Governor Hotel

Let me start by saying that the staff at this hotel was very welcoming and accommodating. They did everything they could to make our stay pleasant. Unfortunately, that was the only good part of our three night stay. This hotel was the worst hotel my family has ever stayed in. The neighborhood was sketchy and scary. We even spotted a dude doing drugs in the bus stop. Inside was not much better. One elevator was totally shut down and the other moved at a warped speed. It literally took 10 minutes to catch the elevator at times. The room was not clean and extremely run down. The sliding door to the foot wide patio did not have a screen and bugs/​bees tried to fly in often. The A/​C said it was working, but never got below 80 degrees. The water in the shower went from hot to cold in a millisecond-​not even enough time to move out of the way. The breakfast was bad. The sausage was rubbery and the eggs were empty on 2 occasions. They were refilled after I asked, but still just did not taste good. Our bedding had stains every day, even when I asked to have them changed out each day-​hoping they would be better the next day. The wi fi went in and out at a very slow speed. The final straw that prompted me to write this review was when our bed broke on the final night. When one of us moved, the bed toppled from side to side. Needless to say, it was not a good night’s sleep.
We will never return here.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for our neighbors birthday. This hotel is within walking distance to the bar we wanted to have our drunken adventures at. We stayed at the superior king room. Coming from Vegas, I know how jacked up the prices can be to switch to a suite, but here, the option to get a suite was only $ 10 extra which was nice. We got the room for $ 114.
The room itself was big, but I didn’t like the way it was arranged. There is this huge nook where they placed a couch in, but it would make no sense for anyone to sit in that couch because it’s so far away from the main room and completely hidden when viewing it from the main area. The TV is shifted away from the bed, making it hard to watch TV in bed unless you rotated the TV.
Some good things:
I like that every room has a balcony. Even though it’s very small, it’s a nice feature to have.
You get complimentary parking in the hotel’s own private parking lot. The lot itself is a but sketchy looking though.
The continental breakfast was okay. The eggs and bacon were definitely microwaved, but theres a waffle maker with a batter dispenser, juice, and yogurt, bagels and other items that made it okay. I guess it’s better than nothing.
Some complaints:
My neighbors decided to get the Grand deluxe kind suite because it specifically said PLUSH bathrobes. When he checked in, that was not the case. These robes were rough, almost crusty feeling — the towels right next to them were softer than these robes! Please don’t advertise plush robes when the robes do not have even a hint of soft.
The staff were not that accommodating. Check in started at 3 and my neighbors came around 2 and made a small request if they could get a room with the lake view when they officially check in. The person at the front desk just kept repeating how check in is at 3 and pointing out the time, not really hearing my neighbor.
The temperature in our shower would fluctuate drastically. I literally experienced the whole spectrum of cold, warm, burning hot in my 20 minute shower.
Around 6 am, I was awoken by seagulls screaming at each other! It was not a pleasant way to wake up, especially when I was slightly hungover at the time since we came back to the hotel to sleep around 3 am.
Overall, its an okay one night hotel because of the location for us. Definitely not something I’d recommend staying for a romantic getaway or anything like that.

Highlight: When I was standing in the lobby holding my wedding dress in its garment bag while being told sternly that since my mom’s payment had not been signed for yet I would not be able to put my dress and bag in our room and get ready for my bachelorette party… Only thing good about my ensuing experience here was the house cleaning crew. Nice, helpful, competent service there. Unfortunately not enough to balance out awful customer service. I live in town but stayed at the Governor with my wedding guests and my fiancé. The night before the wedding the air conditioning was broken in half the building! Breakfast was lackluster fake eggs and grease. The staff was rude, unapologetic, and just plain inhospitable. If you can stay somewhere else, do it, but it has a good central location so just be warned if you head here.

