Hotel Hell

Just decided to suprise wifey with trip to Indy for GenCon. I am now learning that downtown hotels are non-existent (I know, my fault for booking late). Are there any areas/hotels where us late bookers tend to gravitate? Would like to find a place where other gamers are staying.

I was curious the other day if there was a Hotel Hell sub. I found it, but it isn’t very active.

So, I did a Reddit Request and they gave me the sub to mod.

I’ll work on making it look a little better and sprucing it up, but if anyone is a fan of Hotel Hell, come join the sub and feel free to post and discuss!

Chad

Imade it yesterday fam, I was called slug, I was able to prove myself and grad with my platoon, MCRD San Diego

I’ve divided this into different sections, so feel free to skip around if you don’t want to read the whole thing.

Reference pictures on this Imgur album:

PRICE
I paid less than $100 with taxes, which is a good price for Harpers Ferry. Towns Inn was the cheapest in-town option for my trip and it’s conveniently located in the middle of town. I’ve read some reviews on TripAdvisor that say their cancellation policy is unfair but I obviously didn’t have to use it.

KARAN
Karan was the first person I saw and was very friendly. She seemed completely normal and happy to be there. She was a little forgetful and a little eccentric, but that’s it. She's also very religious, which is obvious if you read the Town's Inn website or talk to her long enough. I watched the episode again after my experience with her and I think it's a case of reality TV editing. Notably, I did not ask her about Hotel Hell or GR because she has openly spoken out against the show and has allegedly gotten into fights with guests who mention Gordon. We had a few random conversations about the hotel, how she likes Harpers Ferry, the train station, etc. During one of the conversations she said, “I know I look like a witch, but I am a devout Christian and I would never” — which I found pretty funny. She didn't mention anything about living in the hotel and I didn't think it was my place to ask. Living in a room at your business is actually pretty common in Harpers Ferry from what I’ve heard. She works in a little corner right next to the door while her manager handles all the reservations and sales and such.

OTHER STAFF
The only other person I saw during my stay was the manager who was not in the episode. She seems to do a lot of the work around the place and interacts with all the guests while Karan works more behind-the-scenes. There was a phone number posted for a caretaker but the name was not familiar and I did not see them in person. Most of the staff featured in the episode worked for the restaurant. We’ll get to this later, but none of them are there anymore.

CHECKIN
The check-in process was weird. I approached Karan (who was facing away from the door) and she told me to go in the back and talk to her manager. When I went back there it was the bar/cafe and it wasn’t clear if the woman sitting in the corner was the woman I needed to talk to. They probably need a desk or something. The only other weird thing I noticed about check-in is that the keys to the rooms are left in an organizer outside where anyone could take them. I’m sure Gordon would have something to say about that.

LAYOUT
The entrance where Gordon enters is not the entrance anymore. They seem to have completely moved the epicenter of the hotel to a different building. Speaking of which, I don't remember if Gordon pointed this out in the episode, but the inn is divided into two buildings connected by a courtyard. I stayed in the "Mountain House," which is where the check-in area, cafe, the store and many of the rooms are. The other building seems locked off unless you were staying in a room there and I wasn’t able to go. I did notice some clutter around the place, but it was mostly tacky farmhouse-ish knick-knacks and unnecessary furniture. There was a store with a lot of kitschy souvenirs, hiking snacks, etc. There was no basket store, but I saw a few baskets around the place and a bunch in an area I'll talk about later. The main areas were super cramped in general so this extra stuff didn’t help. The courtyard probably needs some work as the stones had noticeable cracks in them and it was generally dirty. Note that this courtyard is also the outside seating when Gordon and the guests ate at the restaurant.

THE ROOMS
The rooms were average. They could really use some sprucing up and some upgraded beds/sheets/furniture. The beds were not very comfortable and the rooms were tiny. Some of these rooms are advertised for three people but I felt squished being the only person in there (see the picture on Imgur for reference). The door barely locked and would have been split in two if I shut it hard. There were extra linens under the bed, which is something I remember Gordon complained about. No smell in the room though. Others have also said broken furniture was stored in their room, but I didn’t have any. I was able to see into a few other rooms as well and they also looked cramped. The bathroom was down a flight of stairs but I’m used to that with these small hotels. The stairs were really uneven — I constantly felt like I was going to fall down them. On the other hand, I talked to a woman who was staying in what is essentially their presidential suite and she went on and on about how much she loved it.

CLOSET SPACE/WARDROBE
There was a closet in my room…full of someone else’s clothes and random junk. I let out an audible “you’ve got to be kidding me” when I opened it. Seriously, go check out the picture on Imgur, it was unbelievable. Gordon would cry if he saw it. At least it wasn't locked.

THE BUILDING
Karan's biggest complaint about the Hotel Hell renovation was that it didn't preserve the inn's historic style, which might be a fair criticism, but completely rejecting modernity really impacts the guest experience. Keep in mind most of the renovations were for the building I didn't have access to, but Karan went on record to say most of it was gone in articles following the Hotel Hell episode airing. The building is over 200 years old and it feels like it — lots of creaky floorboards, you can hear into other rooms, etc.

THE RESTAURANT
They don't have a traditional restaurant anymore. Remember when I said it seems they've moved the epicenter from one building to the other? I'm pretty sure this is why, because the restaurant appears to have been based in the other building. They've replaced it with a self-serve cafe area where you can buy frozen food, pre-packaged food and a few local/homemade items. Admittedly I did not use this area except to get a drink. Kind of disappointed I missed out on the boiled burgers. From what I read, they closed the restaurant not too long after the show aired. Interestingly, if you explore the courtyard you can look through a window and see part of the old kitchen. On the shelves inside the kitchen are a bunch of baskets, which you might remember were sold as part of a weird basket store in the episode.

TLDR
Overall, I wasn't super impressed with Town's Inn but the fact I had to push this trip back a few times due to sold-out weekends is a good indicator of their business. They have a captive audience of tourists looking for cheap rooms, so I expect them to be open as long as people make the trip to Harpers Ferry. I talked to a few tourists there who had no idea the hotel was on a reality show, so I don’t think Hotel Hell particularly hurt the business’ reputation.

Thank you for reading this long post. I’m planning on going to another Hotel Hell hotel sometime this summer. I’d be happy to answer any additional questions.