard about the problem, they got in touch quickly, agreed there should be a way to reach hotel staff after hours when something goes wrong, and are making things right and then some. We’ve stayed several times over the past year while building our retirement home nearby. The location is great, and you can walk all around Sylva. The rooms are on par with the bigger chains. Service is the weak spot, though. The lobby is staffed only from 9am to 6pm, and there’s no way to reach anyone at the hotel after hours. We arrived after 7pm. Usually they text your room number and code on check-in day, but this time nothing came. We tried the support number from the reservation confirmation text, but they couldn’t reach anyone either, so we ended up at another hotel. They called me after 9 am the next day and apologized. They said the third party booking service hadn’t passed along the phone number I entered, so they had texted the number on file. I’d recently changed my number because we had to switch cell services, since our old one is the worst of the big three in the mountains. Hotel Sylva blamed the third party booking service for not forwarding my current number, and indirectly blamed me for changing it. I agree with both of those points. Still, I thought Hotel Sylva was partly at fault for having no way to resolve an after-hours snafu. They didn’t admit any partial blame or offer compensation. At the time, we said we wouldn’t stay there again.

A quick text got me fresh towels at my door in about five minutes, delivered by a friendly employee. I only needed room service once, and that worked great. The text check-in and check-out were new to me, but really convenient, and I liked getting into the room with a code instead of worrying about losing a key card. The room was clean, nice, and clearly renovated recently. There’s a noise machine by the bed to block street sounds, plus a mini fridge, a ground-level ice machine, wall heat and AC that work well, a walk-in shower, and a K-cup coffee maker. The location’s great for walking to restaurants and shops. It’s a nice town with nice people, and I can’t wait to come back. Can’t beat this place in the area.