What Guests Say About Cornell's Landmark Hotel

I use a wheelchair, so I’m writing this review from that perspective. The Statler is a training facility for the Cornell University hotel school. Students learn the ropes of hotel management by working in a variety of positions from valet parking, front desk, in the restaurants. As such, service is somewhat uneven, if enthusiastic, but that’s understandable. Because of my disability, travel presents many problems. I can only walk short distances; it’s difficult for me to rise from a chair, bed, or toilet; and I’m in a fair amount of pain. I have to plan very carefully. My nightmare is being stuck someplace, far from home, unable to function. There was an important conference at Cornell that I very much wanted to attend. The Statler website is very specific about accessibility. The width of doors, accessible pathways, and details of the shower are all set out. Somewhat confident that a hotel school would portray itself accurately and even be an exemplar for commercial accommodation, I booked the two-room accessible suite. The heights of chairs, toilets, and beds are important. Too low and it is difficult or impossible to rise from them. Too high and one can’t get on them. We were told that the bed in the accessible suite was 26½ inches high. That would have been doable for me. Unfortunately, as soon I walked into the bedroom, I knew there was a problem. The bed was at my hip...

My wife and I stayed at the Statler this week for one night. I was under the impression that the hotel was a training hotel for the world respected hospitality school at Cornell. I asked just about everyone I saw if they attended Cornell, and not one person was a student. Our room was not very clean and had smudges on the mirror, the toilet seat would not stay up and the carpets were moldy smelling. In addition, our room was next to the elevator and the grinding noise all night long was very annoying. I mentioned the elevator noise to the front desk when I was checking out and it was simply met with a shoulder shrug. I suggest another hotel.

This was an ok stay. Obviously it’s a student run hotel, so you have to calibrate expectations — even when the price is pretty high. And there were some issues. The room smelled just a tiny bit like stale old smoke — not so much that it bothered me, but enough that I wondered if I should tell them so that they didn’t think I’d been smoking. There was no conditioner in the bathroom. And they’d made a mistake on the timing of our event, which created a small bit of confusion when students started arriving before they’d unlocked the doors. But they fixed it, and overall the hotel was pretty ok. Overpriced for what it is, perhaps, but pretty ok.

The restaurant has a fixed menu of sorts and they can't accommodate request for FODMAP sensitivities.