I've scratched my head for three days, trying to figure out how to rate the Ho Jo's in New Stanton,…read morePA.
We called around before heading out to visit Idlewild and Kennywood parks for a 3-day mini-vacation. Turns out the Steeler's training camp (circus) was in town, so most quality (costlier) hotels in the area were already booked. My wife called, booked this one, and cheered herself on for scoring the low cost of $54 per night.
So, my quandry is, how do you rate the cheapest of the cheap? Of course, you get what you pay for. So here's what I got:
1. $54/night
2. A clean room with a fairly comfortable bed. Microwave, mini-fridge. Cable TV. Toilet that is so slow flusing you get worried it isn't working. Good shower pressure. Internet worked better after 10 PM than at 9 AM. The room definately needs updating...feels tired...but clean. Slight odor, but not vile.
3. Breakfast of bagels, some fruit, cinnamon swirls, cereal, juice, acceptable coffee. Enough to get the day started. No waffle makers, although it's listed on the website.
4. A pretty unappealing location. Highway noise. A sheetz next door (could be good, in circumstances, I suppose). McD's and Eat N Park across the street. Nothing really appealing in the immediate area. Bordered just enough on feeling skeevy to me...when I found the fitness room locked up (see below), I couldn't even begin to figure out where to go for a run, short of jogging the PA turnpike or I-70 or I-119.
5. No, and I mean NO, ammeneties. Pool? "Closed for repairs". No signs of repairs going on...perhaps terminal. Fitness room? Even bigger joke. The front desk hostess said it was open and working, but when I found it (not marked at all), it was a regular hotel room with beds removed and a treadmill inserted in their place. And it was locked, beyond key-card entry. FAIL.
6 Grounds were kept ok, and the grounds keeper was at work trimming bushes, but it still needed updating.
The verdict? We got what we paid for. It was not the greatest, but the beds were comfortable and the price allowed us to allocate our saved money better at the parks. This place probably was the creme de la creme in 1965, but now it needs an Extreme Hotel Makeover. Would I stay again? If I was putting no value in a quality hotel "resort" to bolster the quality of the vacation and just needed a good cheap bed, yes. If I wanted a pool, fitness room, video arcade in a 5-star location, then no, this isn't it for you. But for the $54 you get 54 dollar's worth of...New Stanton, whatever that is.