The Goodwin Hotel

For five star room rates you’re getting a 2 star hotel. I love boutique hotels but this place is a joke. Toilets rock (no, they literally rock side to side) wallpaper coming off, corridors with dingy old finishes, no decaffeinated coffee and the breakfast bar looks like a homeless pantry.

I had such an amazing stay. From the moment you arrive the valet team and front desk receive you with such great attention. The room was clean and loved the views. I enjoyed going to bar max and not having to step out of the hotel to enjoy my time. This is truly worth another visit.

We loved this hotel. We’re into unique, less ordinary places and this fit that bill perfectly. The interior was an immaculate, beautifully appointed space with incredible attention to detail. The entire hotel had unique theming and character. The only thing really lacking pizazz was the continental breakfast (bad coffee & bulk store pastries, etc.), but it was fairly typical for an American hotel in this price range. The linens felt clean and fresh, and the room was spotless when we checked in. I’d gladly choose The Goodwin as my landing spot for future visits to Hartford.

Despite marketing itself as a boutique, this hotel is average at best. The place looks nice, but it is clear that most of the money and effort put into it are going toward the cosmetic factors. It is much like a house that someone tried to flip, cut a lot of corners, made uneducated decisions, and ended up with an underwhelming piece of property with a veneer of wallpaper to convince people it's worth more money now. Here are my primary complaints: - No working refrigerator in the room. Sure, there is a mini fridge. But, every fridge in every room is house in a wooden built-in style cabinet. This causes the appliance to work way harder to maintain functionality. It also shortens its lifespan significantly. We came into the room and found our fridge to be set to "high", yet barely cold inside. I called and asked for a new one because we needed a fully functioning fridge for baby bottles. The man who came to help us [I kid you not] turned the dial from high to low, and said "There. just give it an hour or so and call down again if it still isn't cold." I couldn't tell if the guy was joking, blind, or clueless. Astounded, I told him to please just get us a new fridge, and then he did. Unfortunately, our second fridge turned on and made some noise indicated that it was "trying", but it did not get even remotely cold, even after more than 24 hours on "high" with the cabinet open. We ended up using the ice bucket and storing our baby bottles in there, which was very inconvenient. This place clearly burns out their fridges by running them inside of cabinets, and it's too late to change their "slick" setup. - Extremely limited parking. You pretty much have to valet, and sometimes even that fills up. - Not enough luggage carts. - Dysfunctional and inconvenient elevators. Half of them did not work during our weekend stay. Also, you have to swipe your room key in order to choose a floor. I am guessing this is a security measure, but anyone who wanted to go to any floor could easily use the service elevator or stairs. Speaking of which... - A strange effort to hide the stairs. For some reason, they don't seem to want anyone to use them. There is no signage for them besides "exit" signs. I found them, and the whole stairwell was dark. - Lack of security. I did not see any cameras or security officers in this place. Maybe they have cameras, and they're just well-disguised, but I doubt it. - Breakfast fail. They had a cold breakfast, which is fine as a concept. But, it was not consistently maintained. Cups, coffee, yogurt, and other stuff would run out, and nobody would be there to restock stuff. Also, there were no cold drinks - just coffee and hot water. - No microwaves or coffee machines in rooms. - No extra linens, trash bags, toilet paper, tissues, etc. in rooms. - Wobbly toilet in room. If you're a heavier person, be careful. This is one of those things that seems to have been assembled cheaply to save money. - Sticky floor in the lobby men's room. Gross. - Valet did not give me a blue ticket. Upon trying to get my car back, they asked me for my ticket. I did not realize I was supposed to have gotten one, but it makes sense as a system to make sure everyone gets their rightful car back. I am not sure why my valet man did not give me one, but it's a slip up that could lead to some concerning situations here. Thankfully, they did not make a big deal about, and gave me my car back, but...what if I was lying? - Thermostat was basically worthless. The room temp stayed at 70-ish no matter what I set the desired temp to. - Small sets of stairs on each floor. In the middle of each floor, there is a set of about 8 stairs. Interesting design. They really should change them into ramps to make their hotels more ADA and luggage cart friendly. Positives: - Staff at the desk were friendly, and check-in and checkout were quick. - Bed was comfortable. - Place wasn't too noisy. Seems to house mostly people who are in town for weddings at the hotel or nearby venues.