Over the past 2 years my husband and I have traveled across both Canada and the US for my schooling and stayed in a lot of different places for extended stay hotels. While I did not think that Chipman Hill Suites was in any way filthy, dirty, etc. It was definitely one of our least pleasant experiences in an extended stay type of situation.
So to start I will describe the building we staying in which was the 77 Coburg St. building (they have many different properties under the same managment). This was an old Victorian house converted into suites. There are 3 levels, 3-4 suites on each level. Each suite is furnished differently in a more bed & breakfast style. They have laundry facilities on the first floor of the building. No reception for the building and NO mailboxes for guests to receive packages. Parking is a small lot on the back side of the building with enough space for about 5 cars comfortably. You must pay for Saint John Street parking through their parking authority via a sticker for your car.
Into the actual review:
When I stay long term I always request (and expect) that we would be placed on a top floor to ensure that as long term guests we will not have to deal with the people staying just for the weekend and partying, etc. So my first strike against them was that they put us on the ground floor! My husband and I attempted to give it a try, but found after 3 days of no sleep due to the insane amount of noise.
The issue is that this building is an old Victorian house that was converted to 10 suites. There is absolutely no barrier for sound AND they made the unfortunate choice of using tile EVERYWHERE. The sound literally echos throughout the building if someone so much as sneezes.
After an email to the management at 3am we were given the option to move up to the 3rd floor (top floor of the building) - where I thought we should have been in the first place since it was vacant - and we had hoped that the noise issue would be fixed.
This was not the case, while there was a dramatic decrease in the amount of noise that we heard, you can still hear every step, cupboard door open/close, tap turned on, etc. in any of the rooms on the same floor or the floor below us.
The noise issue aside, the location is in a "questionable" area - my husband likes to run outside for exercise a couple days a week and during these runs he has come across some "ladies of ill repute" (a nice way to word it) walking the streets and standing on the corners within a 2 block radius of the building.
On weekends it is incredibly noisy outside with party-ers and people looking to start arguments and fights in the street.
The building has no doorbell or way to let someone inside know that you are there.
And this may seem like a small deal to some, but we were only given a single set of keys for the room and building. This means if I go out, its either without the keys and therefore I am at the mercy of a pre-determined time for my husband to meet me and unlock the door OR I take the keys and he is trapped staying in the building waiting for me to come home.
I was also not impressed with the "portable dishwasher" - we had no instructions to how to set it up as the manual was gone and I had to look up the instructions on an online manual. Which also was not working properly the first time we used it and flooded the floor in the middle of the night. After which it was "replaced" with another machine without our knowledge (no note or email to tell us someone had come by).
Which brings me to the internet - probably the slowest and worst connection that I have ever had in a hotel (and that is saying something).
Another thing that bothered me was a weird mildew/mold that seems to grow in the bath and sink within a few days. It is very disturbing.
Overall I will conclude with some pluses and minuses:
+ relatively clean
+ free laundry facilities
+ relatively helpful staff
+ cleaning staff actually does not enter the room if you have do not disturb on the door
- noisy at all times of day and night
- bad internet
- one set of keys
- portable dishwasher with no instructions
- broken dishwasher
- dryer doesn't dry clothes (takes minimum 2 hrs)
- trash disposal outside building is always overflowing
- weird mold in the bathroom read more