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October 2023 by Izac Jackson
The Argus is a beautiful hotel. Was very impressed with the location and affordability. My only concern is that we stayed here solely because of the cocktail lounge and could not use it due to a private event. I would have preferred if this information would have been given to us at the time of booking. We seemed to be the only guest at the time that were not a part of this group and would have stayed elsewhere if we were made aware of this information.Rooms: Rooms were nice, would have preferred if the rooms would have included things like a hair dryer and more towels.Walkability: Very close to a nice park.Noteworthy details: Great location.
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October 2023 by TruthFollower
One night stay. Upon arrival we had to "self check-in" which was fine. The building was beautiful. Room had a queen size bed in a small room. Bathroom was phenomenal. Clean and tastefully decorated. Never met anyone who worked at the Argus the night before or next day. Before bed we kept hearing very heavy steps above our head late into the night. Very annoying high pitched whining sound coming from a furnace in a closet across the hall from our room which was W-3. Whenever furnace came on, the whine sound returned. Very hard to get to sleep.Supposed to be continental breakfast but nothing put out that morning. Just leftover stuff from the day before. Coffee came from Keurig machine. No regular coffee left....just decaf. Had to go through kitchen with other guests to look for any food. A fridge with food was locked. The Argus has great potential but is not reaching it when guests are left to fend for themselves.
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October 2023 by Amanda Jaeger
This was the worst hotel experience I have ever had! When I arrived there were no cars in the parking lot, no sign of life in the building and all of the hotel room doors were open, including the dirty rooms. My hotel room was open for anyone to have access to it prior to my arrival and as a women concerned for her safety, this screamed red flag. The cocktail lounge was closed even though it should have been open to guests, however, there were dirty wine glasses on the table. This place was a hotel out of horror movies and did not feel safe to stay there.
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September 2023 by Roger K.
This is a review of only the cocktail lounge. Friends from out of town were staying in the carriage house behind the hotel and we agreed to gather in the lounge for a drink or two.The building itself is impressive, although maybe not quite as impressive as the castle-looking building next door. Our party of seven settled in at the bar as there otherwise did not seem to be a large enough table for all of us to gather around in either the main lounge area or a small room off to the side. The dark wood paneled walls, large fireplace, assortment of easy chairs, couches, and high desktop table gave off a feeling of warmth and welcoming.The friendly bartender introduced herself (sorry I've forgotten her name) and informed us that spirit-wise, the bar was capable of preparing the standard, traditional drinks like Manhattans, martinis, etc. All beers were poured from cans, and at my request, she recited the names of about six that were available. I don't believe anyone in our party inquired about the wines that were available.The building simply calls out for an explanation of its history. Upon our request, the bartender offered to provide either the "brief" or "full" option. We requested the full history. She was obviously well up to the task. You would be amazed at the variety of things you could learn here. Just to touch on a few key topics that were mentioned, consider Alexander Hamilton's wife, puffed rice, Bab-o cleanser (cue up the jingle), Bishop Gibbons, and an orthopedic surgeon. I don't know what the normal food arrangements are in the Lounge. I'm guessing that our out-of-town hosts requested some snacks for us as a few bowls appeared with mixed nuts, crackers and cheese, fresh grapes, humus, and warm pretzel/croissant rolls, and a plate of prosciutto wrapped cream cheese.Overall, the atmosphere here is simply friendly and inviting. I think it will become an occasional gathering place for our local friends when looking for a place that is quiet and relaxing.
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September 2023 by Asi-Yahola Boutelle
Awesome bartenders and drinks. Very classy
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September 2023 by Clare
Shockingly one of the best hotel experiences EVER! I never knew a gem like this existed in Albany seeing as it’s hard to find a nice place to stay around here for this price! The building was BEAUTIFUL. The owner has amazing taste everything in there was art down to the fridge and microwave! The art on the walls was so beautiful it made my stay even better just to look around the hotel.. I also loved how open the cocktail longue was and it felt like we had our own personal cocktail longue seeing as we were the only people there.. If you like more private areas surrounded by less people this hotel is definitely for you! It’s so much better than staying at some big commercial hotel where you are surrounded by people and noises. The night I stayed it was pouring rain and made the atmosphere BEAUTIFUL. I felt like I was in a different time period almost. Had a lot of fun chatting with the bartender and owners daughter was so sweet too! The staff there makes you feel so at home and welcome I was shocked bc I usually am trying to avoid staff at most places I stay but here they were so nice & cool. They were also extremely helpful when it came to anything we asked about! The vibe of the hotel is amazing if you like nice architecture, furniture and are into aesthetically pleasing environments. This is 100% the place to stay if you are ever staying in Albany! 10/10<3:)Noteworthy details: The atmosphere & aesthetic of the cocktail longue is so nice you really don’t even need to leave to go get drinks.. It is more private and tasteful than any bar or cocktail longue you will find in Albany 100%
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September 2023 by Christian Bautista
Pretty nice place. Walls are a bit thin, can hear the next person coughing.Had breakfast snacks out 24/7. Did not run into a live worker. A little pricey but felt safe in the location.
