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Hotel Roanoke
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$$$
7 reviews for Hotel Roanoke
This is the perfect hotel if you're visiting Roanoke, and the rates are incredibly reasonable for the quality of the accomodations and the premier location at the hub of Roanoke's burgeoning downtown scene.
The hotel is historic and regal, the rooms are comfortable and quiet, and the staff is attentive.
The hotel itself has a seasonal outdoor pool and well-equipped fitness center, offers you warm chocolate chip cookies upon check-in, and has fairly cheap parking rates ($7 / day) if you have to stow a car.
What's more, the hotel is situated immediately adjacent the spanking-brand-new Taubman Museum of Art, and the pedestrian walkway across the railroad tracks leads you directly to the downtown core. You can walk through the emerging "downtown lofts" through the bustling Market and farmer's market, shopping (check out the letterpress at Roanoke Valley Printworks) and eating your way towards the Transportation Museum (which features a US Army Jupiter rocket).
The bar is comfortable, drinks are generous, and though the food isn't particularly outstanding (what hotel food ever is?), you're within blocks of a fabulous $100 meal (Metro), or a fabulous $2 meal (Texas Tavern).
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If you come to Roanoke for the first time you must stay here! The convenience to the market area and museums is unmatched. It looks stuffy from the outside and it does not fit the mold of American type chain hotels. Since Roanoke is attracting more tourists and conventioneers it is wise to book early.
This is a first class hotel. Lovely surroundings, upscale rooms (comparable to the Ritz Carlton I stayed in a while back). Great place for a getaway weekend or a business meeting (looks like they have impressive conference facilities). Sunday breakfast buffet included everything from bagels, lox, and capers, to omelets and lychee fruit--very nice.
There's a walkway across the square leading to the old downtown (five minute walk) with shops, restaurants, farmer's market, and an art museum.
Recommend it highly.
This beautiful hotel is right downtown and is walking distance to all the best restaurants and nightlife, something no other hotel can say, as they are all near the airport. Make sure to use http://Kayak.com or http://Hotels.com to get the best rate.
Don't eat at the Regency Room, it isn't very good and there are great places nearby.
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I have a love/hate relationship with this property. I have, by far, spent more nights in this hotel over the last 13 years than in any other.
The Hotel was built in 1882 by one of the 19th Century railroad barons (Frederick J. Kimball of Norfolk and Western fame, for the railroad buffs among you).
It's heyday was over by the end of the 1960s and the hotel was eventually closed in 1989 by then owner Norfolk Southern Railroad. The property was donate to Virginia Tech. To its credit, VT did not just bulldoze the place but rather entered into a partnership with the City and DoubleTree to renovate, restore and reopen the Hotel.
The property reopened in 1995, after that restoration and the addition of a 63K square foot conference/banquet facility, under the ownership of VT and management of DoubleTree, as the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. As it is under DoubleTree management , it is part of the Hilton family of hotels, utilizes their reservations system and participates in the HHonors guest reward program.
By way of full disclosure, I sit on the board of an organization that holds an annual event in Roanoke each year and which uses the Roanoke as our host hotel. We block about 150 rooms for the weekend, utilize a number of their smaller meeting rooms and hold a larger event in the banquet facility. We have been doing so since the hotel reopened in '95. I have also been staying here a few more times a year since then when I'm in town for meetings.
It is because of this ongoing relationship that I say I have a love/hate thing with them.
Generally, it's a beautiful hotel. They have done a great job with the restoration and if you want to see how the "well to do" lived in the first half of the 20th century, this is the place.
The hotel does however have a number of negatives in my view.
First of all, for what and where it is, I consider it to be a bit pricey, both for the base room rates and on the incidentals. As with most Hilton properties, they charge $10/night for Internet access. That generally rubs me the wrong way but to compound it, they have wired access in the rooms and wireless in other parts of the hotel. But here is the rub: The wireless signal is pretty sad in a lot of the guest rooms so if you actually want to get any work done, you have to choose the wired connection. However, if you also want to be able to use your wireless device in the lobby or other wifi covered areas yo must pay an additional $10/night for that!
