I love all-suites hotels. You don’t need a special upgrade or media credentials to get a great room with plenty of space. You know when you check in that every room is going to be a suite. I was excited when my girlfriend gave my husband and I a gift certificate for a free night at the new all-suites hotel in Pittsburgh.

Cambria Suites is attached via parking garage to the new CONSOL Energy Center (home to the Pittsburgh Penguins), which I’m sure makes it convenient for anyone coming into town for a hockey game. It is not conveniently located near any other major Pittsburgh attraction and is just outside the downtown district and away from major bus routes. Here for a game or have a rental car? You’ll be fine.

Location issues aside, Cambria Suites is a beautiful hotel that lived up to my expectations as an all-suites property. Our king standard room included a large living area, plenty of space to work (which I happily ignored), and the most important feature of any hotel room: ample outlets for charging electronics.

The bed was comfortable, too.

The bathroom gave me pause. The modern design featured a shower with no shower curtain or sliding door. Half the shower was enclosed with a glass wall and the other half, the part farthest from the shower head, was open. Another design oddity included having the faucet for the shower on the wall opposite the shower head, eliminating the early morning cold water screams. While that design decision was brilliant, I’d love to hear the logic behind an open shower stall in a hotel bathroom.

Photo: Cambria Suites

The Hyatt Regency Airport we recently stayed at was located – you guessed it – in the Pittsburgh airport. This was incredibly convenient because you literally walked out of the airport, through a hallway and into the airport. And, there’s nothing like having to get up only one hour before your flight and not worrying about missing it. So this part was great. Other than that, though, we will not be staying there again.

All the hotel had left when we checked in were smoking rooms. There was a mix-up apparently, and we really didn’t have a choice. We asked the hotel if the room would be really gross smelling and they assured us that rooms are specially treated and aired out to help avoid any smell. They offered us a discount off of our rate, which was nice, and since it was really late at night and we had no other choice, we decided to take them up on the offer. Man, was that a bad decision, and thank goodness we were only in town for a San Diego Chargers game and  we spent most of our time at Heinz Field and out and about.

I completely understand that this was a smoking allowed room – but the room absolutely reeked of smoke. Worse than any Vegas casino I’ve ever been to. Like, you were hit in the face by the smell as soon as you walked in the door. So gross. We weren’t in the room much except for sleeping, but I swear I inhaled second hand smoke on my pillow as I slept. Too bad, because otherwise this hotel was a great deal.

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Photo Credit: Katinalynn