I travel for a living and stay at Marriott properties, many of them Renaissance, 100+ nights a year.

I was surprised to find how old this hotel was and it showed in many areas of the property. This is charming in some places (beatiful lobby) and annoying in others (slow elevators and ancient bathrooms).

The staff was very friendly and accommodating, in particular at the lobby bar and front desk.

The rooms seem like they are hit and miss. I was there for a convention and saw many of the other rooms. They appeared to vary quite a bit in shapes and sizes and were all clean but none seemed really up-to-date. To their credit, they did have high speed web in my room.

I am not a fan of older hotels in particular because it always seems like something works poorly in the room, they never have decent bathrooms, and when they have been renovated, they still never measure up to a new property. This explains the plaster bubbling up behind the wallpaper next to my bed. It looks like at one point in the past they took a bunch of smaller rooms and combined them, as the hallways have lots of doors to nowhere and I had a door that led nowhere in my bathroom wall.

I had an atrium view room which overlooked the spartan pool area that had an odd mirrored decor which seemed at odds with the hotel's otherwise old-world approach. I also overlooked the workout area, which I sampled and found most of the equipment to be health club castoffs.

The room was adequate, but old, and the bathroom had seen better days. The closet was really musty.

Not bad if you're there for a convention, but definitely not as fresh and new as the many other Renaissances I have stayed at. If you like the "charm" of an older property and don't mind some of the drawbacks, this place is probably for you.

Very convenient for shopping and eating in historic downtown. Needs better elevator service, and rooms are fairly small.

I was in town for 5 days and 4 nights, for a convention. My wife traveled with me. It was nice to be able to travel on the RTA (rail) directly to the station in Tower Center; we didn't have to go outside once while going from the plane to the room. I could see that this would be a big advantage in nasty weather. The train was also much cheaper, and probably faster, than a cab ($1.50 for the rail vs. $25+ for the cab). We checked into the hotel early at about 1:00pm.
The hotel public areas were done in a grand style - old, but in good repair and very clean. The staff was courteous and efficient. We had requested a queen (min.), outside, smoking room, near the elevators. We got a queen atrium room instead (I presume this was because we checked in early and our first choice was not yet available). The windows opening onto the atrium plus the small size of the room made it feel slightly claustrophobic, so we immediately asked for a different outside room. We did notice that some of the other atrium rooms (open for housekeeping) appeared to be larger. Since it was early, not many rooms had been released yet & they told us to check back at about 2:00. We left our bags in the first room and ran to the food court in the Tower Mall to grab a quick lunch. The Tower Mall is mostly just small chain stores, no major anchor department stores. There are a few restaurants directly accessible from the mall (incl. Hard Rock Cafe). Since the train station in the mall is the major transfer hub for the rail system there are a lot of people milling thru the mall on their way to and from the train, but at no time did I feel particularly bothered or threatened.
We returned to the front desk at exactly 2:00, and we got our room changed to an outside king. It was a larger room than the first, and was much more comfortable (less confining). The room had a TV armoire with a bar refrigerator in the bottom, a desk with two straight chairs, and internet connections. It did NOT have any dresser with drawers, so we ended up stacking our clothes for the week on the closet shelf, which I find to be inconvenient and annoying. It also did not have any type of easy chair or sofa; so lounging could only be done on the bed. Since my wife would be spending more time in the room than me, this was more disappointing to her. The room was clean though, with an extra phone and a hair dryer in the bathroom, a decent iron and board, a safe, and a coffee maker. We had to request extra cream, sugar and coffee, and housekeeping brought it fairly quickly.
By night, the hotel was full of conventioneers, the ice machine and soda machine were empty, so we dipped into the honor bar in our room. I did not experience any of the "thin wall" syndrome described by other reviews here, but I guess that depends on the nature of the clientele during your stay. Since the hotel was full, the elevators were usually quite slow (they could hold, maybe, 6 people, 7 max). After a busload (40 or so) of convention goers unloaded into the lobby one day, it took nearly half an hour to make it to our room on the 9th floor. All in all, we were happy with the room and had no complaints other than the lack of a chair & dresser, and slow elevators. The "USA Today" was dropped outside of our door each morning. I didn't get the chance to see or use the atrium pool or gym, but my wife used them both a couple of times and said they were OK. The ballroom (where we had a banquet) was big and very pretty. The lobby bar was usually full of convention people watching the World Series, so we didn't bother to stop in. We never used room service so I can't report on that. The breakfast buffet at the Brasserie was basically overpriced and nothing to write home about, except maybe to complain about the lack of choices. The food was mediocre but the service was good.
Our one dinner at San Souci (in the hotel) proved to be much better, at a cost. My wife and I had a very good seafood meal (I had a small lobster tail and seared scallops, my wife had some kind of shrimp) with a bottle of relatively inexpensive wine ($32) and dessert with coffee. The tab, with about a 15 - 20% tip, came to roughly $150. We are generally not fine diners (I would call this restaurant an 'intro' to fine dining), preferring comfort food over upscale tastes, but the meal was very tasty, subtle and well done. Dessert was good. We felt like we got our money's worth. The service was efficient, unobtrusive, and casual at the same time.
Downtown Cleveland is fairly attractive with most of the buildings being of older, decorative architecture. However; Cleveland has one of the worst poverty rates in the country and there were quite a few homeless beggars in the public square (and every other street corner) just outside of the hotel doors. I never felt particularly threatened by them, but I am used to this, having worked in downtown Wash. DC for a few years. Other people might be intimidated. My wife spent a good amount of time walking around the downtown area by herself and said she didn't feel especially nervous, and she's pretty paranoid about people approaching her. The downtown area did not have many shops or restaurants near the hotel other than those connected to Tower Center (apparently as a result of the poverty level?). One day, we took the train to the east part of town to tour the Peter B. Lewis building on Case Western University Campus (by architect Frank Gehry - amazing building, see it if you have the time.). The rest of the city didn't look anywhere near as nice as downtown, and seemed pretty depressed (but that just might be the area we saw). We didn't make it to any other part of town.
We never made it to the Flats or Warehouse Districts (the bar and club areas) so we can't report on those, although some people with the convention had gone there and said they had a good time. We didn't go to the Theater District either. We DID go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it was worth the time. One full day is probably not enough time to cover everything there (IF you like to read and see EVERYTHING - like I do) although you COULD see the bulk of the exhibits, mostly on the lowest floor. On the upper floors, there were smaller and temporary exhibits, a couple of movie theatres showing historic clips, and the snack bar. I was a little disappointed with the gift shop. It was pretty big, with a large CD collection, but I thought it was overpriced and they didn't have exactly the kind of things we were looking for. It was about a 20 to 25 minute brisk walk (maybe a mile?) from the hotel. We took the Waterfront Line of the train over to it from the hotel, and walked back, since it was a nice day.
Final thoughts - the Renaissance was nice enough, especially for our convention rate of $139 a night (plus 15% tax). It's definitely not a luxury hotel, but it did have an old, elegant & classy atmosphere, a step above your average hotel. The staff was polite and efficient and the place was clean. I would use them again (at that price, but not much higher). I did a lot of internet research before I went, and I didn't see any general reason to specifically visit Cleveland, except for business, or maybe to visit the Rock Hall.

