Mount Vernon Hotel

Hotel Class:

TripAdvisor:

24 W Franklin St
Baltimore, MD 21201
(850) 747-8057

Location.
The smoke-free Mount Vernon Hotel is located in the historic district of Baltimore, Maryland, 8 blocks from Inner Harbor. The hotel is adjacent to the Baltimore Cathedral, and 0.2 mile from Washington Monument. John Hopkins University Hospital and Mercy Hospital are within 10 blocks away.

Hotel Features.
Mount Vernon Hotel features complimentary buffet breakfast daily. Complimentary wireless Internet access is available throughout the hotel. A restaurant is on site. Meeting space can accommodate up to 80 people, and a business center with high-speed Internet access (surcharge) is on site. Self parking is available (surcharge); limited number of spaces available on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional parking is available in a public lot across the street (surcharge).

Guestrooms.
Renovated in 2008, nonsmoking accommodations at Mount Vernon Hotel provide cable TV, coffeemakers, and complimentary wireless Internet access. In-room safes are provided. Some rooms have city views.

Guest Reviews: Mount Vernon Hotel

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Mount Vernon Hotel: 24 West Franklin Street | Baltimore, MD 21201

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating:: Based on 154 traveler reviews

Most Recent Traveler Reviews:

“Great Baltimore location, outdated interior”

Aug 30, 2010 natalka523, Baltimore, Maryland

Checking-in was fast, easy, and the attendant was very friendly. Rented a loft that looked very different from the photos on the hotel's website. I expected a much more modern... more »

“Great location,wonderful and very helpful staff,great breakfast,lovely hotel”

Aug 25, 2010 Judy0810, Raleigh-Durham

Free shuttle very close to hotel. My first time going to Baltimore. I can hardly wait to go back. I will stay longer next visit! more »

“Helpful staff, lovely rooms, convenient location, tasty breakfast!”

Aug 24, 2010 jonnielime, Alexandria, VA

Stayed here for two nights (a Wednesday and Thursday) with my husband and our three 20-something kids and were very pleased. My first impression was positive. Although small, the lobby... more »

Stayed here for two nights (a Wednesday and Thursday) with my husband and our three 20-something kids and were very pleased.

My first impression was positive. Although small, the lobby has the atmosphere of an intimate, European boutique hotel with a nice seating area to the left and tables and chairs that spill out from the cafeteria on the right. When we arrived, at about 7:00 p.m., there was one clerk behind the counter helping a customer and a woman in line ahead of me. Another woman stood off to the side, looking as though she was waiting for someone, and when I walked up she asked me if I was checking in. When I said yes, she said, "Then let me help get everyone registered." Turns out she was the manager, and although she was ready to leave for the day, she returned to the counter to expedite our registration. That is the kind of customer service you rarely see these days, and I was very impressed. Charm City, indeed.

Registration was speedy (I had a reservation) and I was further impressed with the parking facilities, which had an elevator that led right up to the lobby as well as to the hotel floors. The front desk staff provided a card to place on your dashboard, which also included clear and explicit directions to the garage. It is attached to the hotel, but because of all the one-way streets in Baltimore, it takes a couple of turns to access it. It is small -- which I actually liked, since it meant less walking and quicker departures -- but I can see that, from what another reviewer said who was not able to secure a spot, its size could be problematic. I didn't price any other parking facilities, but I thought that $15 a day was very reasonable for a city hotel.

Service continued to be efficient: at registration, the clerk made a call to housekeeping to bring extra towels and a rollaway to our room; by the time I had parked the car and made my way upstairs (no more than 10-15 minutes, tops), the addtional towels were in the bathroom and my son was happily ensconced on the extra bed. Towels were good sized and nice and fluffy, too -- not the thin, skimpy things you sometimes find at hotels.

Our room was also to our satisfaction. The decor was very updated and had a high end feel: very nice desk and chair, TV armoire, 2 upholstered chairs with small side table, brass lamps. Not the Four Seasons, of course, but definitely at least equal to most good quality hotel chains. We all agreed, however, that the desk area definitely needed more lighting. Room was not huge, but even with 5 adults and the rollaway we never felt cramped. Bathroom was very clean with a marble vanity that gave it a touch of elegance. My only complaint is that I found the beds too hard, and the rollaway too thin and soft, but I am very picky about my mattress; it is a problem I have at many hotels.

