21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati

We stayed here after leaving the Hampton/ Homewood Suites due to quality. What a refreshing change! If you are an artist or into art, there is a first floor gallery that gives the space a refreshing visual charge. Check in was a breeze. The rooms are very clean and contemporary. Robes and Nespresso coffee are provided. The hotel is located in the “arts” district filled with colorful murals and theater venues. I did not make use of the spa services but they were highly reviewed. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants comfort, convenience and service.

Ours was a Valentine's Day overnight, with dinner in their excellent restaurant. I'd noticed earlier that our room didn't seem to respond to the thermostat, and it was too cool. We tried again with the thermostat before dinner, came back 3 hours later, and the room hadn't warmed at all. We goofed, because we SHOULD HAVE called the front desk. We didn't, thinking we'd find a blanket in the closet. THERE WASN'T and again, we should have called the desk, but didn't. OUR FAULT. We figured we'd just tough it out -- it was maybe 65 degrees in the room, so hardly life-endangering. Well that was also our mistake! The next morning (my wife had slept poorly), we finally DID contact the desk, because the room's stupid espresso machine was a pain to use for very little actual coffee. We finally called the desk. The manager brought up two carafes of coffee and when we relayed our displeasure about the thermostat, she told us there had been some problems. We got an adjustment of $50 on our bill, which was nice, but didn't really make up for our very uncomfortable night. We LIKE this hotel and have stayed there before and had no problems and love the museum. But overall it was not a pleasant stay for us.

The hotel lobby smelled like sewage. The room smelled intensely of pot and cigarettes every time the heat came on, which woke me up throughout the night. The room was fine otherwise. The location was good but I wouldn’t stay here again. Hopefully they can figure out the issues with the awful odors.

Despite its designation as a 4-star hotel, the hotel fell far short. Staff were nice but generally inattentive; no one offered to help unload or assist with luggage and front desk staff were slow to welcome and check us in. The room was the bigger disappointment. Upon entering we noticed that the outlet cover on the light switch was not entirely covering the wall, creating a visible space to the electrical outlet. Nearly all other outlets were like this. The bathroom had dated sink and shower fixtures and throughout the entire night the toilet would periodically emit a loud alarm-like sound waking us up. The hallway carpeting had stains and the door paint looked decades old. Service at the bar was good, as were the drinks. But the atmosphere was blah, matching that of the adjacent dining room.

Soooooooooo - I wouldn’t rush to stay here again and I was only there from 10:15 pm to 7:30 am. That said, in the right circumstances I’d give it another try. The good - the check in and check out was fast and friendly. The bathroom was really big and had great amenities. The price was good too - while i wasn’t crazy about my stay I am not angry about what I paid as it was a good rate commensurate with the experience. The bad - someone a few doors down from us was clearly sick as there was bedding with vomit on it in the hall outside their room. I passed it once… not a big deal. 15 mins later I passed it again. Also not the end of the world. I passed it again an hour later and the hall stunk like vomit. That’s really gross. Also, the carpets in both the halls and our rooms were very musty.