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HAGERSTOWN
HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTER reviewed by Patrick Killough epinions.com 06/29/2011 Title of Review: A Quirky, Happy, Scrappy Hotel That is Coming Back Fast Rating of Hotel: * * * Average (but rising!) PROS: Friendliest staff imaginable. Ample parking. Comfortable Bedrooms. Tasty food. Fine convention facilities. Affordable. Conveniently located. CONS: Two storeys. No elevators. Workout room under repair. No mini-fridges. Recent changes of ownership. BOTTOM LINE: After a blessedly brief period of post-Sheraton turmoil, HAGERSTOWN HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTER is on a credible upward path back to earlier days of local glory. Families love the outdoor pool. REVIEW: This is my second -- and final -- review of a memorable piece of property at 1910 Dual Highway, Hagerstown, Maryland, well southeast of downtown. My first review was of a hotel and conference center still listed (erroneously) by epinions.com as Four Points by Sheraton, Hagerstown. In fact, when my wife and I spent four nights on the property in late June 2011, the one-time Sheraton dimension of the hotel already seemed a distant memory to guests and staff long familiar with the property's history. An Iranian family had bought the facility from Sheraton and renamed it Hagerstown Hotel & Convention Center, Maryland. It had been foreclosed on by a bank which had selected a well known firm of trouble shooters to turn the facility around. A new manager was installed in October 2010. And the bank had sold the property to new private investors. And it was rumored that the new owners might fairly soon sell to new owners. In my first review I stressed the genuinely odd layout of the now renamed Hagerstown Hotel & Convention Center. -- It is a two-storey hotel with no
elevator(s).
-- It has a huge open air central courtyard with swimming pool and greenery. The effect of this courtyard is to give a majority of guests a remarkably long walk from where they check in to where they reside. I have little to add to my first review (which referenced an excellent earlier one from 2006) except to highlight my belief that Hagerstown Hotel & Conference Center has turned the corner and is rebounding upward, though not yet what it was in its Sheraton Four Corners days of glory. What does the Hagerstown Hotel & Convention Center have going for it in July 2011? -- (1) Through three changes of management in a very few years, its staff, I am assured, has remained true to the institution. And each new management team has treated staff with respect and courtesy. That has to count for much. -- (2) Apart from providing over a hundred nice rooms to hotel guests, this facility services other local functions: conferences, club meetings, wedding receptions, birthday parties and the like. Indeed, my wife and I were there last month both as room residents and participants in an annual convention of the International Association of Torch Clubs - IATC - (see http://www.torch.org). The local organizers, the Torch Club of Hagerstown has met at this facility month after month since the 1980s with great satisfaction, no matter what the management. So add customer loyalty to staff loyalty and Hagerstown Hotel & Converntion Center is doing something right. And my wife and I can attest to the outstanding contribution of kitchen, bar and meeting rooms to the success of our annual convention. By the way another smaller Government-related group was meeting while we were. They seemed as contented as we Torchies. -- (3) Earlier reviewers and epinions commentors have stressed the unusually front and center and genuine friendliness of front desk staff, maids, dining room and bar people across the board. And remember: many of these are old hands, going back to Sheraton days. They like working there and it shows. -- (4) Parking abounds -- on all four sides of the facility. We attendees of the Torch Convention were in an out of 58 seater buses two days running. Easy access. Plenty of parking for both room residents and attendees of conventions, meetings, wedding reception, birthday and family gatherings. Better parking than almost any similar hotel I know. -- (5) This is a no smoking anywhere facility. Bravo! But there are spitoons and receptacles for cigarette butts outside the six to eight ground floor side entrances. Not a pretty sight, though my wife and I used one of those heavy sloshers to hold the extraordinarily heavy side entrance door open when we loaded and unloaded our car. In my first review I flagged a few problems: the workout room is "under repairs." There was no welcome/how-to manual in guest rooms (under revision). A stopper did not work. We needed a small refrigerator. Staff hopped to it and usually within an hour our complaints were met. Staff knew that they had been dealt a weak hand amid the management/ownership changes, but they rose to the occasion in the spirit of "the customer is always right." Finally, the two storey/no elevator puzzler. The new manager (and a couple of others in the Hagerstown Torch Club) told me that around 1970 one of the hotel/motel chains (was it Holiday Inn? I forget) had a dynamic architect who decided that young families with children would prefer two-storeys to high rises. Being young, elevators were not a deal-breaker. But now the same young couples are grandparents and they want elevators. Don't hold your breath: I know of no plans to install lifts in the next year or two -- though I urge owners to do so. Costs are reasonable and competitive, as you can easily enough verify via on-line comparisons or by consulting your travel agent. Hagerstown Hotel & Convention Center is conveniently located at the juncture of two major highways, though a bit of a drive from downtown. Shopping and eating places abound in a nearby "strip." All in all, my wife and I will happily return to Hagerstown Hotel & Convention Center. But we would insist on a first floor room. Meanwhile, the workout room will soon be open. Sleek black covered info books will be in each room. Maybe mini-fridges, too. And a happy, hop-to-it staff providing service beyond anything money can buy. -OOO- Recommended: Yes! =-=-=-=-=-=- http://www.epinions.com/content/write.html/dt_product _id_~39349908 |