Another issue is with some of the rooms. Some are a decent size and provide adequate (not great) living and work space. But there are others that are just absolutely TINY! I mean you can barely move tiny. They are like closets with beds. After a couple of stays there you learn which are which and can request one of the lines of bigger rooms. But if you get stuck in one of the micro-minis. . . well, don't eat any large meals during your stay!
I know that Roanoke is considered part of "the South" but it gets pretty nippy in those parts during the Fall/Winter/Spring so the lack of an indoor pool is another con.
The hotel's main restaurant is the Regency Room. It's a bit on the gourmet side for my tastes but a number of associates eat there regularly and are quite satisfied with the fare. Prices are a bit on the high in my view but you get what you pay for.
The place I spend most of my socializing time is the Pine Room Pub. This is my favorite place in the hotel. Not your typical hotel bar, the Pine Room provides more of a neighborhood pub atmosphere and I generally have a really good time there. The Pine Room's Patio is a great place to get together with friends on the late May evenings for cocktails and conversation. Contrary to what was stated in a previous review, the Pine Room is not the hotel's night club. That would be "Club aka:" which is located directly beneath the Pine Room on a lower level of the hotel. Night clubs not being my thing, I've never been so can't comment on it.
I have found the hotel staff to be generally pleasant and responsive to guest needs but not as proactive as one would expect in this class hotel. To put it simply, I never felt they had any great desire to go out of their way to make sure a guest was having a good stay.
The hotel is situated on a slight hill overlooking downtown Roanoke. There is a pedestrian bridge (ADA accessible) near the main entrance way leading right down into the downtown area where there are pubs, cafes, restaurants, shops and museums a plenty, all within walking distance. Together with the hotels airport shuttle, this allows visitors to stay in town, with access to virtually all of the downtown area, without the need of a rental.
As the Hotel Roanoke is now the only business class hotel in downtown Roanoke, it is really the only choice for those wishing or needing to stay downtown. And of course, there are the famous DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookies on check-in!
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If you've taken the Virginia Bar Exam in July, you are probably familiar with the Hotel Roanoke.
True story - I was looking to save a buck or two, so I stayed at the nearby Days Inn. My best friend stayed at the Hotel Roanoke. When I met up with him there the night before the Bar Exam, I said "now I understand the 'Two Americas' John Edwards has been talking about - and I'm staying in the wrong one."
This place is for what Herbert Garrison might call "cash chuckers" or "richers" but if you are taking the Bar Exam you might want to pay the price. Or at least don't stay at the Days Inn by the Roanoke Civic Center. The Hotel is so fancy that they don't have any exposed electrical cords in the lobbies - they all have cozies that match the curtains (no joke).
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If you are ever in Roanoke, stay here. Simple as that. Maybe I'm just use to hotel prices in CA, but I thought I got more than my money's worth.
Owned by the Hilton/Doubletree hotels, you receive one of the yummiest cookies the world has ever known at time of check in. With the cookie and the warm, welcoming staff, it's a wonderful way to start your stay.
I saw rooms on the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th floors and all were very nice. They remodeled and redecorated the rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors and they were gorgeous. Stylish, yet classic. The large, tudor-style hotel offers a pool, work out room, and a variety of conference and ball rooms. They have the Pine Room Pub, aka Nightclub, and very nice dining room offering a beautiful (and somewhat pricey) Sunday brunch.
In room, they have an amazing selection of first run and still-in-theater movies. We caught the Holiday and Hot Fuzz (which isn't even on DVD yet). While you're enjoying a movie, relax in one of the most comfortable beds I've slept in while staying at a hotel. The beds here were more comfortable than the ones at the Ritz in Pasadena. You can also enjoy room service, but for a price. They have surf and turf, steak diane, sandwiches, breakfast, or a bottle of champagne (if you're feeling sassy).
I truly enjoyed my stay here and if I'm ever in town again, I would love to go back! And for $119 a night with two double beds, I can definitely afford to!
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