The Atherton Hotel, an Ascend Hotel Collection Member

It is just what I wanted. Quiet, immaculately clean, comfortable bed, professional staff. After fleeing a disastrous Airbnb situation (no heat in Jan!) the atherton was welcome respite. The folks at the front desk are especially great.

We drove into State College from Minnesota through the night and arrived at 8am. The hotel desk staff allowed us to check in at 8am in the morning with our two young boys — this was absolutely AWESOME customer service! We cannot thank you enough for allowing us to check in so early. The rest of the stay was fine — we spent very little time in the room; mostly just to sleep.
This location is ultra convenient with downtown State College and allowed me to make a midnight run for some of my favorite State College pizza while the family was sleeping.

OMG!!! OMG!!! if I could give this place less than one star, I would! Because when you are awakened to what turned out to be a 1″ cockroach CRAWLING ON YOUR FACE, there are no stars to express that!!! And the response to the complaint from the front desk is that «Maybe it came in with the laundry» would be laughable, but they then sent the security woman up with more laundry! This is all while they had just delivered the paid in 1 year advance bill of $ 865.84 !!! Yes! They scalped us because our son graduated yesterday, Saturday, at the university and there was a minimum 2 night stay, pay in advance, of $ 399 per night. Clearly, this hotel is not worth that, lacking in even basic amenities, but this, and their lack of response! I have a 4 hour drive later this morning and I’m now up at 3: am writing this.
Do not stay here!!!

We stayed at the Atherton last weekend for Thon. Since we are a four diamonds family the hotel was chosen for us. I enjoyed our stay and would stay again if I’m ever in the area for another event. I enjoyed that it had a parking garage so I didn’t have to worry about cleaning my car off when it snowed Saturday. The only downside of the garage is that the parking is very tight. When we checked in the lobby looked very fancy. They have a restaurant and bar inside the lobby which I wasn’t able to check out, maybe next time. The room was spacious, we had two double beds. The décor was typical hotel décor. I had to fiddle with the heater since it felt like a sauna most of our stay, but luckily we were in the room much.
All in all it was a decent hotel and I would say again if in the area.

Reservation was made with ease. I stayed during parents weekend: 10/​11/​2014. I wish I would have known the situation with parking ahead of time and that there was another event at the hotel the same weekend. Check in attendant was not overly friendly (I frequently check in late in the evening when tired where friendliness makes a huge difference). My pet peeve is that after you bring up all of your things to check in, you have to then walk back down to put a parking pass in the car — who wants to do that when they’re tired? There was a wedding so the hotel was very loud. I did perform a review after my stay, and was immediately contacted by management and promptly issued a voucher for a free 1 night stay. The room was clean (maybe a little outdated), but I would definitely stay again.
Parking is $ 8 per night.

Recently visited with my daughter while touring Penn State. Overall, an average hotel. Reservation was easy. No valet upon arrival, we had to park ourselves in the creepy basement garage. Front desk was efficient, but not very friendly. Rooms were adequate, but a little dated. Room service was prompt and courteous. Not a bad place to stay in State College. Location is directly across from campus. Just don’t expect 5 stars.

Rooms are not very clean.

The Atherton Hotel is a State College staple. Its only one of three downtown hotels in State College, one of two decent ones. Its the only decent non-​chain hotel. Therefore I stayed here.
The Atherton Hotel is part of the Hotel State College group so they offered a deal for NYE in partner with Indigo & Pickles. It was $ 99 for a room and tickets for 2 for NYE. They’ve started charging $ 7/​night for parking so this year was a bit more costly than other years.
The hotel rooms are clean, older, but clean. The bathrooms are dark caves and could use some new lighting.
Also one of my pet peeves is not offering shampoo and conditioner. The conditioning shampoo is not an alternate for shampoo and conditioner.

I stayed here twice and I have to say it’s a bit outdated. I rented their most expensive suite and the bathroom was stuck in the 1990’s. It’s overpriced for the quality of the rooms. They need to invest in an desperate upgrade. It’s also not clean.

We stayed here for one night, and in that short time we had no problems and enjoyed our stay. The rooms were clean and other than that it was your average hotel stay. Nothing fancy.
The location is close enough to the Main Street, only a few blocks away where you can get amazing food, like at the Green Bowl and explore the town of State College.

