Judy C.
Yelp
What an unusual experience. I'm giving The Beacon three stars, but I could just as easily make a case for one star. Or four stars. I'm having a difficult time wrapping my mind around this place.
When you arrive to check in, you'll notice right away that The Beacon is doing things a little differently. As in, there is literally no place to check in. When you walk through the door you'll be in the lounge part of their restaurant. There is no hotel lobby, no check-in desk, no concierge. So you just find somebody, maybe the bartender, maybe somebody in the back sweeping the floor, and tell them you're checking in. A hotel employee will ask if you want a carafe of flat or sparkling water, then walk you up to your room. Or in our case, walk and walk and walk and walk us. We were on the top floor. Hurrah for the Fitbit stair count! Oh, you don't have a Fitbit? Get one before you 'check in'.
The room was designed with some sort of modernist/minimalist sensibility. We had a bed, a desk, a desk chair and a television set. We did not have a telephone (who uses those anymore?), a second chair (in case we both wanted to sit at the same time), or functioning WiFi. Yes, all the complaining about bad WiFi you're seeing in the other reviews is deserved. The sequence seems to be: 1)Login with the WiFi info you received on the little card somebody gave you when you arrived. 2)Discover that it doesn't work. 3)Walk down all those stairs to get some help with this. 4)Have somebody give you the alternate WiFi login info that the staff uses for themselves. 5)Walk up all those stairs with hope swelling in your chest. 6)Have that hope dashed to bits when you discover that the second WiFi login doesn't work either. Save yourself the aggravation. Pop into the bakery next door to collect their WiFi credentials and, with a little luck, you'll be able to poach off of them during your stay. Or not. I had a fifty percent success rate with this. (Hey, we bought a pastry. Don't judge me.)
So why the potential promotion to four stars? I like the quirkiness of the place. I like the feeling of walking into a saloon, brushing off the trail dust with my hat, ordering a whiskey, saying, "And I'll be needing a room for the night", and being led upstairs by Miss Kitty. This might be as close as I ever get to that. I like that its Main Street location is right in the mix of things. I like the adult beverages they presented to us to celebrate our arrival. I like the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff.
So why the potential demotion to one star? That WiFi situation is a legit problem. (Folks, you gotta fix that. It just can't be that hard to get working WiFi.) And our recently renovated room felt as if it ended with the work only 95% complete. The bathroom fixtures weren't screwed down tight. One of the electrical outlets was missing its faceplate. There is no place in the bathroom to assemble whatever personal toiletries you indulge in. (Well, maybe the edge of the sink, if you enjoy balancing things.) The in-room mini fridge was comical to open: The cabinet door swung right-to-left, the fridge door swung left-to-right and neither swung at all unless you first rolled up the too-thick area rug on the floor in front of it. It was like one of those wooden puzzle boxes. This is not a discount hotel. Given the rates they charge, the rooms should not have these type of problems. I left feeling that The Beacon would benefit a great amount by having a hotel manager spend a couple of days living in each room and learning first-hand what the issues are.
So, there you have it. You know what type of person you are, you can use your own judgement to decide if The Beacon would leave you with a happy face or a sad face by the end of your stay. I had occurrences of both. And I'll leave you with this pro-tip: Every time you return to your room, ask for one of those carafes of water and carry it up with you. You'll be glad you did.
