Reviews of Wm. Mulherin's Sons Hotel

On the positive side, the room is as shown in the website. The space is large. The kitchen is reasonably furnished. The windows are plentiful. The space is large. The restored vintage loft design is very pleasant. The old record player and choice of furniture makes the room one would want to enjoy for a lazy weekend morning. We really felt the aesthetic, space, and light was as described and advertised, which was the main draw to the apartment. As a bonus it is in the area of town we wanted which is lively and lots of food and drink options. Also, if you happen to be in the room when housekeeping is there during their fixed hours which they allocate to turning over rooms, you can get extra towels and they are friendly and responsive. There are some aspects that could be improved. The first one is related to expectations and positioning. The other is related to quality of work and maintenance. 1) The service is positioned and priced as a hotel. In reality it is an air bnb style but without the protections of the platform to mediate between host and guest. Check in is handled by the restaurant that shares the same owner. However the staff at the restaurant are not empowered or equipped to handle any issues. While they share the same brand, owner, and location, they are quick to note the legal entities are different and they don’t take any responsibility to close the loop with the owner, only direct the guest to the website. The owner decides if and when to respond based on his or her convenience, and in our case only responded to our issue after we had checked out and left the property. The issue was ultimately responded to but after we left the property, city and country. 2) There is a key code lock on the exterior door. The design chosen requires guests to lock it with an affirmative step. We were instructed in how to operate it and followed the steps which were straight forward. Most times we came to the door the other guests hadn’t taken the step and the door was unlocked. 3) The standard ac cooling capacity could not keep up when the heat got above about 85f. There was a supplemental unit that could help to about 90f, but it added a lot to the noise and also blows directly in the face. 4) Some of the blinds were broken making it hard to close at night. Some of the windows were not properly seated making opening and closing an issue. The insulation was falling off the walls pushing the faux brick onto the floor. The sheets had holes. 5) The WiFi router kept crashing and restarting after logging in. Ultimately it worked only for a small percentage of our time there. We had work arounds but a functioning WiFi is now a minimum expectation.

The subway runs 24 hours next to the building, so if you are a light sleeper I wouldn’t recommend this place- I was using earplugs and could still hear the train pass every 15 mins. We stayed for 3 nights in January, and I’m not sure if it’s always like this or if there was an issue but our bathroom was freezing; to the point that my boyfriend refused to shower the evening we arrived because of how cold it was in there, so we would only shower in the mornings. We wouldn’t go in without the towel bathrobes provided… maybe they don’t have insulation or maybe the heating wasn’t working there- but it was really uncomfortable and that really dampened our stay. Apart from those two things, we liked our room (#2) it was quite comfortable. Love the location, we really like Fishtown; there’s a subway station a couple of blocks away and tons of great options to eat nearby for breakfast or dinner.

The hotel and its rooms are absolutely gorgeously designed, and the bed is one of the most comfortable I've ever slept in. It was great to have ample room to spread out, host guests, and decompress from busy days! The location is highly walkable and it's extremely well-suited to discovering Fishtown and the surrounding areas; there's a La Colombe across the street if you need an early-AM coffee, but the kitchen in the room is also stocked if you'd like to make your own. I'll never complain about having Aesop in the bathroom, either! If you're used to city noise, the sound of the El might even help lull you to sleep, as it did us. That said there are a few little details that could be better - i.e., no ledge in the shower for putting your toiletries on, doors that can still be opened a few inches even when they're locked, and not all of our rooms had a full-length mirror. We also had to go poking around to find our bath towels (they're under the bathroom sink) and to find the garbage cans. Small details but the doors / locks especially made me a little uncomfortable, and to be honest, the price is about $100 too much per night for what you get. That said, it's absolutely worth the experience, especially if you're planning to have friends hang out in your room.