We stayed the night of October 1st, our 5 year wedding anniversary. Chose the hotel thinking it was supposedly 4 star and romantic--NOT. When we arrived it was later, the staff was not friendly or very helpful. There is no real place to park while you check in, so my husband dropped me off in the front and I had to fight through a street full shady characters to get to the door which scared me--and I'm a social worker! Apparently the front of the hotel is where most of the homeless and street folks hang out and cops were everywhere. No one offered to help with bags and we had to park our car in their building which was $20 a night. The room was older--which is great for some--but I prefer the old world charm with some modernization. The chair in our room was stained, the carpet just looked old and dingy, the bed--oh gosh, yes, it had hairs in the cover when we pulled it back for the night. We just took the blankets off. The bathroom was antiquated (I will say the little Bath and Body Works soaps, shampoos and lotions were the only nice thing about the room). The bathtub did not drain during the shower, so there you are standing in your bathwater halfway up your leg. I just wasn't impressed and didn't like the hotel. I do like the romantic upscale hotel from time to time, but I don't like the nickle and diming that most of these hotels do while delivering no better service or amenities than most of your newer hotel chains.

We had an amazing experience at the Renaissance Cleveland. The hotel itself is historic and had a distinctly European feel about it. The room was huge (we had a king) and all of the decor was beautiful. The VERY BEST thing about this hotel was the staff, every single person was attentive and greeted us with a smile and asked how we were... from the valet to a bellhop we passed in the hall. The Brasserie restaurant (breakfast) smelled like paint and the food was hit or miss... I would skip it entirely and walk down to David's at the Marriot which is a few blocks away. The valet service was slow, but they had a wedding on Saturday night so that was a big part of it. Other than the Brasserie and the valet timing I would have given this 5 stars. I can't tell you enough about how beautiful the rooms, atrium, pool, lobby, etc... were.