This hotel was ok. It was in a good location, but two things annoy me:
1. Dirty towels. After drying myself off, I came to notice brown and black stains on the towels. In my best Shaggy voice.. . It wasn’t me. Ew.
2. You can’t exit the hotel from the lobby. You can only exit by taking the elevator down to the parking garage. One of the three elevators didn’t work, and for some reason, I felt like I spent half of the weekend waiting for an elevator. i know, I know, I’m lazy right? Nope, there are no stairs. Like I said, annoying.
We are.. . We are.. .
Not impressed.

While visiting our son who is a student at Penn State we stayed at the Atherton Hotel. Pro: The location is very convenient. Con: the hotel itself is mediocre. Considering the available options close to campus it was a decent choice. So we decided to book it for his graduation the following year. Upon checkout we asked when reservations opened for graduation and were told to call a year in advance. Three months before that date arrived I received an email for early reservations for graduation weekend. They required payment in full. In order to guarantee having a room for this important occasion I immediately sent the payment in and received a confirmation. Yesterday, the day before we were to check in I received a call from the hotel. I was told that they had overbooked and no longer had a room for us. They had arranged to put us in another hotel 5 miles from campus!!! Despite all my efforts to reason, beg, plead with the «manager» Maggie Diddle she was nasty, rude and not understanding and finally hung up on me. How’s that for customer service?
Do not stay at this hotel!!!

I hadn’t stayed in a hotel in State College since I was a kid– until this week. My family would come up for Arts Fest and football games and we’d stay at the Autoport, or the Penn Stater, or the Nittany Lion Inn. I would recommend any of these hotels over the Atherton. Sure, you’re right down town, but those beds? Hard as the Nittany Lion statue itself. My freshman dorm room extra-​long twin had more cushion.
The mattress/​linens/​pillows were not luxurious in the least. The «giveaways» were limited to shampoo and soap. No conditioner, no moisturizer, no mouthwash. Don’t get me wrong– two years ago I was living in one of those shabby houses on West College, and I don’t NEED anything fancy. The Atherton simply wasn’t what I had expected. All those years as a student on the «outside» had my hopes up too high.

We stayed here 1 night for my son’s graduation. For the price it was probably the worst hotel we’ve ever stayed in. The service was awful, the internet in the room did not work, the elevators weren’t working, there was puke on the toilet, the tv in the fitness room did not work. Need I say more?

Got this hotel assigned by priceline — no pool, but right in downtown WITH underground parking — steps from the college and ALL the shops. If you do priceline, this in one location that posted a winner for a really low bid!

I stayed at the Atherton Hotel for 2 nights and 3 days, and wow… it was quite an experience in itself. On paper, Atherton Hotel looks and sounds pretty nice. It’s vying to be that classy establishment in State College, to separate itself from all the drunken undergrads. Upon entering, I was thinking to myself, «Hey, this place isn’t half bad!» I was abruptly proved wrong later in the night.
Checking in was fairly easy, as it should be, and the rates were $ 109 a night. The lobby at the Atherton is pretty old school, with that old Victorian feel to it. As far as the hotel rooms go, they were normal. Nothing spectacular, but nothing with roaches scurrying around either. The rooms seemed outdated, but it was clean and had all the amenities you’d need in a hotel.
Now when it becomes night time, you’ll get treated to what State College offers the best, drunken undergrads. During my first night’s stay, I came back to the Atherton, only to see a drunk undergrad peeing against the wall next to the front door, and another undergrad on the ground stumbling. Sure it’s Thursday night and I sort of expected it, but dear lord it was only 8pm. I took the elevator to the 3^rd floor where my room was, and I was greeted by a screaming drunk girl and her bf arguing about some pills. Awesome? Not quite. Soon after, the cops show up and try to break things up. I loved my undergraduate period, but not now.
Atherton Hotel does have all the cards in their deck to be a decent hotel. Unfortunately being right across the street from a large university means that no matter where in the hotel your room is, you will be able to hear the drunkenness of the undergrads, and the fun sounds of police sirens. If I wanted all this extra fun, I would have just stayed at a frat house.

