I was here for two stays in August of 2019 of four nights and two nights. It's a good hotel in an…read moreout of the way location. Bring earplugs for the noise in the halls and planes overhead.
The first stay I was in 301, the second in 248. 301 overlooks the parking lot so no great view and parking lot noise. It was at the end of the hall, so limited hallway noise. This is a long hotel, so it can be quite a walk to the elevator from either end. 248 faces the lake and is about half way down the hall from the elevator. Across the hall is a service closet that emits a loud noise - likely the air conditioning/heating system. If you're sensitive to noise, avoid rooms 241, 244, and 246 and note that it may be the same on the 3rd floor. Also the elevator bell is quite loud, so avoid any room with 6- 8 rooms of the elevator if you're sensitive to noise.
Breakfast is standard free, carb-heavy hotel breakfast plus eggs and some form of meat each day. Coffee isn't great, so plan to get some out if you like good coffee. Nothing available in the afternoon, not even hot water for tea, to force you to buy something in their snack bar.
The good:
It's a nice property, looks recently updated. Makes a good first impression.
Service was almost uniformly great from the front desk staff and manager.
Bed was comfortable and the room was generally clean.
Pretty good sound proofing of ceilings, some of walls, not so much of doors and hallways - lots of hallway noise, especially from idiots with a gaggle of children who think the hall is a playground.
Proximity to Lake - its' great to walk out the back door and walk around a lake. You'd better love dogs, because there are a lot of them in and around the lake.
They have soy milk available at breakfast.
The location is far enough from the main airport to get a minimum of noise from there, but there are other noise sources (see below).
Not so great:
There is nothing nearby to walk to, no services, no stores, just the university and two hospitals. You need a car or ride service if you plan to do anything.
They have a snack area with insane prices since you are a captive audience. You'd be better off spending $5 on an Uber to go to the Walgreens which is 5 minutes drive away and stock up on snacks there.
All of the doors to the rooms and hallways shut very loudly, like outside doors. Could be easily fixed.
Sometimes the staff speak in Tagalog to each other, which can feel rude to guests, even though they don't mean to be rude. When helping a customer in English, the good service rule is to use English with everyone involved in the interaction, don't switch languages. If you do, explain that "I'm asking housekeeping if any other rooms are available" or something like that.
As others have mentioned, there is an airport to the north of the hotel that gets traffic, occasionally very loud Army cargo planes, and sometimes helicopters connected to the hospitals. Between that and the noise in the hallways, this is definitely a place to use earplugs unless you can sleep through a racket. I will say it is less noisy than many of the hotels south of downtown, where the planes takeoff and land overhead all day, that is one of the reasons to choose this more out of the way location.
A surprising number of folks with children who use the pool don't bother to dry their feet, so there is constantly water on the first floor from the pool door to the elevator and inside the elevator. It makes for a big hazard, easy to slip on. Maintenance tries hard to keep up with it, putting down rugs and mopping, but they can't mop 24 hours a day. If you leave a pool without drying off your feet before going to an elevator, you're an inconsiderate idiot in my book. I wish they could put a metal plate at the pool door and shock folks who don't dry their feet.
This is the hotel for the two large nearby hospitals, so you see a good amount of sick people and their families. Some use canes or walkers, some are going for hip replacements, making the water hazard even more concerning.
The university is also nearby, so come late August through the school holidays there can be a lot of school related traffic. June - September there is a constant stream of the usual tourists. I saw buses pull up so it maybe part of either cruise or tour traffic.
My bill did not agree with the rate quoted when I made my reservation, for some reason central reservations changed the rate, not anyone at the hotel. Be sure to check your bill against your original reservation receipt, you may get overcharged. Manager was very helpful and corrected the errors.
Overall a very pleasant stay, rates are high as is the norm in Alaska in summer and earplugs are a must.