Should have been a four star experience, but thanks to a bunch of annoyances it’s just three.
When I got to my room, which was pretty standard midrange hotel style, it was stuffy and warm. No worries, just flip on the air for few minutes. It’s an older system, and I flip the switch to «cooler» and turn the fan on. Heat pours into the room. Okay, I’m willing to let that blow out while the system gears up for cold air. I’ll just open the window. Oh! It’s a full sized sliding door! With a tiny Juliet balcony, sitting on the rooftop of the extension below. I could easily hop over the railing and move over to any other room on my floor. Guess I won’t be leaving it unattended, but the fresh air is nice.
Ten minutes later, heat is still coming out of the vents, it’s time to call the front desk. Except the phone doesn’t work. There’s a handwritten note on it that just says, «bad phone».
After waiting in line at the front desk, I explain to the clerk that I have no a/​c. He says it’s an old system, let it run for a few minutes. I tell him I did that, and it’s still a wall of heat. He calls maintenance.
Less than five minutes later (hooray for promptness!) the maintenance technician shows up and explains, in an extremely condescending manner, that if I don’t want heat I have to turn the fan off. After letting him know that I understand how the fan works I ask how to get cool air. He then tells me that the a/​c system isn’t working yet this year. Thanks for letting me know, but I could have done without the attitude.
Since it’s a nice day and I don’t really want to be inside anyway, I went for a walk. Downtown Oly is fantastically walkable and The Governor is in a perfect location as a base for walking tours.
When I return I open up the patio door and let the cool evening air do its job, making the room rather pleasant. I hated closing it up before going to bed.
Finally I’m settled down and ready for sleep when I hear the mini fridge kick on. Holy hell that beast is loud. It rattles and wheezes like a penny whore on a Saturday night.
Not the greatest night’s sleep. Definitely need a perk-​me-​up shower in the morning.
The spray on the shower is cranked down so tight that it is painful on the face and eyes, but doesn’t penetrate to my scalp. My hair is a bit on the thin side, I cannot imagine how thicker haired people deal with this situation. I’m fairly certain there’s still shampoo in my hair. I had to exit the shower in self defense.
This will be the last time I stay here.
TLDR; no a/​c, condescending maintenance guy, no phone, no way to secure patio door, loud mini fridge, terrible shower. Oh, and no cable movie channels, if that matters to you.

As far as hotels go I was impressed. Got a great rate quickly and easily. Front staff was always friendly and happy to help and the rooms were clean, updates, and comfortable. The beds may have been the softest I’ve slept on. Top notch hotel if you’re staying in Olympia.

Pros: room was nice and had a decent view
Beds were comfortable
Cons: 1# complaint I had about this hotel was the receptionist didn’t inform me that there was a 50 $ deposit when checking in. I didn’t realize til I got up to my hotel room and checked my account. And then later went down to the front desk and asked her about the mystery 50 $ fee. I wasn’t pleased that she didn’t inform me of the deposit upon checking in.
They need to inform customers of this. It’s not fun to see a additional fee on top of the cost of your stay.

The pros:
— Overall a clean, quiet room with little street noise.
— Nice large wall-​to-​wall windows/​glass door looking out toward the water.
— The location is very convenient to downtown Olympia cafes, restaurants and bars.
— Convenient on site parking.
The cons:
— Odd coffee machine, wherein the basket is packaged with the grounds (but not a k-​cup type setup) which initially makes you think the machine is missing parts; a bit daunting to comprehend first thing in the morning.
— In room 418 you could hear every drop, as though amplified, of someone urinating in the toilet above your bed.

Booked this late on
on a Tuesday night so didn’t have a lot of options. Not as nice as the pictures but maybe we just got a bad room. There were a lot of homeless around the area and some set up for the night under tarps in the next parking lot over. Front desk staff were nice. The elevators were really creaky but fast. Room and hallways smelled musty but the lobby was nice. Tub paint was cracked off in one spot and bathrooms not too updated. Free breakfast was good. Not sure if they had rooms like in the picture overlooking the water. We weren’t offered that. Ok for a quick stay but wouldn’t want to hang out there.

I really want some of these reviewers to visit an actually ghetto location to gain some perspective. Homeless people happen to hang out across the street during the day. They move on towards the downtown bar area in the evening.
As for the hotel itself, the rooms were nicely done, modern, and well appointed. My room, a king suite, was redone recently, and looking at the other reviews it seems that I made the right choice, as the pre-​renovation rooms aren’t as nice apparently. Comfortable bed, funky and comfortable lounge chair, large television, fridge and microwave, an additional little sink in the «office» alcove with a nice desk and comfortable office chair. Large TV in bedroom, decent quality, remote was kinda wonky but worked. The bathroom was small but had everything you need. Included toiletries sucked, but that is to be expected basically everywhere. A/​C worked fine once I figured it out as it had some strange obviously original to the hotel control box.
Value-​wise, it wasn’t the best. Our rate after tax came out to be $ 174, which would be fine if we were staying in Seattle or Portland. Rates in Olympia seem a little too inflated for the area. Lower end stuff was still cheap, but anything remotely nice was in the 140 – 190 range, which is too high.
Fire alarm went off at 8:30 AM (hotel’s fault) which really sucked with a hangover (my fault).
Hotel is fairly hard to navigate, not completely apparent where to park and where the entrance to the lobby is. Parking structure is not fully secured, not secured enough that i felt comfortable leaving anything in my car, but secure enough to make me not check to make sure my car was still there during the night.
Breakfast: its your standard complimentary continental breakfast. Reheated heatlamp junk and packaged muffins and bagels and whatnot, but it’s something to grab on your way out the door. They had a waffle machine that looked good, but some lady was making the shit out of hundreds of waffles and I decided to not wait until she was done to try it.
Front desk staff at check in was great, and the overnight lady was hilarious (or I was drunk. Either way a plus), but I get the distinct impression the morning staff had no clue what they were doing. I wanted to split the bill in half and do two different cards because reasons, and took way too long to do this, and seemed to strain the capabilities of these ladies. I wasn’t even able to get a receipt showing that the charges were split. A couple days later I checked my card statements and the charges were in fact done correctly, so that’s good, but it shouldn’t be impossible to create a piece of paper showing that. I get the feeling that if I had a legitimate problem with my bill or room or whatever, the staff wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Not confidence inspiring.
Source:
I stayed here ⁸⁄₇ and have worked in the hotel industry for 7 years.
TL;DR
Bums are a fact of life, this hotel does a decent job of keeping them out. Rooms are nice, price is high, location is very close to downtown. An alright hotel on its way up that is a bit too expensive.

