garywJ2668UZ
Google
My wife, 15 year old son and I spent four nights at the hotel. We had looked at another boutique hotel that had a more traditional look, but decided on Casa Lum because of its more contemporary design. We had a mixed stay, I would say a 3.5 rating. It's a beautiful hotel that is nicely designed, has a great open air courtyard, an open air rooftop deck (would be nice if they left cushions on the furniture), and the location is great if you like to be in the center of the city (it's also on one of the pedestrian streets so there is not a lot of car noise). The restaurant has good food and the hotel does a nice job in trying to help the environment. However, the big drawback for us was the setup of the hotel. It's a combination restaurant/hotel, and the location of rooms (especially the family rooms where we stayed) is literally right beside the outdoor dining area and near the reception and kitchen. The hotel has a large staff, and there is a beehive of activity all day (on two days during breakfast they were pumping out stuff from the kitchen to the street with a large hose that went along the courtyard). To make things worse, the hotel plays very loud music (and the same music all day every day which was jazzy cover songs of Katie Perry and other pop songs). You hear everything from your room (telephones, dishes, staff outside, plumbing work, music, etc.), so for me it was not a relaxing environment that I would typically associate with a small boutique inn. It's a shame because it's a really pleasant environment with flowers, water, nice glass and wood work and a cool vibe. I let the management know about the noise, and I didn't feel they were proactive in trying to figure out other alternatives. They did turn the music off at night when I asked. Generally from 9pm to 7am things quieted down, but it was still not ideal. In general service was pretty good with a hard working and for the most part nice staff, though the rules are quite rigid and they sort of nickel and dime you (we had breakfast included but the waiter said only 2 were included so we inquired more and the manager agreed it was for all of us, and they offered small sweet rolls at breakfast and then after told us they were additional charge). The two person rooms aren't right beside the courtyard, so perhaps those are better. We still had a nice stay and it certainly is a good hotel, but I wouldn't stay again because of the location of the rooms and the overall noise level.
