So, I’m sitting here in the beautiful living room of the Ballastone Inn struggling with what sort of ranking to give. While I settled on five stars, there is a big caveat: Don’t unknowingly book the basement rooms.
Now, having read a number of other Ballastone reviews I fully expect the manager/owner to respectfully respond, as she usually does, that it’s not a basement it’s the lower level and there are no basements in Savannah.
But trust me, it will feel a lot like a basement to you: low ceilings (maybe 7 foot eight inches by my guesstimate); no individual thermostat and so the room was warm and stuffy for sleeping; across from the kitchen; you take the elevator DOWN to get to your room (a first for me, and the point at which a funny feeling starts in your stomach), etc.
One of the manager responses to a similar complaint was that they always tell people in advance if they’re getting a “courtyard” (aka basement) room. Hmmm ... not in my case, or if so it wasn’t really made clear what it meant. For the money I’d have preferred to be in a “normal” room somewhere else, or might have paid up for a better room at the Ballastone (we were only there one night so once we were in the room it wasn’t really worth the fuss).
I understand the dilemma for the owner. No doubt the business forecast under which she bought the business included revenue from the lower-level rooms (I’ll meet her half way and call them that). But really, these rooms should be closed and converted to storage space or something. It’s a bit like the Four Seasons having a lower tier of rooms that was significantly below their normal standard and that you would only find out you’d booked when you opened the door. They just wouldn’t do it, and nor should the Ballastone.
At the very least they need to make it MUCH clearer, including on the website, that these rooms are not in the same league as the other rooms.
In all other respects we thought the Inn was excellent.