This was our first stay in Olympia on our way North to Port Townsend. The accommodations were very comfortable for a reasonable price. It is located very close to everything downtown and, although we got a room behind the elevators, found it to be pretty quiet except for a bit of street noise. We would stay here again.

Well, it’s not the WORST hotel there is. And yet, the staff are either incompetent (anyone at the front desk) or harassing (the manager, who storms around and demands to know what room number guests are staying in). Any requests of the front desk are met with one of two responses:
1) «Sure, we’ll get on that and it should be done in an hour or two.» Nothing happens. You check in with them again, they check a few things and find out that the message either never got to the right person, or that person just saw fit not to bother.
2) «Let me check.» Staff member goes to ask the manager, who inevitably does little or nothing, and half the time opens the door to his office a little more so that he can pear out at the guest who is asking to see if he likes their face enough to lift a finger.
So when your air conditioning doesn’t work in 95 degree weather, and also your fridge, and there is drain pipe water (sewage is fun) leaking up from the floor and soiling your suitcase, and dripping from the ceiling into the light fixtures, or if you just want some extra glasses… good luck?
Oh, and the Wifi doesn’t really work in the rooms.

I have stayed here multiple times and have had good service till a Coast Hotels took it over. The cable kept going out and claimed that it was the «heat that was causing it.» The Wi-​Fi was not working on the 8^th floor which happens to be their top floor. Their pool was closed due to the fact that it is not ADA assailable. When I stayed their last year they told me that the pool would be for sure open this year. Well, it was 100 degrees outside and it would have been nice to go swimming.

First the Pro’s: The governor hotel has a great location right in downtown Olympia and the rooms are a decent size and have had a bit of remodeling in recent years to bring them up to date.
The Cons: You can tell that while they’ve invested some money into the furnishings it’s all just makeup on a very old hotel in need of a major renovation. Half the lights in our 1950’s era elevator didn’t light up so you had to stick your head out the elevator to see what floor you were on. Worst of all our rooms air conditioning was non-​existent. When you turned it on via the thermostat that looked like something my great-​grandma would have used, all we heard was metal on metal grinding until it stopped. We complained earlier in the day twice and they said they’d send someone down. That never happened. So when my new wife and I got back to our room at midnight it was a balmy 88 degrees in our room and stayed that way the whole night. It was the most miserable hotel stay of our life.

Room was remodeled recently (they were remodeling nearly every room surrounding us), clean, comfortable beds and pillows. Nice TV and amenities. Good location super close to the downtown, restaurants and shops. Balcony is not really a balcony. Free WiFi and parking.
I checked in asked for a crib, it was brought up immediately, but without the bed part, so no hard surface or mattress. So we called informed front desk. Before we left for dinner checked in with the two front desk clerks, I could tell by the way they responded we were not getting the mattress. We went to dinner came back acknowledged the front desk clerk, no reply on the mattress, called when got to room, they were looking for it. No further contact. The next morning one of the front desk clerks from the evening before was working I asked if they ever found the mattress, she was clueless and didn’t apologize or say much at all. I’ve worked in hotels, really nice ones and average, and I can tell that operation doesn’t care and they are poorly trained. I cant go back and support incompetence and where customer service is non existent. If I didn’t have two kids that needed me constantly I would of said something… I had my hands full.

Found out the hard way that all Coast Hotels (which Gov House now is) charge an extra $ 50 on your debit card and takes a few days to return to your bank account. Probably won’t stay in any more Coast hotels because of this. Good breakfast buffet. Bathtub wouldn’t drain which was creepy. Was surprised how not soundproof the rooms are, especially since I could still hear street traffic from 7^th floor. Checkout is noon which is nice. Housekeeping knocks even with do not disturb sign out.

