The Finnley

The most important thing to know before staying here is that The Finnley Hotel isn't so much a hotel as it's an Airbnb or a VRBO. On the plus side, the room looked great. On the negative side, if you need any amenities like new sheets, new bathroom supplies, or new towels, you'll have to submit a special request. We needed new sheets and didn't make a special request to get them because, it being a hotel, we assumed that an unmade bed would be made with new sheets. Since it was not, we requested new sheets and rather than letting us know that they'd get them to us as soon as possible, we were asked "why." The reason we needed new sheets was irrelevant -- we simply needed them. The "hotel" was not able to accommodate our request until the next day in the afternoon when they left folded sheets on a garbage bag outside of our door..

I came into Grand Rapids to work the golf tournament for one day through Monday. On Sunday afternoon I had a request to work the week and seeing that the Finnley was close to many restaurants and bars, I booked for four nights. Two hours later my job cancelled on me. So I wrote the Finnley to cancel my reservation, expecting to be on the hook for one night. They wrote back and said that I could not cancel and I would be charged the four nights. After several emails they agreed to reimburse for two of the four nights and refund three days of parking. I wasn’t happy but decided to move on as this was my mistake. I checked in Monday night. The room was excellent and the bed was fantastic. So Tuesday morning I sent them an email saying that I would use the second night (that I paid for). I didn’t get a response. At 11:30a I get a text stating that I needed to check out as the cleaning crew was waiting. I requested a call back as I was getting frustrated with all the emails and texts. On the phone I stated my position that I had paid for two nights. The guy on the phone kept stating his position that I did not follow the cancellation policy and they made an exception and refunded two nights. We got nowhere and I was getting very upset to the point that I told him I would be out in five minutes and I was also fearing they would hit me with late fees. I travel throughout the US and Europe a lot. I pride myself on being a low maintenance traveler and respecting the wishes of the people in the hard business of running hotels and B & Bs. Unfortunately this is more of an air bb than a hotel. If your plans may change and you want some flexibility, I would not consider the Finnley. In addition, understand that it takes time to figure out where to park and the entry. If you are tired from a day of travel, don’t expect the the ease of checking into a typical hotel. On Tuesday morning I came back from breakfast and found the parking garage completely full and had to wait for a spot.