The central location of the hotel was also great. It was a short ride to Lexington Market in one direction (we could even have walked it, but had later destinations that required a car, so we drove the few blocks) and to Antiques Row in the other. My husband and sons caught the Light Rail a few blocks over to catch a game at Camden Yards, which worked beautifully. The hotel is virtually across the street from the Walters Art Museum, and Harborplace is also just down the road. I was really surprised by some of the other reviewers' comments that the area is not safe. I did not have that impression at all. Although it is certainly not in an exclusive neighborhood by any means, it seemed fine to me; pretty much what I would expect to find in a large downtown area.

We thought the breakfast was also good. Each guest is given a ticket for one hot meal per day of stay, served to you in cafeteria style. Each day of our stay it included ordinary but well-cooked scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage, as well as some really excellent potatoes. One day it also included french toast, and the other pancakes, which we found to be just OK. Next time I would probably skip those and just ask for more potoates -- yum! Also available -- and not limited by a ticket -- were bagels, english muffins, toast, cold cereal, and packages of instant oatmeal and grits. Peanut butter, assorted jellies, and cream cheese were provided and, contrary to the experience of one reviewer, so were cups of yogurt and canned and frest fruit. I was also very pleased by the choice of juice that was offered -- orange, grape, cranberry, apple and (my favorite!) grapefruit. We did not eat in the cafeteria for any other meals (except that my son purchased a beer one night, which was nice to have available), but the prices I saw seemed very reasonable.

All in all, a happy stay and a place I would definitely visit again. The young man from the American Visionary Art Museum (our first stop in Baltimore and a really cool place) who gave us directions said his parents stay there every time they come to see him. I can understand why. « less

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“Ya got any spare change...”

Aug 22, 2010 marcanthony1, Pennsylvania

The hotel should have been named Mount Vernon Hotel & Soup Kitchen (as opposed to Cafeteria, which by the way is mysteriously missing from the hotel advertising name.) As I... more »

The hotel should have been named Mount Vernon Hotel & Soup Kitchen (as opposed to Cafeteria, which by the way is mysteriously missing from the hotel advertising name.)
As I walked up the front stairs, I was greeted by a few homeless ruffians instead of a doorman. I started to get a bit concerned, as I was a little low on spare cigarette butts & loose change for the handouts before even entering the lobby. To our surprise, the gentleman at the reception desk was very nice, personable and helpful. The room "seemed" clean enough at first glance but, at second glance we uncovered a nice size brown / yellow stain on our scratchy polyester comforter (which we immediately ripped off). This has no reflection on the friendly cleaning staff as they do the best they can with what they have to clean. As for the amenities - the bathroom was low on towels, toilet paper and tissues, the one cup "coffee maker" provided was set up in the bathroom next to the door that wouldn't close ~ unless you put all of your weight on it and when you did, it would make a loud bang (my girlfriend jumped out of bed one night thinking it was a gunshot coming from outside the window) and the amount of shampoo they give you wouldn't have washed the beard of the homeless man out front. The free breakfast each morning looked like it was hot from the steam coming from the buffet but was cold as ice even though we were the first in line at the soup kitchen, er, i mean cafeteria. The price was extremely high since we paid $320 for two sleepless nights in a room with NO refrigerator and No microwave with a "cafeteria" in the lobby that was closed for lunch and dinner. This hotel shouldn't charge over $85 a night. I would like to end on a positive note and will say that the staff was extremely friendly but we would not recommend this "hotel" or ever stay there again. « less

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“Hotel was decent, but in a shady area of town!”

Aug 20, 2010 peekaboo_iseeyou, Canada

We stayed here in order to save a bit of money as the hotels in the Inner Harbor are more money, We both agreed that although the hotel was decent,... more »

We stayed here in order to save a bit of money as the hotels in the Inner Harbor are more money, We both agreed that although the hotel was decent, the area was not! Next time we'd definitely spend a bit more money for the Inner Harbor hotels. We arrived here fairly late and there was NO parking for our car. And the front desk guy could have cared less that we now had to drive around to look for a safe area to park our car. Personally, I think that if you know someone is coming with a car, you should reserve them a spot in the parking garage or make the garage bigger. This area of town is not the safest and we were worried sick about our car bring parked a couple of blocks away with out of State plates. We were not even compensated for our trouble and I think the guy who was at the desk when we checked in genuinely didn't care. The room was really big and it was decent. Although the hotel lobby was beautiful and our overall experience was decent, we'd never stay here again. And I know the general manager comments on all posts by customers and we have zero interest in discussing this further. Thanks anyway though. « less

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