Clarion University Hotel and Conference Center

I would give zero stars if possible. Please do not stay here. My family booked two rooms for graduation – a three night minimum. When my elderly grandparents were not able to make it, we were still charged for both rooms at astronomical rates. Further, personal items were stolen from the room (a security vault was not even provided). The hotel is a complete dump and the parking lot is a sea of pot holes. The ceiling is literally falling apart. Again, save yourself the trouble and book elsewhere.

I stayed two nights here, and it was not an enjoyable experience. The continental breakfast was disappointing — half of it consisted of prepackaged muffins and donuts which were disgusting. There was no ice to be found in the building. Also, it was heinously overpriced for what we got. $ 120 a night for this? I’d have priced it around $ 60. There was also a very strange building layout. It’s a long walk from the lobby to a lot of the rooms.
Despite all of this, the staff were polite, and the beds were pretty comfortable, so they have that going for them.

I am surprised the owners get away with branding this hotel as a Clarion. Absolutely, the worst I have been in.
The rooms werent clean.
— Hair on toilet
— Mold in shower
–Spiders the size of quarters found on a newly made bed and on the walls.
— Wallpaper is peeling off the walls
— Open bag of crushed Potato chips and chocolate were found scattered in a dresser drawer.
— Parking lots have major pot holes
— Various places in the hotel or rooms smelled like a locker room.
The only good things were:
— comfortable beds
— ac was working
— large pool
— nice staff at front desk, although they know the issues and management is not actively fixing the issues at.hand.

Suicide and hara kiri fans, I have found THE place for your final act. The façade of this hotel could easily suggest an animal slaughter house and the moonscape of a parking lot confirmed the sense that I had driven into a wasteland. Speaking of slaughter houses, the hallways were NOT designed by Temple Grandin. That being said, the condition of the hallway rugs do suggest that there have been many a stampede over the years. The dirty and claustrophobic low ceilings can offer you a comforting sense of doom. A powerful sense of hopelessness and fear overcame me as the ancient elevator doors closed and I rode up slowly to the second floor. To my surprise, the doors opened again to an equally bleak landscape like the one that I just left.
Sadly, the rooms themselves were clean, working and perfectly adequate if a bit small. If you can overlook the room, the rest of the hotel may help push you over your fragile edge. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR DEPRESSIVES.
Suggested pay per view movies while staying at this The Clarion Ithaca… On The Beach or the truly depressing film Melancholia.
5 stars for the grim, worn out and dirty public spaces
1 star for the clean and comfortable bedroom.
Suggested uses of this hotel…
Students who don’t want regular visits by parents should strongly hype this place, after one visit, you’ll only see them back home over the holidays. You’ll be free to squander their funds as you see fit without a bit of monitoring or other unwanted parental intrusion.
Potential Faculty: If Cornell has put you up here prior to your interview, your chances are slim to none that you’ll be getting that professorship.

It was the only place that had rooms available for our last minute trip. The other reviews are spot on. On the bright side, our room & bedding were clean, there was free wireless which we really needed, and once we threw all the locks on the door we felt (mostly) safe in our room. (And all those things bump it up to 2 stars from 1.)

Maybe David Lynch could film a movie here. The vinyl décor might suit him.
But yeah, the place smelled terrible (our room reeked of smoke despite it being a nonsmoking room), the view from our window was a mass of power lines, and the exterior was just about the most uninviting hotel façade I’ve ever seen. Perhaps it’s supposed to be an example of brutalist architecture, but I doubt that much thought went into it.

The room was so dirty. I would not have expected that with a clarion. When we went in the fidge there was stuff and food from the previous guest. UGH!

My first visit to Ithaca I stayed in this hole, er… hotel. No, I was right, it’s a hole. It’s way outdated, the parking lot looks like the moon, HUGE craters are everywhere. The rooms look like Carol Brady had a hand in the decorating process. It’s way over priced for Ithaca NY, and my room was actually so far from the front desk, I had to go back outside after checking in and drive my car to the entrance of the building my room was in.
My room was musty, the TV didn’t work, and when I reported these problems, a very creepy man from maintenance showed, he fixed the cable behind the TV and left a can of generic room freshener. Can you say low class? For October, Ithaca was pretty warm, but the room air conditioning was turned off because they turn off the AC Oct 1 every year. WTF???
The restaurant in the hotel was bad, diner food at it’s worst. Good thing Ithaca has a great restaurant scene (read my reviews on Unilocal for my favorite eateries in I-​Town) and awesome bakeries.
Stay at the Super 8 in downtown Ithaca, it’s cheaper, nicer, and the staff rocks.