I was here for recently, as part of the English Department’s Graduate Recruitment Weekend.
I drove into town and eventually found my way to the parking garage; the signage is confusing, and you have to drive down alleys that look like they don’t go anywhere in order to get into the parking garage. Oh well. I made it, took the elevator up to the lobby and checked in easily enough. Went up to my room, and was pretty impressed with how nice everything was. The room was clean and spacious and had one of those wonderful little mini-​coffee makers AND a hairdryer. Exciting! The heat system was a bit odd; it seemed to either be hot or cold in the room with no in-​between, but that’s pretty typical of hotels in my experience.
No complaints at all about the room. I didn’t have the issues with the door that another reviewer mentioned, nor did I have any problems with the maids. I was only there from Friday through Sunday, but on Saturday when I came back to my room at the end of the day, it had been cleaned and restocked. I also really appreciated the hotel’s efforts to be «green» and to educate guests on ways to help them conserve resources.
We had a meet and greet in the hotel bar that night. No complaints. Also no real complaints about the unscheduled bar time a few of my fellow recruits and I spent there on Saturday night. The bartender was nice; when he ran out of my favorite beer, he suggested a good replacement. Prices were decent.
Saturday we had breakfast in one of the meeting rooms on the main floor. Typical scrambled eggs, bland potatoes, toast, etc. (I’m a vegetarian so I didn’t touch the bacon or sausage). Good selection of bottled juices, and plenty of surprisingly good coffee.
I had the very annoying experience on Friday night of being woken in the middle of the night by a drunk hotel guest having a loud cell phone argument in the hallway outside my room, but that is in no way the hotel’s fault. Other than that, and the strange parking situation, I had no complaints at all.

I never stayed here, nor had any experience directly related to the hotel whatsoever. But one time I was standing outside, across the street, and waiting for the bus. A chartered bus pulls up and who steps out but… NSync! Oh boy! They were at the peak of their popularity and were in town for a «concert». Well, somehow a pack of screaming girls just emerged from the shadows and almost trampled me to death. I blame the hotel.

I stayed here for a week for a Conference at the hotel. My review is of the room, and the conference area, as well as other aspects of the hotel.
After a torturous drive, I arrived at the Atherton around 930pm. The parking garage is SCARY at night. It just feels like the kind of place that no one could hear you scream.
After taking the elevator to the lobby, I checked in. The desk clerk was very helpful and nice about listening to me complain about the drive.
My room was nice, on the surface. That would change in my opinion over several days. It was spacious. The bathroom could be a lot better lit, but I liked the extra pull out mirror. That came in handy.
Morning one: wake up call scheduled for 615. Actual time: 600. I was NOT prepared for that. I wanted MY alarms to ease me into it. So much for that!
Morning two: wake up call scheduled for 615. Wake up call doesn’t happen. Good thing I have 5 other alarms and my mom’s call. I go downstairs for the conference, and our breakfast has gone from pastries and fresh fruit to Hostess-​type mini donuts. What a disappointment! Afternoon snack is even worse. The most disgusting tortilla chips on Earth. What happened to the OK hotel?
Morning three: Wake up call scheduled for 600, again it occurs early: 548. Again, it’s painful. Except this time those 12 minutes BEFORE 600AM are crucial. I fall back asleep, and haul ass to get ready when my mom wakes me up.
Day three, my maid also decided to take a break. I got no hand towels (which I ignored, as I had more than enough shower towels) and my dirty glasses were left by the sink.
Morning four: Wake up call schedule figured out! Set it for 615, so it would happen at 600. Perfect! It was day 4 that I sampled the hotel bar. The bartender is not the greatest by any stretch, but she was nice and the drinks were pretty cheap. That bar must be how their satisfaction stays afloat.
Morning five: Slept through my wakeup call, through no fault of the hotel, other than the cheap libations.
Check out was painless.
Other concerns: I’ve heard the restaurant was terrible, therefore I was in no rush to try it. Judging by our daily breakfasts and snacks, I’m sure I’d agree.
Conference room was FREEZING. It took ages to get someone to fix it.
The doors do NOT shut right. You have to jiggle the handle, and several people, myself included, had the door left open by their maid. Eeek!
It wasn’t my worst hotel experience, but from the website to reality, I was very disappointed.