Wyndham Garden Hotel University Place Hotel - Page 1

Checked in late and was given a filthy room. It smelled of smoke even though it was supposed to be a non-smoking room, the phone was broken, the toilet flushed itself every 3 minutes, and the shower curtain was blood stained. Do yourself a favor and don't stay here!!!

I've stayed here three times, (4/2006, 9/2006, and 3/2007) all on Hotwire bids of under $60 a night. Lately, however, the Hotwire price has risen over $100, and its been more cost effective to stay Downtown.

The Wyndham's best attribute is its location, set just slightly west of the heart of Oakland in U Pitt territory. This equates to some great convenience to a wealth of dining options, particularly in evenings. Oakland strikes me as being lively enough without being too lively, and is very easy to get away from at most times via Port Authority buses on the 61 and 71 lines, among others. There is a CVS right next door for any last minute needs like toothbrushes, etc.

The hotel itself has always struck me as clean, and is reasonably well maintained. Front Desk has typically been polite, though not always accomodating. On my last trip here, despite a reservation for 4 people, I was placed in a room with a single bed, necessitating a rollaway, not what we were expecting, and not changed, apparently due to a full house.

Despite the niceness of the area and its walkability, I've always been jinxed by having to get a cab out of here on departure day, since the train from PGH leaves at 545am, and PAT buses won't quite get you there with much time to spare. The hotel's shuttle does not begin running until much later in the morning.

As a "Wyndham by Request" member, I had good expectations. But on checking in, everything went wrong. We requested a non-smoking, 2 bed room but received a N/S king room (there were 3 of us). They gave us a rollaway at no cost but it was Parent's Weekend at UPitt so they had no other rooms. When we got to the room, our keys didn't work. When we got inside, the room was FILTHY! The carpet was dirty and the bathroom was disgusting (hair stuck to the shower walls, dirt between the tiles, ugh!). We called housekeeping and the Houskeeping Director showed up with a spray bottle and a sponge. That was all they did to clean it up. They gave us a moderate discount but it didn't make up for it. Even if the room had been correct and clean, this hotel has seen better days. It looks more like the crummy places you find off the strip in Vegas, where accommodations are the last thing anyone cares about. This hotel (and I use that word loosely) is very close to UPitt but save your money (I paid $230 a night for two nights, not including parking at $15/day for self park) and get a decent place somewhere else for the same price or even less.