Grayhaven Motel

This place is a best kept secret in Ithaca area (just a couple miles out of town). Well-​kept, cute, inexpensive, easy access to Ithaca and Cayuga Lake. Very nice owner/​operator! Cannot beat it!

What a wonderful find! The price was definitely right at $ 75 a night! Cheapest you can find in the city on such short notice during a Cornell reunion weekend especially when the room is so awesome! The lady at the front was so sweet and accommodating. It’s the perfect getaway from the annoyance of the college campus when you just want to leave the scene for a night. And the landscaping is beautiful and the rooms are clean spacious and unique. And Internet worked perfectly. The only critique is they need to provide bigger bars of soap. Great job!

DOG FRIENDLY. That’s why we stayed here. The location is great, right down the street from Buttermilk Falls. Yes, this is an old motel, but the place is clean and the staff is friendly. They do have coffee and tea available, but there are so many places to eat nearby that no «free breakfast» is not an issue for us. Of course anyone will pay more during busy college weekends, this is Cornell’s town.
Our room was right by the office/​house, so we did have WiFi. Noise was at a minimum.
The bathroom was clean. We had a king size bed that was pretty comfortable. There was a small fridge as well.
The website has pretty good detail of each room available. (Note to the owners: don’t apologize for not having a free continental breakfast, just let it go. People can go to any number of places nearby to get food. You have done a sweet job of outfitting the room with a mini hair dryer, soap, lotion, etc. Cleanliness is the most important thing for most people)
The owners do agility with their dogs, so there is a very small fenced area to let yours off leash (pick up your dog’s poop, please!)
I give the Grayhaven five stars in the «motel» category.
We will definitely be returning… and bringing friends!

Good last minute, desperation option, but not a top choice. The people who run the motel are very nice so I hate to give a strongly mixed review, but I’m assuming you’re nice too, and you’re here for the truth, so here it is (best to worst):
1) Clean
2) Nice Internet connection (in some rooms, be sure to inquire ahead of time.)
3) Convenient to town (just three miles give or take)
4) MOTEL (you’re just a few feet from cars starting, doors slamming, and the highway is only 100 feet away as well.) But not terribly noisy, just somewhat annoying
5) My room had plain, mismatched, worn Hobbit-​sized furniture — dresser and nightstand tops barely 2 feet off the floor, desk and chair looked like they were lifted from a one-​room schoolhouse — I could not even get my knees below the desk when sitting at it. Lighting is borderline horrible. Don’t think you’re going to get much work done here.
6) Pretty crummy deal at $ 100 a night — adds insult to injury — but to be fair I think I simply got gouged because it’s homecoming weekend at Cornell.
That said, there’s nothing to be AFRAID of here (bed-​bugs, loitering drug dealers, nails popping through floorboards/​carpet etc.), so if you’re in a bind this is a decent option, especially if you’re not depending on any kind of usable work environment.

I love the Grayhaven! Yes, it’s older but you can’t beat the cleanliness and the staff. The location is perfect– close to Downtown and to two waterfalls. Best of all– dog friendly with an agility play area in the back. The grounds are maintained very well. This is our second visit here and any time we come back to the area, this is where we will stay.

Moved and repacked our belongings without ever informing us… to another room. This place might be quaint, but they also think they have a right to go through your luggage and move it to whatever room they please. I would not recommend this place to anyone who wants to feel secure and that their property is safe.
Horrible experience.

A charming little motel south of town on Rt. 13 just past Buttermilk Falls.
Vibe/​friendliness: 5
Amenities: 3
Staying at the Grayhaven reminded us of a visit to Grandma’s. It’s an old-​school roadside motel. We stayed in the Treman lodge in a room with two double beds. The décor is unchanged since the late 70’s, so it has that total throwback retro vibe. Had Elvis visited Ithaca, his room might have looked like this. Our room was very large and had a seating area complete with Archie and Edith chairs and a little mini fridge. These rooms also have a kitchen that can be unlocked for an upcharge if you’re staying longer (unless you have a huge family or just love to cook, I’d say skip it. If you can’t find cheap eats in a town with 20,000+ college kids, you’re not looking hard enough).
Large rooms, very spacious, and immaculately clean. They have an old playground, and also a dog agility training ground (exhibitions on Saturday mornings).
The downside:
Dated — the same thing that gives it that retro kitschy vibe also hurts it. The beds were old, really old, and not that comfortable. A few tiles in the tub were starting to come loose. The air conditioner will get the heat out, but won’t get the room cold. The room has a bit of an old smell — not musty per se, but that old smell at grandma’s house that cries out for a trip to Home Depot and some work around the house.
On the weekends, they’ll charge more but offer a continental breakfast — which wasn’t impressive. Half-​stale store bought baked goods put out on a table in the office with a pot of coffee and a gallon of OJ.
It might be worth checking out the larger rooms with a king size bed, those looked a little more modern on the website. The owners were very nice, and the immaculate cleanliness of the room was impressive. The grounds are well maintained. New beds, a little bit of maintenance to Room 19, and a higher rating might be in the works…