"Disappointing" isn't a strong enough description for The Red Lion Inn. How this hotel thinks it's acceptable to charge nearly $300/night (or any amount!) for dusty, tattered, outdated, decrepit rooms is beyond me. I chose to stay here for "the real Berkshires experience" rather than choosing a chain hotel on a nearby highway - because staying in town enables you to walk around and I had read about The Red Lion Inn since I was a kid. Yes, being able to walk to breakfast cafes and bakeries is a positive, but the rest of it was nearly a complete bust. First, check-in was all business, and the staff member failed to mention where the elevator was when she said "your room is on the fourth floor." After wandering throughout the maze-like lobby level, I wheeled my suitcase back to the front desk to ask for directions - to what turns out to be the ONE elevator that serves the entire main building (expect to wait a long time!). My room faced a somewhat noisy street, which luckily went quiet by bedtime. The room was small with squeaky doors, creaking floorboards, worn rugs, paint splatters in the doorjamb, some mysterious ropes (curtain tiebacks?) strewn on the floor, no heat source in the bathroom, and oh, yes, a not-so-small dead bug in the bathroom which amazingly didn't catch the attention of the housekeeping staff for 2 days, despite being dark in color against the white tile floor. (I refrained from including the photo of the bug, but would be happy to provide it to the inn. I did show it to the front desk staff member.) Considering the wear-and-tear and dustiness featured all around the hotel, I wanted to see just long it might take for housekeeping to notice the "not small" bug (I lasted until the afternoon of Day 2, when I was ready to blow ...). When I visited the front desk to tell them about the bug, all that was said was "We'll take care of it": no apology, no acknowledgment that it was unacceptable. Ten minutes later a staff member knocked on my door, not identifying herself and saying nothing, so I led her to the bathroom and showed her the bug. She sighed and left, again saying nothing. She returned 5 minutes later and removed the bug and cleaned the small area of the tile under it. I asked her if the hotel sprays regularly for bugs (being a NYC resident, you know about these things). She said she didn't know. Since she still hadn't said who she was, I asked if the front desk had alerted her to the problem. She said "They called me ... while I was eating" (with an incredulous tone). (Note to the Red Lion: Please train all customer-facing staff.) In any other hotel, I would have demanded to be moved to another room, but having already seen most of the premises, including my travel companion's room, I knew another room likely wouldn't be any better. Many of the dark velvet sofas in the lobby and the seating areas on each floor adjacent to the elevator had gray outlines of dust around their edges, worn arms, and flat, lifeless seat cushions. Also, when we arrived and parked behind the inn, as instructed on the website, there was no signage of where/how to enter the inn and no staff in sight - which involved more wandering amongst the maze-like corridors of the main level; a not-so-welcome welcoming. Bottom line: The place looks like it hasn't been updated since 1900, it's dark and depressing, and feels and looks dirty - and apparently the inn thinks that is an acceptable way to run a business. Stay elsewhere.
