Athenaeum Hotel Review

Went for dinner. Delicious food, good service. A little pricey, but it's not ridiculous for the Athenaeum.

Visited in the off season during the year of Covid. Our time was quiet and relaxing. Would have loved to enjoyed tea or hot breakfast on the lovely porch looking the lake. The continental breakfast was appreciated however.

Beautiful building and location but not good value for money. Mattress was long overdue for replacement... Unbearably soft and sheets ill fitted. Bathroom very small but clean. Walls very thin so often heard neighbor's TV's or conversations. Was on a full board plan. Lovely dining room. Meals had some highlights but often very bland and starchy. Appreciated fresh berries at breakfast.

A beautiful old hotel in a historic location. The hotel serves the Chautauqua Institute. Unfortunately the mattresses and linens are almost as old as the hotel. The beauty of the surroundings and available artistry can't make up for the overpriced hotel. The hotel is seasonal and that leads to high pricing when open and border line upkeep. Hidden costs abound as you are a captive of the institute.
Parking, admission fees, and expensive local restaurants. $6 pizza slices and $4 a scoop icecream. Your car is a shuttle ride away but institute transportation is very good. The breakfast and service is excellant at the hotel. It wouldn't take much to truely make this hotel worth the money.

The Atheneaum is the Grande Dame of the Chautauqua Institute - a stately antique hotel with grand open spaces, massively high ceilings, 15-foot-tall walk-through windows, and a world-class porch overlooking the lake. It's also getting long in the tooth, with creaky, musty hallways, unevenly-rolling updates to guest rooms, and generally fraying physical plant. Its best days may be behind it, but the staff still works hard to accommodate, and it's the best place to stay in the area.

Great place for the Sunday brunch.. Great food, we loved it!!

We were just touring but it was an impressive and quite stunning piece of architecture!

What a gorgeous day for a stroll around the institution. Had a soda pop at the Athenaeum sat in the rocking chairs on the porch.

Excellent brunch buffet and very attentive wait staff !!

Beautiful, we visited in the off season. Not overly crowded and Fall scenery by the lake is breathtaking

I can only evaluate the beauty of the hotel and its physical structure. Simply wonderful, in a Victorian building, with rooms on the ground larger than huge and with lamps and candelabras ditto. Think of a gigantic room. It is used for events. I think it would be quiet to ride on horseback ...
And two wooden phone booths with well-preserved antique phones in the lobby are more than charming.
There is also a coffee shop, a restaurant and a shop for first necessity items, with books and even some medicines.
If the husband wins the mega sena, I stay there for a few days ..

The room was good. Breakfast ok
Dinner (sandwich, soup not worth the money. Cold fries, dry sandwich. Took a long time to be brought to us. Wedding dinner very good.

Beautiful grounds and gardens! We also had dinner there and the meal was delicious. If I had one criticism it would be to clean and refinish the exterior. Cobwebs and dirt all along the porch and peeling paint. All in all, I'd recommend a visit.

Staff doesn't seem to know when food is served or the cocktail bar. They all looked at us like we were crazy for asking most didn't even have an answer and asked if we could ask a manager. Guests of the ballet stayed their too and said the rooms are completely slanted ! I'll let you decide if this place sounds like a place you want to spend money

Water views are calming and scenic. The old word charm of this hotel in unparalleled

Not sure why this hotel has such a high rating. Maybe I had an outlying experience. The first room was a connecting room with no deadbolt on my side. People from the other room could have opened the door and gotten in to mine!!!!

The next room had shutters that didn't close so people could see in at night. Dirty, worn carpet. Cracked floor in bathroom. Dirty walls and door. You could see splahes of coffee all over from prior occupant, for example. Just a push button lock for the door made me nervous.

I had a much cleaner, more secure and better maintained room at a Choice hotel I stayed at elsewhere in N Y on that trip.

Also, be sure to check if they have any private events, as they kick you off the porch when those happen. I had planned to spend an evening on the porch looking at the lake and was told I had to leave even though I was a guest at the hotel and was just sitting there because apparently someone was hosting a private party and I wasn't wearing a badge!

Had planned to stay for a week but left early. Not at all a good experience for me.

We love this place! It has great views of the lake, and the fountain is lovely. I am so happy they kept the original wood work. We have not stayed the night, but we hope to in the future

Dinner was very good but server seemed flustered. Not great service.

Food and accommodations are pretty average, atmosphere and staff are good.

On Week Three, I spent three interesting days in constant motion. Besides the great meals, I used my fold-up bike almost every time I left the Hotel. On my sixth time at Chautauqua, I still found many things to do. At the Community table, I met interesting people. My room faced the Lake and in the early morning, the sunrise looked like a plasma TV screen on steroids. My one regret was that the new Chef has a problem with salt. Everything had salt in it, even the scrambled eggs!

The service was superb,eveybody was gracious and friendly

The Sunday brunch at the Athenaeum hotel is $39.95 per person. We found it to be good but not great. At that price, we expected it to be great, so we came away disappointed.

Amazing Place with awesome service. Beautiful atmosphere

This place is so beautiful, and the staff are real nice. It was established in 1810

I had my June wedding at athenaeum and it was breathtakingly beautiful. The staff is friendly and attentive. The food is outstanding. And as for our wedding, our wedding planner Carly was amazing! I cannot say enough about how she took care of us an our wedding. From the day we first met with her she was always available for any questions we had (and there were plenty). She was extremely flexible with our out of the ordinary ideas. She took care of our wedding day and our breakfast seamlessly. I can't describe how delicious the food was! It was the best truffle ravioli I have had anywhere, not just for wedding food! Our guests included many foodies and they were impressed. Of course the location is gorgeous and historical, but everyone was friendly and helpful including Alexis the bell person who was at the bridal party's service throughout our trip. Scott the AV specialist was also great meeting with us at the rehearsal and flawlessly pulling off the tech for the ceremony. Request Carly and you will not be disappointed.

