Hotel Arcata

Hotel

Had a great stay in this old hotel building in the middle of a nice little town. As several people below mention, do not come here if you expect the "comfort" of "modern" hotel rooms, but if you like a "back in the old days" experience, come on over and enjoy.

Warning: If you get a room on the back alley side Thursday night. Know this. The garbage trucks pick up, making a ton of noise, beginning at 4:00A. M. If I'd known this I would've brought ear plugs. I had asked via two separate phone calls to see if we could be moved to a different room on the main street but the staffer I spoke to said it would take a lot of work to do such a thing. A lot of work looking at a calendar and changing a couple of names? Laziness is no excuse for poor service especially in this economy. Very expensive room for a full bed. Lots of cob webs on the ceiling. Broken latch on the bathroom door so it wouldn't stay closed, so we had to block it shut with a towel or garbage can. No screens on the windows so there was a cloud of flies in the room probably due to our room being on the alley side. The bed was as hard as a rock. Dog poop on the sidewalk outside the front door. No fridge, microwave, or ironing board/iron. Ice machine is downstairs near the lobby. Parking: Have to park up the street in a 2 hour parking spot hoping none of the drunks walking home at 2:00 will mess with your car.

Bring your own comforter if you stay here, the blankets are very stiff. There isnt a mini fridge so bring a cooler too and no hair dryer either. Other than that id say it was an amazing stay.

The staff is excellent except for the deception as to how "historic" your experience will be. As in the olden days, no air conditioning, air filtration, air movement or heating comes with the room. They do turn on the mandatory steam heaters at 5AM. Should you be too hot to sleep, they advise opening the window to the bustling streets below. Even with earplugs, the street noise made it impossible to sleep. The hot water system is inadiquate for the number of guests. They regularly run out of hot water after 8AM and it is not available again until after check-out. So, not shower if you're not an early riser. But then again, with a steam bath at 5AM why not just get up and shower! Our bathtub had broken handles which cut my hand. The staff knew of the problem but had been unable to fix it in, as the employee put it, "all the years since I've been working here". The house sushi restaurant made some rolls early in the evening and kept them cold for hours before serving. They had some excuse as to its size and how few they sell but sushi should be freshly made in my opinion. The most expensive rooms in Arcata are also the most rustic. The experience is quite nice for 1809 but for 2009 its not a hotel experience in anyones imagination. If I had known what I was getting, I would have had different expectations. It is what it is but it is not as billed. The staff is the highlight but the run-down old gal needs a face-lift or to be put out of our misery.