Grossest hotel ever. I would have absolutely walked out after walking into the musty smelling lobby, but I had my dog with me, and choices were limited.
Hallways reeked of smoke. Piles of brush and garbage in parking lot. Soup cans filled with cigarettes near doors. Parking lot had HUGE potholes. Despite the fact that the place was nearly empty, they put me right next to the elevator/​exit/​ice machine. Needless to say it was noisy. I ended up waking up at 5:30 am and leaving. I couldn’t take the elevator, neighbor’s barking dog upsetting my dog and noise from the parking lot.
I will acknowledge that the bed was comfortable and the room was clean.

Dingy. Worn out. In need of renovations.
The staff is good. The rooms were as well cared for as you can expect.
This building needs either a thorough update and renovation or needs to be bulldozed.
It could be cool 70s kitsch. The pool room has real potential.
We could not leave fast enough and I apologized over and over to my wife for selecting this.
My kids did love the pool.
The price was OK, but not worth the «ick» factor.

I think this place may have been renovated somewhat lately.
The outside still looks pretty dumpy, and the elevator is in bad shape. Worst of all, the back doors open onto a shared parking lot and they are unlocked all the time. They need to install key card readers on those.
Having said that, the hallways were fine, as were the pool area and lobby. Our room was pretty, clean and bright, with very firm new-​feeling beds. AC and fridge worked fine. The bathroom was spotless and the shower worked great.
Our safe didn’t work and after calling the desk, two guys came up within 10 minutes. When they couldn’t fix it, they left to get another one and were back with it in 5.
If you only need a decent room for a night or two, and don’t need luxury, this place is fine.

The place is pure creepy. Dingy salmon hallways with bad lighting. empty. faint odor in the hallways. men and women’s locker rooms are a room with a mirror and old lockers. The pool looks uninviting. The restaurant «Nicolette’s» is perpetually has a «section closed» sign up and a staff member not to be found within any hours of the day/​night.
The continental breakfast: coffee if you’re lucky, 1 danish cut in 2 pieces, 1 filled croissant cut in 2 pieces and a variety of sad looking donuts covered in plastic wrap. empty canisters labeled hot water and decaf decorate the lone continental breakfast table in the middle of the darkened lobby.
The parking lot: poorly lit, pot holes galore, midnight activity such as emptying dumpsters occur.
The room is clean, however, with four lights on, still poorly illuminated. The television makes an odd clicking sound when turned on. A mini fridge plugged in but does not work. The shower is either too hot or too cold. My suggestion: take a quick hot shower, if you turn the cold water knob just a pinch, the whole stream of water turns to freezing. The wall thermostat does not work, however there is a heater by the window that thankfully works. The fitness center, or room with a treadmill, bike and elliptical, is pretty sad.
Good things about the hotel: free wifi, quiet (besides the after hours activity in the parking lot). staff is friendly when present.
Bottom line: the place needs to be renovated inside and out.

BAD — When I first walked into the hotel, the hallway smelled and I wasn’t sure the elevator was able to successfully deliver me to my floor. The airconditioning didn’t work in my room. The front desk said this hotel didn’t have any maintenance people on staff.
GOOD — Comfortable beds. Good continental breakfast. Very nice reception space. Friendly staff. Convenient location. THE BAR… The Clarion has this little bar downstairs and the bartender there is FANTASTIC. Candice did everything she could to make my friends and I happy. We had full control of the music. If she didn’t know how to make a drink, she would take the time to figure it out. This bar bumped this hotel from 2 star to 3!!!

This hotel, unfortunately, was my first impression of upstate New York living conditions. What culture shock! It was old, dilapidated and really not fit to be a hotel. Just look at the picture. It seems to be an old warehouse (or Wal-​Mart?) converted into rooms. And the parking lot had potholes everywhere you went. Not recommended. Try the Holiday Inn instead.