Leland Hotel

[mn_body_detroit_hrt]

I have heard stories about this hotel and I was hoping that you guys could help to contribute to my working knowledge of the bld....what is the deal with certain floors still being condemned, hauntings, great clubs...anyone know the deal, I can't find anything online about it except for bad reviews

[Allan]

The Leland Hotel is one of Mike Higgins' cash cows. City Club is located in the basement and rakes in quite a bit of money each weekend. The building was designed by Rapp & Rapp, the same architects who did the Michigan Theater down the street.

Some of the floors are rented out as apartments, while the others are rented out as a lower class hotel. Mike Higgins actually did start some renovations, but he ran out of money. Some of the floors are unused. I have never been inside, but apparently it's a cool place to explore.

[mn_body_detroit_hrt]

thanks allan, much appreciated

[mn_body_detroit_hrt]

Nobody else hu? I am looking for those that have stayed and enjoyed...explored the bld. anything....stories, rumors, gossip...I hate to be a gossip monger but I have heard from someone here that it is a real "experience" to stay there, and not in a bad way, actually the ghost stories and the half abandoned quality of the hotel was put forth as a major bonus...

[baldy]

I've never been here, but after checking out the reviews on tipadvisor, I don't think I would. On the bright side the comments are pretty funny!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g4...t_Michigan.html

Here's the first one

"what a dump!"

I cannot believe they charged $145 for a broken down bed. The smell

of the place lingered on our clothes the next day. Ramada needs to

talk with this independent owner about clean up or drop their name

and save their reputation. This was absolutely the worst hotel i have

ever stayed in. That includes a $25 a night stay in Negril Jamaica

which we shared a bathroom with the adjoining room. Stay clear of

this one!

Here's one of my favorite reviews

"Horrible, disgusting and haunted"

I had stayed in the Ramada Inn while auditioning for American Idol. Where I'm from Ramada Inn's are very classy hotels, but not very expensive. This one was HORRIBLE! Words can't even describe it. We were put in a room that they house Red Cross burn victims in and there were blood stains all over the carpet. The heat refused to turn off and the building was half falling apart. Not to mention having someone taking a shower on either side of us at 1 am and finding out no one was in the rooms beside us! The staff was kind, but that was where the good ends! The diner is falling apart and the food was terrible! The side of town it's on is very run down. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE AT NIGHT! Very, scary! We were so displeased with the hotel that we slid in at 30 seconds until check out time, checked out, and threw our clothes into our bags still on the hangers. We didn't have another hotel to go to, but we would have rather slept in our car. By the time we found another hotel, and unpacked it was 8 at night because when we went to unpack we had everyone else's stuff because we had packed in such a panic just to get out of there! Trying to find another hotel was a waste of a day off between auditions! If you stay here, you will regret it!

Believe me, this isn't the only negative review as most of them are.

Some of the other classy titles for reviews are:

"Made me sick"

"Trash"

"Sleep in your car"

"Crap Trap"

"Canceled before I arrived"

"Had a blast at the ghetto fab Ramada" (this was a good one)

"This place would scare Dracula!"

"disgusting- from the building to the staff"

[mn_body_detroit_hrt]

Thanks ebaldy, I was searching all day yesterday and found only one good review which essentially told all the suburbanites to go to hell and take their starbucks with them. It went on to advise all those wearing pleather with ink and piercing to gather here as they would be left to their business and you can

[Allan]

Where I'm from Ramada Inn's are very classy hotels, but not very expensive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where I'm from Ramada Inn's are kind of trashy...I don't know where that person is from!

I have spent hours pouring over those online reviews before. I first found some about a year ago when searching for information about the hotel, and they keep getting better & better as time goes on. They always make for a good laugh. Having not been there, it's hard to know exactly what it's like, since the only people who bother to write reviews are dissatisfied customers.

One thing I have heard about the building is that it was originally designed to be the headquarters for a bank, but at the last minute the plans fell through and they decided to make it a hotel instead. I'm not sure how true it is, since I've found no written documentation of the claim, but it is interesting anyway.

[SNWEB]

It may not provide any info, but here's one from my postcard collection:

[Zissou]

That sign is absolutely massive. Cool picture.

[jsmyers]

I've stayed there for a weekend. It is a standard classic no frills hotel.

I think the hotel would do better to drop Ramada and market as a niche hotel, like the Moore hotel in Seattle (which I have also stayed in). Though the Moore is much smaller.

http://www.moorehotel.com/

Instead, the place gets bad reviews because people expect that a certain experience when they see a brand name they recognize. It isn't bad it is just not what a few vocal complainers expect.

It has character, but the only thing bad about it is the elevators. I think the floor I stayed on (which was the same as another floor I was on.) had been reconfigured to combine every 2 rooms into 1. It definitely needs a lot more work, but it isn't bad.

The diner on the corner is a great place to go after a night out. Good cheap breakfast and good people watching.

[wastedutopia]

Theres some pictures of the abandond floors on forgotten michigan. http://forgottenmichigan.com/phpbb/modules...a09cde421b31918

I've slept there twice, I've definately stayed in worse places, but I hardly think the place is worth $100+ a night. A decent enough place to sleep after a night of partying. The elivators are slower than crap, and the stairways are fully of trash, graffitti and are really poorly lit.

Lets see, I belive the 4th and part of the 5th floors are abandonded, as well as the mezzinene level of the lobby. The "suits" are 2 rooms made into one, and the standard rooms are really small.

Some of the ballrooms had drop celings added to them and turned into offices. If you look at the large windows on the front of the building you can see the frames for the celings in the middle of the windows...pretty. City club lives in one of the old ballrooms on the main floor. The place is a compeate craphole, and there usually isn't any heat in the winter. The Labrynth is in the basement, also a craphole club.

[RestoretheRoar]

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=4206

[mn_body_detroit_hrt]

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=4206

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Awsome article! Thank you for posting that. Thanks for all the imput guys.