The Good: Spacious rooms, Good location, Comparatively inexpensive
The Bad: Unclean, Insecure, Poor breakfast, Light on amenities
The Basics: While I was initially excited by an inexpensive hotel near my annual convention's location, the Quality Suites Hunt Valley left me disappointed.
For many years, I was a dealer at a Star Trek convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland. I always had a difficult time trying to find a good hotel in that area, one that lasted year after year. So, this year, I was thrilled as I returned to that convention to find that there was a hotel in the Choice Hotels chain that was closer than ever before to the convention hotel. Unfortunately, the Quality Suites where I stayed this year was a less-than-stellar option for our weekend stay.
Location
The Quality Suites (MD267 in the Choice Hotel numbering system) is a weird hotel that is instantly reminiscent of college housing as it is several small buildings in a little cluster. The cluster is located at 10710 Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland, which is right off of Interstate I-83 and very easy to find. It is located just off the main divided highway and near a pretty cool shopping area. There are places to eat nearby that are very easy to get to and to return from.
The property is not exceptional; there are no grounds to speak of, though the hotel buildings are located around a centralized swimming pool. The buildings have sidewalks between them, so there are no real grassy areas or places to hang out on the grounds.
The Quality Suites Hunt Valley seems to have a semi-permanent population as well as people just staying for a limited time. The result - while I was there - was being woken up one night by fairly extensive and loud drama going on in the parking lot. That made the stay rather uncomfortable as I had reasonable concerns that my car might suffer collateral damage from people fighting in the narrow parking lot. Fortunately, there ended up being no issues in that regard, though not being able to sleep because of noise issues seemed like an unlikely problem in a hotel as sprawling as this one.
Room Size
The rooms at the Quality Suites Hunt Valley are quite large, which is the redeeming aspect of an otherwise sub-par hotel. The suite I stayed in was about twenty-seven feet deep by approximately twenty-three feet wide. The room was a proper suite with a single king-sized bed, nonsmoking, and included a kitchenette and bathroom. Even with the fold-out couch, chair, and dining area, the room felt quite spacious. And for only $75/night, the Quality Suites Hunt Valley feels very affordable for the size and location.
Cleanliness
The Quality Suites Hunt Valley is not a very clean hotel, nor is it particularly well-maintained. The paint job is poor - we noticed quite a bit of chipped and peeling paint both on the outside of buildings and on the walls inside our suite. As much as the paintjob could use a refurbishing, the Quality Suites Hunt Valley was surprisingly dirty. In addition to grime being on many surfaces - the walls look like they were never once washed - the maintenance of the grounds at the Quality Suites Hunt Valley was poor. For sure, animal owners who stay at the hotel should be responsible for cleaning up after their own pets. But, barring that, it would be nice to be able to walk along the walkways without ever stepping in dog crap.
The door to the lobby and the breakfast area had a loose handle when I visited and in addition to the hotel grounds being a bit dirty, the room I had was fairly dark compared to its size. The lamps in the room did a poor job of illuminating the entire suite.
Amenities
The hotel staff at the Quality Suites Hunt Valley was not overly friendly. The desk staff was cold and acted like checking me in (and out) was a huge inconvenience.
Breakfast at the hotel was somewhat disappointing. Despite having a giant sign with a beautiful picture of fresh waffles, there was no make-your-own waffle station when I stayed there. There were, however, two types of juice, milk, and coffee. There were very plain donuts, prepackaged muffins, danishes, bagels and bread for toasting. As well, there were two cereal options. For hot food options, there were eggs, sausage and biscuits.
The room had wi-fi, though it seemed to be very taxed by two of us in a room attempting to use it at the same time.
The room had a stovetop, microwave and refrigerator, which was nice considering that there was a grocery store there that had Ben & Jerry's ice cream on sale - it was nice to be able to get some and have a freezer for it! All of the rooms have a television, with over a hundred channels. There is the usual shampoo and lotion in the bathroom and I've had no problems getting more of either when I need them.
This is not a hotel big on amenities and given how loud the surrounding area was, in addition to the usual amenities, the hotel could really use decent soundproofing.
Overall
The Quality Suites Hunt Valley is an okay hotel to stay at in the Hunt Valley/Baltimore area, but it is definitely more cheap than it is inexpensive.
For other hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Quality Inn & Suites Airport - Indianapolis, IN
Quality Inn Lakefront - Saint Ignace, MI
Comfort Suites - Stratford, CT
4/10
For other travel reviews, please check out my Travel Review Index Page for an organized listing.
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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