The Good: Generally clean, Friendly staff
The Bad: Small rooms, Lackluster breakfast, Dark, Seems overpriced
The Basics: A lackluster motor lodge, the Canastota Days Inn has a friendly staff, but offers little to draw in (or keep) visitors.
As a proud resident of Upstate New York (there IS more than just The City, you know!), I felt that I ought to take a few moments to reflect upon something truly local. In this case, I decided to get away for a night at a local hotel with the intent to review it. The thing is, most people haven't heard of Canastota, New York. Add to that, Canastota is rather close to Syracuse, NY and Syracuse is packed with hotels and restaurants and things to do. Thus, it might not be a surprise that my night at the Days Inn, Canastota was one of the more disappointing hotel stays of my reviewing experiences and one that became easy to not recommend. After all, disappointing is one thing and one has a better chance of getting away with it when one is the only game in town. The Days Inn, though, is not; there is a local motor lodge three buildings away and with all of the options presented by nearby Syracuse, it is impossible to recommend the Days Inn, Canastota.
Even so, the Days Inn in Canastota is not the worst hotel experience I have ever had. Given that once a year, Syracuse overflows into Canastota as far as lodging goes (all of the colleges rather stupidly have graduation weekend on the same weekend, it seems!), there are worse places one might end up than Canastota and its Days Inn.
Location
The Days Inn, Canastota, is located on Peterboro St. in Canastota, NY. This is literally right off Exit 34 on Route 90 (the New York State Thruway). Peterboro Street at this point is Route 13 the Days Inn is visible from the Thruway exit. The grounds are a big parking lot, which is repaved every few years.
This simple, two-story building is essentially an old motor lodge, though the doors to rooms are only accessible on the inside of the hotel. There are frequently coupons and specials for the Days Inn, but it is usually in the $60 range for a night.
Room Size
The room we stayed in seemed a little smaller than the rooms I am used to. The room was approximately fifteen by twenty feet, the room held two double beds, a television and a bathroom in a cozy, amount of space. The dining area in the main lobby was tiny, with small tables for only two couples to sit and eat in the morning at tables.
Cleanliness
This Days Inn is fairly clean, but the entire hotel is dark, including the lobby, which is poorly located to try to capture any natural light. We stayed in a nonsmoking room and it was clear that it had not always been nonsmoking. There was a faint scent of nicotine still in the rug and wood of the room. Even so, the windows were clean and the carpet seemed clean, though there were a few old stains both in our room and in the hallways.
As for the linens and the like, the Canastota Days Inn is a clean hotel, though the towels seemed smaller than at the Choice Hotels I am used to staying at. The bedding and towels in the hotel room were clean and dry when we arrived and they actually seemed fresher and cleaner than the room (betting that the linens are not segregated by smoking/non-smoking rooms, it seems impressive how the towels and sheets do not smell like even the imagination of smoke).
The common areas, like the breakfast nook, were generally clean, though during the breakfast rush, the table with the food and the accompanying tables for dining at got a bit dirty without any housekeeping staff coming to clean them off.
Amenities
The television has fifty cable television stations and each room has wi-fi capability, but otherwise, this is a very stark hotel as far as the amenities go. This is clearly a hotel where the visitor is intended to just crash for the night. Each room has soap, shampoo and hand lotion, as well as a coffee maker.
Breakfast in the morning consists of coffee (or hot water for tea) and donuts. Considering that there is a Dunkin' Donuts (reviewed here!) across the parking lot, breakfast might be better hot there. The Days Inn in Canastota falls down on the free breakfast option.
Overall
The Days Inn in Canastota is clean and a place to crash when passing through Upstate New York, but it is hardly a place to go for fun or where one might want to go to feel at all pampered. And for the price, it seems pricey, even for so little.
For other hotel reviews, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Terrible's Hotel - Las Vegas, NV
Hunt Valley Inn Marriot – Hunt Valley, MD
Super 8 Motel Newcastle – Newcastle, IN
4/10
For other travel reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here for an organized list!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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