Happy Saturday friends! I hope your week is starting off well!
As I mentioned in my post about a new direction that Caravan Sonnet is heading in (you can read more HERE!) I am excited to spend more time sharing about upstate New York, New York, and New England in my travel posts! Last week I shared that I am excited to share with y'all some recap posts from the New England Winter Road Trip that I took with my mom 2 years ago about a month before the world stopped due to the pandemic!
At the time I shared a couple of posts about our trip, but with the way the world changed I stopped sharing and didn't get to share even half of what we saw or what we did and so I am excited to revisit this trip and share more! I hope that it encourages you to consider taking a road trip (in part or in whole depending on your circumstances) this winter to this beautiful place in the world!
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Happy Tuesday friends! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend!
Today I am excited to share more about our New England Winter Road Trip that we took in February (prior to the outbreak of the COVID 19 virus and stay at home/shelter in place orders)! To read about the exact route that we took check out this post HERE! Here is a general overview...
We arrived in Concord around lunch time and after eating at Margaritas (you can read my review HERE) we drove less than a half a mile to explore the historic area of Concord. If you go to Concord in the warmer months you could easily walk this, but it was freezing and we chose to drive! *smiles* For those who may need it there is ample disability parking which is wonderful!
The first thing we did was explore the beautiful and historical St. Paul's Episcopal Church. You can read all about that HERE and then we spent time exploring the historical and awe-inspiring New Hampshire State House (click HERE to read more)! After exploring the State House we moved our car (mostly to warm up *smiles*) less than a half a block up to the New Hampshire State Library (which you can read about HERE).
After exploring and then taking time to drive around Concord more we headed back to our hotel for the evening, the Hotel Concord.
The Hotel Concord is located right in the heart of the historic district downtown and after a full day of driving, exploring, and adventures we were excited to stay so close to the historic downtown.
The Hotel Concord has a distinctive New England and specific New Hampshire "feel" to it. As you enter for check in at the street lobby (you park in a different area in the back of the hotel) you are immediately struck with an elegant setting. I wouldn't necessarily describe it as the typical (or what I expected) choice for my blog of "cozy luxury" because there was an air of "coolness" to it, but it was very lovely.
I think part of the reason for the feeling of the air of "coolness" more came from my encounter with the staff during check in when I asked for the easiest way to bring our luggage if someone had a disability. Now, if you have been around this blog for a while you know that this is something that I always do simply because so many of my readers are struggling with health issues. I was a little surprised when I was given instructions and no offer to help (which is often accompanied in boutique hotels such as The Hotel Concord). I asked if there was anyone to help and I was told, "no and it is a short and easy walk to the elevators". Now from our parking space (that was not handicapped) it was a short walk but it did include stairs that we had to carry our luggage down. There are about 5 of them and if you are disabled I would definitely call the hotel ahead of time to discuss this as you would need to come in through the front lobby, not through the parking garage. Again, it wasn't "bad" and there was not a meanness to these instructions (I understand that I look perfectly healthy asking these questions and someone in a wheelchair might receive a different response) it just didn't invoke a spirit of "cozy luxury" and "inclusiveness".
The other thing that is a bit different about this hotel than other properties that I have stayed and reviewed is that there really wasn't a "warm or cozy" environment that you would want to stay at or hang out in the main area/lobby area. Instead, you were given the impression that you were to check in and go to your room. It was totally fine, but just different than I imagined from the hotels website.
We headed up to our room and we immediately felt that it was absolutely lovely.
As we walked in, we both thought it was just wonderful. It was a little cold, but it looked lovely. As you can see in the picture above there were even a pair of slippers that beckoned you to put them on.
The Hotel Concord's rooms (there are nearly 40 of them) are all different and have a distinctive modern and sophisticated feel. To make themselves unique and different, The Hotel Concord has designed each of the rooms to be different in size and shape which was really neat to learn.
Our room was set up lovely and it was incredibly quiet. We had a view of the back of the hotel and while it was extremely quiet it was not "picturesque" at all so I didn't take any pictures.
