Location. Nestled in the residential Shandon neighborhood, on the corner of Woodrow and Devine Streets, The Whitney Hotel of Columbia (S.... more »
Location. Nestled in the residential Shandon neighborhood, on the corner of Woodrow and Devine Streets, The Whitney Hotel of Columbia (S. C. is one mile from downtown Columbia and the University of South Carolina. This converted apartment building is within two miles of the Columbia Metro Convention Center. Hotel Features. Complimentary full, buffet-style breakfasts are served each morning. The hotel offers complimentary wireless Internet access in public areas of the hotel. Event catering, meeting space and business services are also available. There is a seasonal outdoor pool on site, and the hotel provides access to a nearby fitness center. Guestrooms. Furnished with English and American antique reproductions, these one- and two-bedroom suites feature living and dining rooms, washers and dryers, and kitchens. There are two phones and two televisions in each suite. Other amenities include cable television, complimentary newspaper delivery and complimentary high-speed Internet access. The Presidential and Honeymoon Suites at The Whitney Hotel feature panoramic city views, four-poster beds and spa tubs. Expert Tip. The Koger Center for the Arts, located one mile from the hotel, is on the University of South Carolina campus. The center hosts the South Carolina Philharmonic and various college functions, making the Whitney Hotel an ideal spot for visiting college students.
ReserveTravel
We travel as a family, and my husband
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Posted Feb 16, 2009
Mediocre
We travel as a family, and my husband has a very restrictive diet. So we actually needed to use the features of the Whitney. Unfortunately, a lot of the features and amenities didn't work. Our iron was broken. The hairdryer in one of the bathrooms...
50 year old female with a luxury budget, traveling for leisure
The Whitney Hotel staff is awesome. They are very friendly and will do their best to satisfy any need. At the moment I have three children attending the University of South Carolina and I visit them at least one a month, more often twice a month. This has been going on now for several years, for all seven of my children have attended USC and now live in Columbia. I would not even consider staying anywhere else. It is my home away from home. The rooms are apartment style setups with full kitchens, laundry rooms with washers and dryers, living rooms, and balconies overlooking downtown. The rooms are in great condition; they have been involved in an ongoing renovation process, little by little so they don't disturb their guests. This hotel is a great place. It is located in a great neighborhood location surrounded by local restaurants and shopping.
The people who work there are truly friendly and worked immediately to handle concerns. The Breakfast --which is advertised as a buffet style breakfast-- was really a typical continental style breakfast with a few extras. The extras were nice though. They included to hot breakfast items that were different each day. These items --while I stayed-- were sausage and omelets, ham and eggs, and sausage patties with biscuits and gravy. Each item was cooked to perfection and would make any southerner proud. The neighborhood was also great. Just a couple blocks from 5 points which is where all the fun is.
The Bad:
I hate to report bad but the stuff I list below is so serious that I would be doing wrong by not reporting it.
The day we arrived the elevators were not operating because they caught on fire. Naturally our room --thankfully only 3 floors up-- smelled like fire. Our rooms television was broken, but not replaced. They just hooked up a smaller television next to it. We could not get it to work either. The hotel staff showed us that both TVs had to be on for the small TV to show us a picture. Our room was not what we requested either. We ordered --and I may add, payed for-- a suite with two bedrooms. We specifically requested one bedroom with a single bed and one bedroom with two beds in it. We got two single-bed bedrooms. One of us had to sleep on the tiny couch that night. The hotel was so overbooked that they could not move our room that night. The furniture looked chewed on and torn. The metal in the bathrooms was rusty and painted over. The rust was actually coming through the paint. The bathtubs were worn and showed age strongly. The shower walls have started peeling from the wall behind them and the ceilings plater show signs of leakage from above and mold. When we finally moved to the better room on floor five, all the same problems existed. Except that the TV worked how you would expect, and we finally got the bedroom arrangement we wanted. Might I add that the pictures from the hotel's website misled us into thinking that the TV's were nice. They 24 inch CRTs.
This hotel needs a huge makeover before they should even be called 3 star.
If I had to rate with stars I would give it 2.5 at best. Might I add that they charged like a 4.5 star hotel. Some would argue that it great location makes it better. But lets be reasonable, this is Columbia, SC. Other than the bars at 5 Points and the state college there is absolutely no draw to this city. You could get this kind of attractions in a small college town across the country and not have to pay out of the nose for it.
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