The Ballard Inn, A Kirkwood Collection Hotel

It’s the best room we have on this trip.

Last weekend we visited The Ballard inn which cost almost $600 per night. We have stayed in numerous hotels that charge a similar room rate and have always found them to be a luxury experience that surpassed our expectations. This couldn't have been further from the truth in this establishment. On arrival the front desk staff member couldn't find our booking and had a terrible attitude while staring at her computer and not communicating what she was actually searching for. This continued for over 5 minutes when miraculously she found our booking. However, as the decor on the ground floor was tasteful and appeared well maintained we felt hopeful that the stay would still be a memorable one. It was, but not for the right reasons. Upon entering our room we were shocked see furniture and furnishings were worn and in some cases broken. In fact, one lamp on the nightstand had a shade that was literally hanging on its base and could not be reattached. The bed was shabbily made (extremely creased sheets, not tucked in correctly) and the brown carpet was stained in various places. The bathroom was even worse. There were ANTS on the sink area and towels, the sink unit had a drawer that could barely be opened unless you wrestled it, the shower barely worked (the tap constantly ran on the shower setting) and the ceiling paint was cracked and flaking in various places. There was no TV, no safe, no fridge, no minibar, no phone and a tiny table top ironing board which was almost unusable. The balcony was a welcome addition but the paintwork was peeling and some of the wood in this area had been heavily damaged by termites. Basically the room was lacking in every aspect. As far as the (lack of) service was concerned, it appeared there was only ever 1 member of staff on duty and they were not present for the whole day. At these times it was impossible to reach anyone if you had an issue, question or concern. The so-called "breakfast" consisted of a little chopped fruit, an unsightly looking bowl of whipped yoghurt and muffins and on one occasion there were no plates available so guests couldn't even eat most of it. I wouldn't even advertise this as an actual "breakfast" as there was so little choice. On our second day during "wine hour" (free wine served between 3-4pm) we sat down outside and realized the table next to us still had dirty dishes from breakfast on it. By this point we realized that the hotel and service was not going to improve and had to laugh at the fact we had paid such a high dollar amount for this disastrous experience. My photos document a lot of the above. And I know it's a cliche, but I wouldn't usually bother writing a review....but this was so bad that I felt compelled to.

Charming, spacious room, friendly and helpful staff. Very comfortable bed with beautiful linens. Great stay.