If you can handle the gated community and slightly creepy old white people vibe, it's fine.

Disappointing food and service, in a beautiful, historic setting.

Set in a very beautiful Lakeside location this Victorian Hotel in some ways passed the test of time and in other ways not. The staff is very good and provides great service and this extends to the dining area and kitchen. Unfortunately the recently renovated rooms have a musty smell, are very small and are not worth the rates charged

I've been there a couple times and the place is beautiful, looks old, and the environment there is peaceful and nice

I went to a wonderful recital in a beautiful room facing the lake!

I saw it when walking the grounds of CI and it was beautiful.

It is an old establishment, but we'll maintained. The place is clean with a lot of rocking chairs, which are cool

Food, service, and atmosphere was great. The perfect place for Sunday lunch.

Wonderful old hotel with lots of charm and some ghosts.

Classy, great piano bar, drinks are top shelf, all the employees are amazing

Beautiful views, great catered events, and just picturesque.

Overnight stay on Symphony Saturday special. Room, 3 meals for two, gate passes and parking for the normal cost of the room alone. Very helpful younger staff. Hotel is beautiful grand style turn of century. Our corner room was spacious with a lake view. The room was air conditioned. The public areas and dining room are NOT. Overall great bargain.

Such a unique place in the world! Unlike anything else and full of wonderful people who are all happy to be there. Excellent food! Good service

This hotel is dated, run down, and overpriced.
The rooms are not clean. If I could give it no stars I would.

Beautiful location for a highly aesthetically pleasing hotel!

Beautiful hotel. The restaurant is delicious and if you sit outside you over look the lake. Very romantic and beautiful.

Just checked in, can't use restaurant, can't use bar.

Beautiful facility and stunning rooms.
There's a fascinating 1980's design aesthetic to the interior design that totally works. The only complaint we had were some very rude fellow guests that we had to call about - partying in the halls and slamming doors from 11PM - 5AM.
Unfortunately the staff on duty didn't address the issue but it was otherwise a nice stay with polite staff and a comfortable bed and room.

It's a really cool looking, old, well maintained building inside the Chautauqua Institution. It has character. We just ate dinner in the Heirloom restaurant inside the hotel. First we had a few drinks (beer and wine only, no hard alcohol) on the huge wrap around porch. Dinner and appetizer options were very good, though a little pricey. Service was fine. It was a nice evening, so they had the big doors open so it felt like almost eating outside.

The Athenaeum is absolutely beautiful - as is the entirety of Chautauqua.

Very nice 1800s charm, but still had most everything you want in a hotel.

We had our wedding here at the Athenaeum. It was PERFECT! Carrie Gifford and her staff went above and beyond for us. Not only is this hotel beautiful, filled with classic charm and right on the lake with a gorgeous covered porch, but the staff were friendly and competent. I cannot recommend the Athenaeum enough!!! On pricing, the rooms for our guests were extremely reasonably priced as well as the food/drinks. Absolutely LOVE the Athenaeum. You will not be disappointed.

This is a great historic hotel. Be sure to take in the view of Chautauqua Lake from the porch. Food has always been good

Historical landmark and modern friendliness. Within the one of it's kind Chautauqua Institution.

The Athena eun Hotel is a beautiful hotel with excellent food.

RE: Paul - yea, this is a victorian era hotel, there's not outlets everywhere! Which is why it's all wooden construction has bowed and changed in it's 100 year history, you can see it looking down the halls - so if you like history, that hasn't changed too much, come stay here. You will find common areas called 'sitting rooms' where intellectually stimulating 'books' are placed for your entertainment. Yea, that's not a 30+ inch flatscreen in your room, that's because it's not the kind of place you go to watch TV. GO SIT ON THE PORCH!!! and meet your fellow travelers. You will not find another place like Chautauqua, go walk the streets. Get out on a boat on the lake. SO many opportunities. Enjoy your stay with the right paradigm for the experience.

On the basics: food is great, service is helpful, location is stellar, this is not a value priced motel, and the rooms aren't based on 21st century luxury standards.

Destination Weddings: weddings are held at the hotel, before and after the Chautauqua program season. The NY fall makes for this destination an amazing choice for a unique full service destination wedding weekend where your guests have so much to enjoy!

We were here during the off season and it was also during the 2020 pandemic. As we hoped, it was not at crowded and we had a lovely weekend getaway. Despite the circumstances, I thought the hotel did a wonderful job of making us feel welcome, but at the same time safe. Masks are required and all staff used masks and sometimes gloves. The "buffet" breakfast was well done with pre-wrapped pastries, canned juices, pre-made yogurt parfaits, and coffee service. Guests touched nothing... just ordered and then was handed a tray with all items placed by gloved staff. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. It was a much needed break from home for us and one of the safest options we could find. I look forward to staying here when there isn't a global pandemic!

beautiful historical building, amenities were not great, but if you are staying to embrace the ambience of Chautauqua Institution maybe you will be satisfied with the rooms.

My sister is looking at it for a possible wedding venue. There are some hurdles to over come to book here. Some of the hotel has been updated* (not really renovated), some of it needs a lot of help. We didn't hear good things about the chef but were informed they have just highered a new one. I will have to come back and update review as we work more with the hotel.

Great location to relax. Food was good and staff very friendly and accommodating. The view is great!

I just recently had the pleasure of working with the staff from the hotel and let me tell you... these guys were great! they were on top of the food and formalities to help me put together an elegant but fun wedding reception! would def work with these guys again!