Hotel Saranac

My wife and I stayed here March 25,2007, because we couldn't find an economically priced room in Lake Placid. ( This was the weekend of SNOE.DOWN, a major concert event.) If we had known how badly this hotel had deteriorated, we would've driven to Lake George instead.

This hotel is no longer owned or operated by Paul Smith's College. They sold the property to a real estate investor in January, 2007, and moved their Hotel Management/Culinary Arts programs to the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid.

Service is inconsistent, inattentive, unprofessional, and indifferent. The rooms are, for the most part, clean and adequately equipped, though quite cramped, dated, and shabbily decorated. They are certainly not worth the price. Paper-thin walls, and vent ducts that connect adjacent bathrooms with a hole above the lavatory sink, mean that any conversation among insomniac neighbors will keep you awake all night. (Our neighbors offered the added annoyance of marijuana smoke wafting through the hole.) The atmosphere is depressingly reminiscent of a 1920's era hotel which had once played an important role in the North Country tourism and business economy, but had not aged gracefully, and is now suffering a sad demise at the hands of uncaring proprietors.

The crumbling masonry of the grandiose street entrance portico, the frayed edges of the carpet lining the hallways, the mismatched cushions on the lobby furniture, the green stained porcelain beneath the dripping bathtub faucet ....well, you get the picture.

Directions: Basically, downtown Saranac Lake. A short walk to any important business establishment, service provider, or municipal office in the village.

I stayed here for a couple of nights one November a couple of years ago, and found it to be lovely. Older, with charm and character. It is or was also being used for training by the students of the local college in their hospitality program.
I found the meals in the hotel restaurant to be excellent.
I'd highly reccommend the hotel just because it wasn't a chain type place, with all rooms the same. It had charisma.

Unique Quality: Loved the big old Victorian type rooms... this was a place that would've been popular in its day. Walk to downtown... it was great.

deluxe room = $125; 'Superior Corner' = $135> Standard room off-peak = $82

Unique Quality: This is a 'teaching hotel'-- it is run by the hospitality industry students of nearby Paul Smith's College. Price is nice-- $99 for a standard room in peak season, up to $195 for a suite. The hotel is right in the town.

Directions: The Hotel Saranac
101 Main Street
Saranac Lake, NY 12983