There were tons of extra little touches all around that made it feel incredibly sophisticated and it was a lovely room. Each of the rooms at The Hotel Concord come with the following amenities (as shared on The Hotel Concord's website):
*work space with multiple USB charging ports
*Huge closets (California style)
*amazon echo dots
*large TV's with premium movie channels
*complimentary wifi
*a safe
*original artwork
*lovely and luxurious bed linens and plush robes
*refrigerators
*marble tiled bathrooms
*luxury toiletries
Our stay was extremely quiet, but I do have to note something that was odd/strange that happened that didn't allow us to have the most restful night and why I can't fully endorse a stay here.
When we arrived to our room we noticed that it was a bit chilly and cold. It was in the middle of February so it was freezing outside but we didn't expect our room to be cold. At first we both thought that maybe we were just tired or cold from being outside, but we stepped back into the hallway and realized that it was our room that was an issue. We tried (unsuccessfully) several times to change the temperature before we called downstairs. Someone came up and tried to set it and we were assured that the room would get warmer. It didn't seem to help and we didn't hear any heat go on but we were told that it would and to give it a bit of time. We were also offered additional blankets if we would like them but told "not to worry the heat would come on quickly".
We decided to go downstairs and order our dinner and let the room warm up. Unfortunately when we came back to the room (about an hour later) it was even colder than it was before. We again called down and a sweet woman came up (she was the receptionist/front desk person on duty that night) to try to help us. She couldn't change anything and in the meantime mom and I were in our winter coats shivering and freezing. We asked if there was someone on staff that could come fix it or if we could be moved to a different room and she said that she would need to call someone. As we were shivering she tried (unsuccessfully) to get a hold of the manager. There was no answer.
After about 20 minutes with no answer from her manager, she also offered us blankets which we accepted and she brought back a couple to us. There was only two that she had and she brought us some extra robes. We asked again if we could move and she told us that while there were rooms available she couldn't move us without the managers permission. This was around 7 at night and I was a little irritated that the person who was in charge of the front desk duties didn't have this "power" as my poor mother was shivering and freezing. Shouldn't the front desk person on duty be able to make these decisions at night??
She told us that she was sorry and that she would keep trying till 10pm (when she was leaving her shift). She said that she would call us and keep us updated but when we didn't hear from her we had to call down and she told us that no one was answering. We tried calling her again around 9:30 and received no answer and then until about 10:30 we continued to call and no answer. I also went downstairs and didn't see anyone in the lobby. After waiting about 20 minutes I headed back up to our room tired and exhausted.
And so ... that night my mom and I put on several layers of clothes, the blankets, the robes, and even towels from the bathroom over us and both of us turned on our heating pads we brought and had a very unrestful night of sleep. In the morning we were burried under everything after a fitful night of sleep and ready to move and leave so we could get warm in our car!
I don't mean to sound rude, but in the middle of the winter, bless y'alls heart, The Hotel Concord, but there really needs to be heating or at least be willing to move people who are cold.
Honestly, I have to give this a negative review more because of the way it was handled then the fact that we were cold. I was shocked that this property (that comes so highly rated in different ways) didn't have a manager able to attend to this type of situation in the winter.
What surprised me even more was when I checked out. I mentioned our situation (expecting to get a credit of some sort on our stay due to everything) and the lady checking me out said, "sounds like it was an adventure". There was no apology, no offer of anything to help redeem the situation (I was literally still shivering when I saw her), no offer of even a cup of coffee on them to warm us up, no nothing. In addition to this when I asked if the hotel had been full she replied that it had only been at about 1/2 capacity! I asked why we hadn't been moved and she said she couldn't answer that.
Overall, I really couldn't recommend the property... not because we were cold but because of how the situation was handled.
Honestly, it is always hard to share a negative review here on the blog and this is only the fourth time here on the blog I have done so in the 7 years of travel writing. I hope that this helps people staying in the Concord area in the future to know how to make the best decisions for them on where to stay because sadly I can't recommend this property.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read today! Please let me know if you have any questions about The Hotel Concord or our New England Winter Road Trip!
Happy Tuesday friends! I hope you have a wonderful day!
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