Shadyside Inn

Do you remember the crappy apartment you rented in college or grad school? The one with the bad a/c and dirty carpet? The one with the barely functioning electrical outlets and tiny, almost useless, kitchen? Well if you ever want to relive that experience, stay at Shadyside Inn Suites!

I spent six years of my medical training in Pittsburgh and found myself with a few days off last month. Why not take my wife and young son back to my old stomping grounds in Oakland and Shadyside? We've found that when traveling with a young child, staying at suite-type hotels (with at least some sort of kitchen facilities and a separate bedroom) is very useful. The most convenient suite-type hotel to Shadyside is the Shadyside Inn Suites. Unfortunately, since this business has a virtual monopoly on the area, it must believe it can put its clients up in deplorable, nearly unsafe conditions.

These comments are based on our experience with the building on S. Negley Ave. I believe there are at least two other buildings the hotel maintains as well as "Mansion Suites" which are reserved for VIP's or people staying for very long periods.

General Complaints:
1. Exposed electrical and cable wiring (see pics). We tried to spend as little time as possible in the room because I didn't want our 19 month old to inadvertently touch exposed wires.

2. Dirt. Everywhere. When we were getting ready to leave, I did a quick last run through the room to make sure we weren't leaving any of my sons toys behind. I made the mistake of peeking underneath the couch. Yuck. Food remnants, dirt and debris from who knows how long under there. Disgusting.

3. General poor maintenance of the building and its parking lot (see pics.)

4. The furniture in the rooms looks like it has been there for at least 15 years. Our dining table was strikingly similar to the one I had in college.

5. No dishwashers. Not unexpected given the age of the building. But if you're not going to give your guests a dishwasher, at least give us sponges so we can wash our own.

6. When you check in, the hotel bills your credit card for the entire length of the stay ahead of time rather than vice versa (completely the opposite of every other hotel in this country.) Keep this in mind if you want to leave early after seeing the condition of your room.

7. Three separate keys are required to get into the building and your room. Again, completely out of date and not particularly secure.

8. Open (unsecure) Wifi... what are these people thinking?

Also, the vaunted customer service that they crow about on their website must be limited to special guests and celebrities.

1. When we asked for an extra blanket to be delivered to our room, we waited for over an hour with no response. Ultimately, we had to drive back to the main office and retrieve the blanket ourselves.

2. The remote to the DVD/VCR combo had no batteries in it. I had to get the AA batteries from the main office (I didn't even bother to attempt to ask them to be delivered to our room) and had to wait while the office staff repeatedly found AAA batteries for me. I was told the AAA batteries fit the flat screen TV remotes in the rooms. I had to calmly explain that we did NOT have a flat screen TV in our room, rather we had a non HD CRT TV that was at least 10 years old.

3. Daily cleaning of the room costs EXTRA. Be sure to read the fine print.

Perhaps some of its other buildings are more modern and in better condition. Perhaps we had the worst unit in the entire complex... but I doubt it.

Unless you absolutely have to be within walking distance to a business, client or family in Shadyside do yourself a favor and find a more modern, cleaner, safer and better hotel. Shadyside Inn Suites should be ashamed of itself for the condition of its facilities.

As depressing as travel gets. Just when you thought that staying in cheap chain hotels or roadside motels was the worst place to lay your head, Shadyside Inn gives you a new experience. A converted apartment building that you may have rejected signing a lease for as an undergraduate student, it is unfortunately one of the only places that offers extened leases at a reasonable rate. No broadband wireless and the RJ45 connectors are so improbably placed that you will be sitting near the entrance door each time unless you get a 25ft. extention.

These extended stay units are fully (and cheaply) furnished, but you have to stay here, you need a new job. This place would be profiled in a documentary of people in depressing environments. Dark, with thin walls and lots of road noise is offset somewhat by a decent location and free parking.

Unique Quality: lots of road noise
no wireless broadband
daily (recluctantly given) passes to formerly decent health club a few miles away

Directions: Shadyside shopping district