The Lafayette A grand Riverboat Era Hotel

The lovely Lafayette is perfectly situated for walking the historic streets, downtown, neighborhoods of Marietta. The comfortable lobby affords a view of the Ohio River- a rowing team skimmed by in the early morning light! Nicely antique-furnished room; updated, sparkling clean bathroom. Loved all the Lafayette's history, framed on walls. Delightful!!

THE GOOD. I always stay in room 302 every year for the Blues Festival. It's so convenient. I love the location on the River, the old feel of the hotel. For the most part the staff is always fabulous, especially at the check in desk and the staff tending to the food and drink in the lobby during the festival. The room is always clean and they always accommodate my request to put a frig in my room. I really appreciate that. The food in the River Front Grill is pretty decent. As usual I will return next year because of proximity to the festival. I do appreciate all the hard work of the staff. THE NOT SO GOOD. The King Size Bed mattress needs to be replaced in 302. It was very lumpy and so hard. The worst sleep I have had there in years. The River Front Bar & Grill could use another person or two at the bar and in the kitchen during the festival. Waiting 20 minutes to even get water is ridiculous. The breakfast Buffett on Sunday Morning has really gone down hill folks. The food is mediocre at best. I asked the waitress, to get an order of rye toast. She promptly told me the toaster is like 200 years old and takes too long to warm up. It's really broken. I MEAN COME ON...no toast. For Pete's sake, buy a toaster at Walmart then. Very disappointed in the Sunday Breakfast. Will Probably go to Bob Evans next year. And Last, maybe invest in some new mini refrigerators and make sure they are cleaned after each use. Mine was sticky inside and I found human hair in it. Thankfully I had bleach wipes.

Excellent dinner and breakfast. Nice 3rd floor room with view of the Ohio river. Windows function for ventilation which is nice. Our only complaint is that our room had and old/musty smell. After we checked in, we entered the room, noticed the smell, and opened the windows to air-out the room, but after returning after dinner, the smell was still there. The food and service was fantastic. Great location on the river.

We thought it would be fun to visit Marietta, as we had never been there. And when we saw the historic Lafayette Hotel right on the river, we decided it would be the perfect base. Rates are low this time of year so we rented a penthouse to enjoy the space and the view. We did not feel that this hotel lives up to it motto of offering exceptional service and hospitality. Good Great location on the river, and historic sections are quite walkable. The room was a nice size - with great views of the rivers and had a large sitting area with couch, table and chairs, a small kitchenette ), a bedroom and a very large bathroom with plenty of towels. Dinner was good. We ate there two nights. Good burgers, fries, onion soup. quesadillas. Not so good - Our room wasn't ready at check in time. It was New Year's day and the hotel was almost empty after the parties of the night before, and we saw no one else trying to check in. We pleaded with the front desk clerk to call the housekeeping people to prioritize our room, and we finally checked in, about an hour later. The Front Desk people were friendly but did not offer much service. When we called to request replenishment of the coffee in our room, we were told to come down and get it. When we reported that the room was not clean, no action was taken. Window sills were filthy including a dead fly and much unidentifiable crud. A few photos attached. We reported it to the GM but no action was taken before we checked out after two nights. The room has two wall mounted ac/heating units. These were extremely noisy and we turned them off at night so we could sleep. Room is very poorly insulated so it was quite cold by morning. The huge bedroom window overlooks an Army Corp of Engineers work yard which has extremely bright lights on all night, making our room almost as light as day -- would be nice if a black out curtain was provided for those of us who prefer darkness for sleeping. Be aware that the kitchenette has no supplies other than two washcloths. Every hallway we walked through smelled musty. Breakfast food was mediocre (pancakes, oatmeal, hash browns, toast, bacon, eggs) but service was good. Definitely wouldn't eat here if it wasn't in the hotel. If we visit Marietta again, we will stay someplace else.

We have been staying at the Lafayette Hotel for many years. The hotel is very quaint and the decor preserves its riverboat history. The hotel is clean, comfortable, and the staff is very friendly. A must place to stay when visiting Marietta.