Stayed 2 night. First night the room was so hot. Next morning went Dow to the front desk. Ask them to check my tstat. The clerk was kind of cold but said she would have maintenance check it. Came back to my room that the next night and it was still hot. In my room that night my tv remote was not working. I called the front desk and ask for batteries. They called me back and said they had no one registered in my room. Really? I never got my batteries for my remote. However at checkout they gave us a 15% discount.
The rooms were nice and clean.

I seem to only Unilocal when a great place has a lot of bad reviews. I just wanted to write another justice review for the Governor.
My friends and I had the best experience there. We parked for free and I think our guests paid $ 5. We walked to everything downtown so, this was probably cheaper than having to park downtown.
Aaron was amazing. He fixed all the mistakes that
made and now we know to call the hotel directly. He was competent and friendly.
I don’t know what people are talking about when it comes to the rooms. We just had a basic cheapest room, but they had soft white comforters, not plastic ones, tiny balcony, flat screen and fridge. I also liked having coffee bean coffee and flavoured cream cups for coffee instead of powders and decent conditioner … The little things. It also had a good breakfast. It was WAY better than we expected from these reviews.

We got a king size room, with a fantastic view for $ 89. This room came with a very comfortable pillow-​top mattress, a 46″ flat screen TV, iPod docking station, a personal Keurig coffee maker, a mini-​fridge, a small safe for valuables, a nice size bathroom with very hot water, complimentary hot breakfast buffet which included: cream cheese, toast & jelly, juices, coffee, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, bacon, sausage, eggs, egg scramble and a self service waffle machine. It also offers free on-​site parking and a convenient downtown location.
Again, this was all for $ 89. That is a bargain which you will not find anywhere else. The poor reviews I see make me wonder if I’m the crazy one. Did I miss the a dead prostitute stashed under the bed??? Frankly, that’s about the only thing that could have dampened our experience. Yes, the place is old but it has been nicely remodeled and has real character (including a cool selection of historical photos from Olympia). Yes, there a few places where I noticed they could have used a better finish carpenter but again…$ 89.
With regard to customer service… we bumped into several staff members at various places in the hotel. I was dressed like I was about to go camping (jeans, old t-​shirt and a flannel shirt) and without exception every single person made a point of smiling, saying «hello» and asking how our stay was. Someone in management appears to have revamped their customer service since a few of the earlier reviews.
Finally, for the people who complain about the junkies/​vagrants in the park across the street. Here’s a tip… pull the stick out of your ass. This hotel isn’t responsible for the park across the street. Any business in the downtown area obviously has to deal with the same problem. If you don’t like it call the mayor or… better yet, don’t stay in downtown Olympia.
Last tip… the farmer’s market in Olympia is flat out fantastic. That alone is worth a trip.

On our third night our key stopped working. Went down to get it changed and the front desk clerk was mia. We were stuck in the lobby for an hour.
All in all Sucktastic.

3.5 stars
If you’re not staying in either the Grand King Room or Grand King Suite then based on the consistent two & three star reviews it sounds like you’re headed for an unpleasant stay. The type of room one chooses though shouldn’t make the stay any different than for someone who pays slightly more for a «Grand» room.
We booked two nights in the Grand King Room & for the most part were satisfied with the stay.
The Good:
*pillow-​top mattress = ultra comfort
*46″ flat screen TV = big for the 320 sq ft of space but that’s not me complaining
*iPod docking station = our playlist
*Keurig coffee system = gourmet coffee
*mini-​fridge = keeping our cold beer cold
*shower = always hot water
*complimentary hot breakfast buffet = large spread of decent tasting food like hot & cold cereal, bagels & cream cheese, toast & jelly, juices, coffee, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, bacon, sausage, eggs, egg scramble but no waffles since the waffle iron was broken
*complimentary on-​site parking = extra money for purchases elsewhere
*front desk = friendly & helpful
*location = Capitol Lake, State Capitol Building, State Capitol Museum, Harlequin Productions, Olympia Farmers Market, shops & restaurants only a short walk away
The Bad:
*complimentary in room WiFi = weak signal forcing us to «borrow» from a nearby neighbor with a stronger connection
*plush white bath robes = not so clean, white bath robes
*elevator = in need of service/​replacement; has an uncomfortably loud, grumbling sound
There was a power outage for several hours but the hotel wasn’t to blame. It did cause me to slice my knuckle on a razor blade since I couldn’t see in my toiletry bag but front desk did have band-​aids & antibiotic ointment available.
Looking at the photos online the Grand King Rooms & Suites are more appealing & hopefully with the unsatisfactory reviews about the other rooms it’ll push The Governor Hotel to make changes for the better. We were fortunate to have enjoyed our room & most of its amenities so if we were to return to Olympia, I wouldn’t hesitate to book a Grand King Room again.