The Good: Decent room size, Affordable, Clean, Great breakfast
The Bad: No pool, Surface problems, Pain to get into, Smoke in stairwells and corridors
The Basics: Despite some surface flaws and being a pain to get into, the Comfort Inn Carrier Circle is a nice, affordable place to stay when visiting or passing through Syracuse, NY.
Last month, my wife and I took an evening, cashed out some of my hotel points and went to the Comfort Inn Fairgrounds near where we're living in Syracuse, NY. As our first anniversary approaches, we still enjoy getting out with one another and find time together apart from everything else is doing good things for our relationship. However, the Comfort Inn Fairgrounds was average with a tendency toward the dark and given the chance to explore somewhere new, when my partner perked up with the question of whether or not we could spend a hotel night out this month, I said "sure," but I wanted us to check out a different place. For this overnight, we headed to the Comfort Inn Carrier Circle and despite the issues with actually getting into the hotel, this proved to be a much better choice for us. In fact, I doubt we'll return to the Comfort Inn Fairgrounds, but if we could get the same room we had at the Comfort Inn Carrier Circle, we'd probably take that!
The Comfort Inn Carrier Circle is a good place to spend a night and in the morning, the breakfast made for a pleasant surprise and way to wake up.
Location
The Comfort Inn Carrier Circle is located at 6491 Thompson Rd Syracuse, NY 13206. This inviting stone and glass building is set back off Thompson Road, well behind a local McDonald's. We found our way there by taking 481 to the Thompson Road (North) exit and a mile up the road there the sign for the Comfort Inn was . . . about twenty feet behind where Thompson Road becomes a divided highway leading into Carrier Circle. This means that one way or another, visitors have to go through the dreaded traffic circle to get into the Comfort Inn Carrier Circle. This is an annoyance, but so long as one is in the right lane coming out of Carrier Circle to get back on Thompson Road, one may easily get into the hotel's driveway. MapQuest and similar programs give accurate directions to the hotel.
The Comfort Inn Carrier Circle has only the one entrance, from Thompson Road headed South and a fairly cramped parking lot. The parking lot can easily hold one hundred cars. The Comfort Inn Carrier Circle in Syracuse is set back in a stand of trees which gives the four-story building the illusion of privacy. It also forces the hotel to adopt a motor lodge style for the bottom floor where the rooms have doors on the outside. The other three floors are enclosed and accessible through the main lobby. There are no grounds to speak of coming into the hotel.
Room Size
Upon entering the hotel, I was somewhat impressed by the breakfast area, which is adjacent to the main lobby. Walking into the hotel is like walking into a coffee house as there was a central fireplace, several couches and a television. One had the choice then of going to the left and the front desk or to the right, which takes the visitor into the breakfast area. Going straight puts one in the fireplace, but going around that leads to the main hallway and the hotel's rooms.
The hotel staff immediately greets guests and every member of the staff that I interacted with was friendly, kind and knowledgeable about the area. In fact, when I was checking in, the staff was remarkably friendly with the gentleman who checked me in giving us a room upgrade when I asked (I am a member of the Choice Hotels loyalty program). I knew there were better rooms than the one we booked available going in, but sometimes the hotels aren't so keen to give away their bigger rooms. We managed to score a nonsmoking room on the fourth floor with a king bed and two-person hot tub in the bathroom.
As for the room itself, this was large and felt large, especially because it was not cluttered with excessive furniture. Bigger than most in the Choice Hotel system, the room measured thirty-one feet deep by thirteen feet wide. Our upgraded room included a king-sized bed, a true two person hot tub (in the bathroom), the usual television and desk combination and a comfortable reclining chair in the corner. There was an enclosed closet and because there was no table, there was a large amount of open space near the window. While I was checking on the bathroom, my partner got a good running start before leaping on the bed.
Cleanliness
From the first moment I opened the door to the room at the Comfort Inn Carrier Circle, I had a good feeling about it, though some of it was just from getting away with my partner. The entire fourth floor of the hotel is now nonsmoking entirely. Unfortunately, the stairwells reeked of fresh cigarette smoke and even some of the hallways smelled of smoke. Our room, however, did not smell, though my partner seemed to detect some lingering smoke scent.
Every time I enter a new hotel room, I flush the toilet (past experience has proven this is an excellent thing to check out right away!) and this Comfort Inn easily passed the first flush test with no difficulties. The shower, hot tub and toilet were all clean, as were all of the linens. None of the towels had spots, nor did the sheets or the comforters.
The wallpaper in the room was tasteful and none of the wallpaper or paint was peeling. However, more than any hotel I've been to of late, I noticed several surface details that were in states of disrepair. So, for example, in our room near the window, there was a giant black mark on the wallpaper that looked like a kid had taken a marker to the wall and slashed. Similarly, some of the hallways had wallpaper that had been cut. The rugs were clean, but I did notice a spot in one of the hallways where there was a burned spot in one. Even so, the room was clean and even the mirror behind the hot tub was perfectly clean and clear.
Amenities
The Comfort Inn Carrier Circle has a pretty decent package working for it for a hotel in the Choice Hotel system. In every room there were the standard coffee packets, shampoo, and lotion, along with an air conditioning/heating unit. There were also two tea bags with the coffee as well, which seems to be becoming standard.
The room we stayed in was the largest in the hotel and ours had the king bed and a two-person hot tub in the bathroom. The hot tub was very comfortable and a true two person hot tub. I was able to stretch out and the water was hot and both my partner and I enjoyed relaxing in it. As well, it had very easy-to-use controls on the wall and there was a little information plaque below which informed users exactly how to operate it. Simply twisting a knob on the wall after the tub was filled activated the jets and it worked wonderfully.
The free continental breakfast at this Comfort Inn, however, was one of the best in the chain. Everything seemed fresh and there was a decent selection. In addition to scrambled eggs and coffee cake, there were two types of cold cereal, milk, apple and orange juice from a machine. There were English muffins, fresh bagels, muffins, donuts, and white bread for toast. There was, as well, the trademark waffle maker, and fresh batter and a lot of syrup. There were two types of yogurt and fresh oranges and apples, the fruit being available around the clock. As well, there were oatmeal packets and round-the-clock coffee, tea and hot cocoa available in the lobby.
This hotel did not have a pool, but it did have a small weight room. There is also a free high speed internet in every room, which I was able to access. As I relaxed in the tub, my partner played on-line on our iPod Touch.
The television has approximately sixty cable television stations and the television was sizable. This room, in the off season as it is now, would regularly have cost $73.99 and this seemed a pretty decent rate for the Syracuse area, especially if one could get bumped up to the best room. Oddly, on the phone I heard the front desk quote a room price in the low sixties; I write "odd" because on-line when I booked the room using the Choice Hotels.com "Best Price" feature, the $73.99 price was the best they offered there.
Overall
All in all, this was a nice place to stay with a friendly staff which went out of their way to make travelers feel welcome. The room was clean and breakfast was good, making this a nice place to wake up in the morning!
For other hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Comfort Inn East - Indianapolis, IN
Quality Inn & Suites Historic St. Charles - Saint Charles, MO
Comfort Inn - Hill City, SD
7/10
For other hotels and travel reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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