Wyndham Garden Hotel - University Place Pittsburgh

well to begin with, the hotel receptionist, in spite of the long queue waiting, kept chatting on the phone with ther friend/family???? It takes almost 20 mts of waiting time to speak to them for assistance. Some are very pleasant and helpful, some are not! The worst of all was the shuttle driver who refused to take 2 people in "his" shuttle as he did not feel they could fit in inspite of seats being available and asked them to walk!!!! He was extremely rude and did not even have the courtesy to arrange for a second shuttle or even let them know what time the next shuttle would be. It is an insult to all other Wyndham hotels at other cities and my overall opinion is that I would never stay in that hotel again.

Have stayed at this hotel three times, most recently in February 2005. As is our usual M.O. when visiting Pittsburgh, booked via priceline for a good value, though I find this hotel's regular rates to be much more attractive than some other nearby hotels.

I have been generally pleased with my stays here, found the staff friendly and accomodating, the rooms pleasant, and the location excellent for oakland.

However, on our last visit, one of the only two elevators was down - making it extremely laborious to get to your room on even the 3rd floor, because the stairwells simply aren't convenient to the lobby! From the mezzanine level, you have to go through the restaurant kitchen to reach it! This made the last visit less than stellar, though all in all, would stay here again.

Note: parking is expensive ($16) and valet only! Unfortunately, there are limited other options because as a university area, they ticket frequently if you don't have a permit or miss feeding the meter...so on street is not necessarily a good option.

Even a written contract with the hotel did not guarantee our rooms!! I understand overbooking, but ignoring a contract! Our contract, written almost a year in advance of my daughter's wedding, was for a block of 20 rooms to be held at the group rate until 10/6/04. Friends from out of state were told there were no rooms available, they called 9/22/04. Upon checking with the hotel, we learned that 12 of the rooms were booked and the remainder were given to other guests.

The "manager" who negotiated the contract actually denied her role until we showed her our copy of the contract with her name on it.

Now our guests are scattered throughout Pittsburgh suburbs as the hotels in the city are booked for a football game and parent's weekend.

Beware the Wyndham!

There is absolutely no ventilation in the rooms. No bathroom fan, the windows don't open. There is nothing you can do. So by all means, DO NOT get a smoking room. In fact, just stay away from this place! The room we were initially put in reeked of smoke. Even after switching rooms to non-smoking the place was stale smelling. Our server in the hotel restaurant pointedly looked at her watch while taking our order. The place was not supposed to close for an hour but clearly she was ready to go. She also spoke loudly within ear shot about her early shift the next day. Yet at the same time kept asking people at our table innaproppriate personal questions. The front desk and room service people were equally weird/rude and unhelpful with anything else. The best way I can describe this place is overpriced and creepy.

The hotel staff was absolutely wonderful, especially Ron the bellman. I was unsure of where I was going to Carngie Mellon University and he explained the location, but then, offered to shuttle me over to the campus. A huge help when you are not from the area! The location was great, on my off time, I visited the Carnegie Museum, which was only a few blocks from the hotel, there were so may attractions that were within walking distance. I also shopped at the Shadyside shops on Walnut Street, which is just a few minute shuttle ride away, it was a great way to spend extra time. The hotel was full, so I stayed on the executive level and it was fabulous! A Private floor with breakfast in the morning, a bathrobe, and great room service. I couldn't have been happier with my stay at this hotel and I would recommend staying at this property on your next visit to Pittsburgh!

I stayed for one night at the Wyndham Garden University Place in March 2004. My stay was very pleasant, I was thrilled with the attentive service and my welcome card, courtesy wine, cheese and fruit as a Wyndham by Request member. The room was comfortable and clean, the hotel was well-decorated and the location was excellent. I have no complaints.

Stayed several times in the past 5 yrs because needed to be close to university. Seems like every stay a problem was encountered. Hotel needs renovation, especially elevators which take forever to arrive. Had to be moved once due to air condition broken. Preferred member requests for snacks wrong. Parking is a NIGHTMARE !!! You can have an assigned parking space with a card and number and they will give your space away and you get closed out of the garage!! Though you can find an occasional nice staff member, I won't ever go back.....

I found the place stuffy and somewhat in need of renovation. But the staff was polite. All in all tolerable with one exception: this place has the slowest elevator I've ever experienced. The staiway was not marked so I had to explore my way downstairs. I still got there faster. And believe it or not, the weekend I was there (Oct 2002) a mother-of-a-groom gut stuck in there and was late for her son's wedding!

This hotel managed to screw me over several times during the course of two transactions. They proved themselves dishonest, and I would not do business with them again. The story goes like this: For graduation, my girlfriend's family booked two rooms there when they came and visited. When they showed up, they were told their rooms were taken and the hotel was overbooked. They were sent to another hotel much further away, and given a free room at that hotel for their trouble. Not awful, but it is a pretty crappy thing to do to people. So a few months later I reserve a room from their website, and indicate in the comments field that I would be using the free room voucher received at the last bad experience. The reservation went through fine. I show up, and they tell me I can't use the voucher because it is a "holiday weekend." What holiday was it? Well, it wasn't a holiday, but there was an event going on at a local college so I couldn't use the voucher. Of course, they didn't tell me that until after I flew there and showed up at their door. They claimed they don't see any of the extra information input at the website. Their website made no mention of a holiday weekend. So after paying for the room that was supposed to be free, the kick in the face is that they were out of non-smoking rooms (I reserved a non-smoking room) so they had to put me in a room that smelled like an ashtray. All of our clothes smelled like smoke after leaving that place. I sent a letter to the corporatation, and received no response. This company does not deserve your business - there are many better (and cheaper) hotels in the area.

Hotel is disappointing. "High speed internet" is still advertised on their website at . On arrival, I learned this advertising was simply false. When I called the front desk, the employee tried to convince me that TV web access was the same thing -- the employee either assumed I was a fool, or was one himself. Courtesy fruit was delivered

with brown banana. Pay TV was not functional and despite repeated calls never was. "Executive" rooms had window cooling/heating units. Bartender downstairs loud and crass, walking back and forth through restaurant declaiming loudly.

Bedding okay, robe provided in executive level, one wait staff at restaurant very pleasant. Received minor adjustment for pay TV failure.