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September 2023 by ohglob
Boutique hotel heaven. We arrived late and found ourselves in a Victorian mansion full of mid century furniture: my specific heaven. A comfy bed and buttery sheets after a long flight? Rest. A day of making new friends of the owners and everyone who hangs out in this beautiful space? Icing on the cake. Nicely divided our travels. We couldn’t have asked for a more authentic local stay that was also luxurious and friendly. Everything is very green too, no fragrance, public goods toiletries.
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September 2023 by David Lombardo
AWESOME in every way. Highly, highly recommended in all aspects. A true gem in the heart of Albany.
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September 2023 by Arthur Votta
The room we had was small and the walls were a little thin, but everything else was very nice and comfortable and it worked out great for the one night stay we had in Albany. Check in was smooth and the location could not be better, on a quiet side street that leads right into the beautiful Washington Park and an easy walk to Lark Street and Empire state plaza. Great value and would definitely recommend the Argus if you are visiting Albany!
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September 2023 by Rahul Jain
This hotel’s bar was closed during my entire stay. My sister and I both rented rooms, and hers did not have any toilet paper or a bathmat. The carpet is not very nice. The HVAC does not have a thermostat in the bedrooms, which are small. There is no reception or staff on site. The bathrooms don’t have vents. The window treatments do not block out morning sun, so be prepared to get up early. There is a run down senior living facility adjacent to the hotel, where there are fights, loud car motors, and fires in metal garbage can. They claim to have a daily breakfast, but no food was to be found. This is definitely not a similar experience to staying at luxury hotel and I won’t stay here again or recommend it.
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September 2023 by Elizabeth Fischer
The house itself is lovely and I can see the vision. But it should be called a bed and breakfast, not a hotel. Bring your own towels and toilet paper. Over a three-night stay, we never saw one person we could identify as staff. Our texts were unanswered. For the price, it's not a deal. They need some help.
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August 2023 by Jingwen Deng
Overall, this is the place to stay in Albany! Don’t hesitate!Stayed there for one night. Wonderful experience. Close to the park, can take a walk anytime. The house is very beautiful and the room is very clean with a relaxing flowery scent! The place is very quiet, great for light sleepers. Most importantly the service is superb!! Housekeeper at the hotel helped to pick up my Doordosh order. Two days later after my stay, I was around Albany and urgently needed to pee, the housekeeper let me use the bathroom in the hotel really saved my life!Walkability: Washington Park is right next to the hotel for a walk. 15 min walk to downtown.
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July 2023 by Carynnicole30
The owners lack customer service skills. We had several issues upon check-in that could have easily been resolved with an apology and that never happened. Our stay went from bad to worse and again no apology. We stayed in the carriage house and there are several safety concerns from expired fire extinguishers to cracked vanities and several others. After our short one night stay we tried reaching out to management to discuss our concerns and unhappiness with the carriage house and again true to character they did not apologize. Instead of offering some type of compensation they were very abrupt and asked what we wanted. When we agreed on a partial refund it took a few days for it to actually happen. We had to follow up several times and again no apology... Just an excuse as to why it didn't happen sooner. It's a shame because it could be a beautiful property If the right people were handling it. As a business owner myself I can tell you that this is definitely not the way to run a successful business.
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July 2023 by Caryn L.
So many problems with this place from start to finish. But the major problem is the owners and their lack of professionalism. We called several hours prior to our check-in to let them know we were running a little late and they informed us that an email was sent with the check-in information.. which we never received to begin with.We reserved the Carriage House since it was a group of friends all staying together.When we arrived and let ourselves in to the carriage house It was quite obvious that they had not cleaned it at all. They were dirty dishes left, socks, toys, no towels and the beds were unmade. We immediately called to get the situation rectified and the female owner casually walked over holding a glass of wine to see what's going on.... Extremely unprofessional. Things only went from bad to worse after this. We obviously needed to leave and come back so that they can get the place cleaned up. We did leave a bag in the carriage house when we left for dinner, and clearly told the owners that we left it there, and when we returned the bag was missing. So we immediately called the front desk number and received terrible customer service from that person as well. We were told to go look for the office with the turquoise couch and the bag should be in there. This was around 11:00 p.m. After we've wandered around the place and finally found the bag the dirty socks from the previous guest were placed in the bag.. .Once in the carriage house it was evident that they don't take good care of it and are not concerned with safety. There were cracks in the vanity and an expired fire extinguisher in the hallway and several towel bars missing... The next morning we tried to reach out to discuss our poor experience and no one answered the phone. After trying several times over the course of the day we reached out via Facebook and finally got some response from the male owner. After negotiating back and forth they agreed to refund us half of our money. Then it took over 5 days to actually get the refund. We had to follow up several times to see what the holdup was. Again no apology just an excuse as to why we didn't get it sooner. I would definitely not waste your money at this place...run away
