Sleeping

Of course, no trip report would be complete without a review of the hotel. We're staying at a place called La Tourelle Resort and Spa on top of the hill near Ithaca College. It's a nice place in a beautiful spot. And although it's not quite what it aspires to be, I think it's a pretty nice place.

When you come up to a place with a Frenchy sounding name in a pretty spot, you're expecting something like a luxurious country inn. And it isn't quite that, as I had assumed based on the price, which was quite reasonable. It's not an old place, and so has the feel of something where they wanted to build something special and luxurious, but didn't quite have enough money or vision to pull it off. But despite that I'm reasonably high on the place.

The lobby is a mix between and inn and a hotel, which captures things in a nutshell. There are some comfortable leather couches, one of which I'm currently sitting on, around a fireplace and a baby grand piano. Just off that area is a table with a computer and a shelf with some board games and a stereo that plays pleasant music all the time. On the other side is a small bar area with a few tables and nice chairs. The bar has a Finger Lakes wine happy hour and the rest of the time is an honor bar, which although I haven't availed myself of it is one of the nicer touches I've seen. You take a glass of wine or beer or soda and leave some dollar bills in a basket. That just makes me feel good for some reason. There's also a breakfront with free coffee available all the time and excellent coffee from Ithaca Coffee Company to boot. There are coffeemakers in the rooms but this is much better coffee.

The people who work here are without exception pleasant and completely helpful. I brought my bicycle along and when I asked about a place to store it, since the place doesn't have a luggage room, they put it in a very nice hotel room, right off the lobby, that happens to have a non-functional air conditioner. So not only is my bike safe and comfortable, but the staff and I get to make constant jokes about how the bike is doing and how it's enjoying it's stay.

There is a vaguely South Pacific theme going on, with wooden primitive sculptures in the lobby and masks on all the room doors. It's not really carried through though, not that I'd want it to be. The rooms are good sized (we had a queen room- the king rooms, like the one my bike is staying in, are larger) with with plenty of dresser space, a small table and chairs near the window, and a small refrigerator (for our convenience! Not a mini bar!). The bed is very comfortable. Some of the rooms have flat screen TVs. Ours has a reasonably nice older TV with a DVD player. The bathroom is small and modest but functional. The wifi is free (thank you!) and works better than in most hotels, but there is no outlet anywhere near the table (the king room next door does have outlets near the table).

The real problem with the room is climate control. Here's where the lack of upfront money comes in. There's no central heating or AC. This leaves each unit with one of those accursed floor consoles where you punch buttons and turn knobs to adjust the temperature. This is hardly a unique problem. Mirror Lake Inn, one of my favorite places, has the same setup.

The big problem with these units is that they suck. I know that sounds vague, but it can be applied to any specific aspect of their operation with equal accuracy. The thing is noisy, difficult to adjust, and ineffective in dealing with extremes. It was very hot and humid the first couple of days we were here, and though the room would get cool it never got dehumidified so we had a choice of freezing or clammy or, most typically, both. So sleeping was less than great, and fairly or not, this significantly downgrades the whole experience.

There's a bistro for breakfast and lunch (and a curiously poor brunch menu). The food is fine. The servers say "Enjoy!" when they leave you something on the table. There's a steak restaurant on the property which we did not try. There's a decent spa on the property. We all had massages which were good but not special in any way. There are some nice sitting areas outside, though no pool, and trails in the backyard lead into Buttermilk Falls State Park.

So overall I would give La Tourelle a positive but not rave review. I'm guessing for this area it's as good as it gets, and the price/value relationship is good. If you stay here I think you'll be satisfied but not blown away.