Kellogg Hotel and Convention Center

Positive first: the food is off-​the-​chain delicious. Fried catfish served with real hot sauce, greens, Mac & cheese, sweet potato soufflé…was all very, very delicious. A reminder that good southern food is bountiful, flavorful, and without pretense. It is why I scoff when people rave about trendy «southern» eateries in Portland. I feel sad for these people who have obviously never tasted southern food and don’t realize they’re eating a mere approximation lacking the flavor you’ll find in this most basic hotel dining room in Alabama.
Negative points: This is pretty much the only game in town if you have reason to be in Tuskegee and the service and cleanliness kind of reflect that. Everyone is very friendly, but they seem really understaffed to the point that it took 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee… that never came. Every time I went to the restaurant there seemed to be only one person running the orders. Similarly, only one person working the bar. My hotel room wasn’t dirty per se, but it wasn’t exactly spic and span either. Both the hotel and restaurant just seem to need better management.

Check in has been a nightmare. Made a reservation online and the hotel has no record of it. Front desk personal are super unprofessional and blaming the manager and everyone else for why they charged my card after she said she wasn’t going to charge my card. front desk manager is asking me to call
and fix the issue rather than calling them on his own end. Everyone wants to shift the blame and meanwhile I am sitting in the lobby of the hotel looking homeless and shit.
The Hotel has no food to speak of past breakfast, the vending machines are mostly broken, the men’s bathrooms on the conference level didn’t have ANY soap (which tells me the staff is just lazy AND nasty), the wedding rehearsal dinner I went to had the cake out with the salad (which meant it was dry), and the staff seems overly lethargic and uncaring about fixing the issues you make them aware of
do NOT stay here unless you absolutely have to

Restaurant on Wednesday. This review is for the restaurant only… one Wednesday. Accidently ended up here to eat lunch. It was soul food day. Every badged employee of the county was having lunch. We knew we were in the right place. Buffet for 11 $ and change. Includes a drink. Food was from a different era about 30 years ago. This was before we worried about fats, salt and sugar. The buffet… fried chicken, chicken fried steak (crazy good), limas, rice, collards, sweet potato soufflé, potato and egg salad with real mayo, salad bar (skipped that), corn bread and rolls. Things that were missing were biscuit, gravy and butter. There was store bought pie for dessert. I ate my brains out. My ww weight in was not very good. I was told that Friday is fish day. I can only hope that my next accidental stop will be Friday!

I really enjoyed my visit to Tuskegee, and I hate to be a naysayer because more people should visit this historical and really good college, but even though some of the staff were fantastic, others were sullen and unhelpful. Let’s face it: what matters most in a hotel is the bed. This was hands down the worst mattress I’ve slept on in any hotel, and my job involves a lot of travel and hotels. Not only lumpy, it was also slightly slanted. In 9 yrs of work travel I have never before complained about a bed — some are better than others but I always thought I could sleep anywhere. I was wrong. After my second night without sleep I complained and was told that the front desk person at 3 in the morning didn’t «know anything about the mattresses» and, from another front desk clerk that morning «I can move you but the mattresses are all the same.» Finally a caring manager came to work and that afternoon they moved me to the other, newer side of the hotel. It was better. Smaller and not great, but I was able to sleep. The first room in the older section had a dirty and stained carpet, peeling wallpaper, the ac was not adjustable for room, no vents in bathroom, mile walk to other side of hotel for ice, old creepy bed covers with stains, big wooden slats covering windows that don’t begin to block light. If you stay here, ask for a room on the opposite side from the front desk. The bed was still lumpy, but it was tolerable. As much as I hate it, I believe next time I’ll be driving in from a Hilton in Montgomery that costs even less and is only a half hour away.
Everyone told me the food was wonderful in their restaurant and they have lots of good veggies — I’m a vegetarian. I paid $ 12 for a small serving of steamed fresh veg (broccoli, onion, red pepper, squash) without any seasoning at all, a serving of unsalted minute rice, and the smallest «to-​go» iced tea I’ve ever laid eyes on (8oz styrofoam cup). Instead, choose the campus cafeteria: it’s $ 5.50 at lunch and not much more at night and is all you can eat with many choices for all types of diets.

I gave the 2 stars for the college, since the rich history and beautiful grounds made evening walks very safe as well as informative. The hotel (actually the tower, which may not be as nice as the renovated Dorothy Hall) left much to be desired. I really, really wanted to like the hotel! Tuskegee needs a nice hotel for guest lecturers, business people, etc. The best thing about our double room was the tv. There were candy wrappers behind the bed, which should have been seen and removed when the sheets were changed — which made us wonder… The telephone did not work, there were no coffee cups for the coffee maker, and the bed squeaked and sagged. The lounge was closed when we were there, but the restaurant, while decent, did not have good service. We were very disappointed to say the least.

Stay there frequently and if I am disappointed, the staff readily try to correct the problem. There is a need for them to be prepared for campus events that bring influxes.

We stayed here for a wedding when school was out. I think the fact that school was out made for some challenges — the pool and fitness center were closed for repairs, one elevator was out the entire weekend. With the one elevator out, we used the stairs to get to our rooms only to find it the doors onto the floors were locked — very aggravating! The rooms were decent and the staff were pleasant. The dinner buffet and breakfast buffet were shockingly good — I usually have very little hope when I hear the word «buffet» but both were good.