Nice old hotel in the center of it all in downtown Cleveland. Easy access to the attached Tower City Mall and all of the sprts venues in Cleveland. The local club scene is also close and the city hums all of the time. If you enjoy a bit of an old hotel with LOTS of old world charm, this is for you (this hotel was established with the Terminal Tower rail stationcomplex and originally was a 5-star railroad hotel).

I rate the Cleveland Renaissance an underperformer because it feels run down and seems overdue for a good thorough renovation, especially in the guest rooms. I had problems with valet parking (they took almost 20 minutes to bring my car) and the front desk/room service screwed-up the welcome gift to which I was entitled as a Marriot elite member (in the hotel's defense, they made amends after I complained about the gift issue).

On the plus side, the price is usually right ($125 for a week night stay) and they do a nice job with breakfast on the concierge level. The downtown location is close to everything.

It seems to me that the Cleveland area doesn't have the level of hotel quality it should for a city of its size. Beyond the highly variable reviews of web users, Fodors doesn't even have one Cleveland hotel that it considers "Fodor's choice". So rather than go downtown or in the Beachwood area, we decided to go further east to Painesville to the resort on the Quail Hollow golf course. We were thrilled that the aaa rate of less than $100 yielded such a classy place. Usually Cleveland area hotels of the same price or much more produce mediocrity at best. The Renaissance Quail Hollow Resort provides a great lobby, friendly desk staff, free parking, tree-filled surroundings, and a great weekend breakfast buffet. I'll remove one point and make it a 4 out of 5 because the hallway noise seemed excessive. Although the other guests weren't noisy, their normal hallway conversations sounded like they were in our room as they passed by. But this won't stop us from making the Renaissance Quail Hollow Resort our new Cleveland area hotel of choice. If you don't mind a view of a golf course instead of a view of downtown, we recommend it!

My husband and I returned here for our first anniversary, after having spent our wedding night here. It had been a somewhat disappointing experience, so we decided to book a "romance package" and give it a second chance. First of all, be careful what online packages you book at this hotel-- they had not even heard of the offer we originally requested, which was a dinner package. I'm not sure if the offer was bogus, or if the reservations manager was misinformed. Our romance package included a queen bed suite, chocolate dipped strawberries, champagne, and $25 credit for breakfast, for about $169 (less tax, and the many gratuities they expect you to shell out here). Although we were told we did not have to use the valet parking option, when we arrived, we were told it was the only hotel parking available-- and at $18 for the night, plus tip! No one offered to help us with our bags. Our room was a total disappointment, when they knew this was a special occasion-- the bed was a very small "queen" (full size, at best) and our view was of a white concrete wall. We ended up being moved to a room facing the atrium later that evening, because this historic hotel has two HVAC options-- heat, or A/C. They had the A/C on-- you can't control it from your room, and the room was freezing. Atrium rooms are warmer because they face the heated pool area, although you will deal with the noise there. The room we were moved to was a much better room, so I don't know why we weren't placed there in the first place, but they responded to our request very quickly. There were two weddings going on at the same time, so the hotel was rather crowded, and we were not able to fully enjoy the lobby area because the wedding parties were taking pictures and waiting for the receptions to be set up. Don't bother yourself with the mall, Tower City, whose stores are quickly dwindling, and has rather questionable clientele roaming through it. But do yourself a favor-- have dinner at Sans Souci, it was an extraordinary experience. Breakfast from the Brasserie is so-so and not worth the price. One last note: the sprinkler system is very sensitive. My shower set ours off, and the whole building was evacuated. This hotel is pretentious and not comfortable for my taste, and I doubt we will return.

My wife and I had the opportunity to stay in one of the large suites that overlook Public Square last December. The suite was huge, with a separate dining area and 5 phones! The staff was friendly and professional but not stuffy. The lobby and other public spaces are grand and lovely. The hotel is connected to Tower City Center--an old train terminal converted to a nice shopping mall--and the rapid transit train to the airport is there too. The hotel is convenient to the nightlife, restaurants, and clubs in the Warehouse District and the Flats. We also had a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant, Sans Souci. We enjoyed the cultural amenities (Orchestra, Rock Hall, and a great Art Museum) and ease of getting around Cleveland--and we didn't miss the congestion and traffic of our hometown Chicago!