Stanley House Inn

Great bed and breakfast! The only con is the train which is very close by and loud… They offer earplugs but not much more they can do. Breakfast was great!!! They do have weddings often so if you’re really looking to be catered to as an Inn guest it might not be for you. The owners were very friendly and kind in my opinion even though they had weddings going on all weekend. They seemed very concerned with our happiness. It is obviously an older house — that is its charm! They have free wifi, breakfast, free parking, nice deck, comfortable beds. It was basically private because we and one other rooms were the only ones staying. If you’re looking for more fancy hotel luxuries try a Marriott. This is something unique and different! Very close to the square and it’s an easy walk.

Beautiful home with an extremely comfortable king size bed. Staff was friendly and very accommodating to our late arrival time. Great location, easy parking in the back, and a delicious breakfast.
An antique lovers dream!

The bottom line is that the Stanley Inn is a terrific deal for the money. It is a short walk from the square, and the full breakfasts are delicious. The Innkeepers try hard to give guests a good experience. While imperfect, it does not deserve the derision I’ve seen on Unilocal.
Some of the reviewers seem unaccustomed to the conventions of Bed & Breakfasts. Breakfast is usually served at a specific time. The rooms are usually period, and of varying sizes and layouts, not all of which are ideal for a modern traveler. There is a reason that different rooms command different prices.
The innkeepers apparently have taken steps to reduce the noise caused by the train tracks a block away. If you are sensitive to noise, I would suggest you telephone the inn to ask them which rooms have newer windows or are facing away from the tracks.
There are, however, some valid criticisms.
The reservation system is poor. Your web reservation is not set until the innkeepers confirm it, and they seem to be lackadaisical about doing so.
Other than the dining area, the common areas are decorated for weddings, not for the inn’s guests.
So, to enjoy your stay, I’ll recommend the following:
1) Until you get a confirmation emailed, assume your room is not reserved.
2) Ask for a card with door instructions and the Wifi code
3) If you are a light sleeper, ask for a room with soundproof windows or facing away from the tracks.

Most people are reviewing Stanley House as a B&B, so I will add my experience as a potential wedding reception venue.
Last summer, I emailed the Stanley House about hosting my reception there and ended up meeting with Cathy to tour the property. I got the sense from the emails that she was not very friendly (rare in the wedding industry when everyone is courting your business), but thought «It’s hard to tell over email» so I went. The entire meeting I had the unshakeable feeling that she was judging me and felt that I was ridiculous/​difficult/​naïve etc. Yes, it’s just a feeling, but I felt uncomfortable the entire time. It’s true that I was young and also officially getting married in France, so perhaps she did think I was too young or spoiled or uppity, I’m not sure. I feel like my questions were perfectly reasonable and if I ever was naïve it’s because I’d never gotten married before!
Anyways, the house is nice but the décor is borderline tacky (their website should have given this away). This is a real shame as a beautiful old house right on the square is perfect for weddings! I took many pictures and looking at them after the visit I realized the tackiness is magnified in pictures. I’m talking hearts, bows, fleur de lys, etc everywhere! My sister and I decided through the pics that if most of this could be taken down the venue would be perfect. I emailed Cathy to very politely ask how much freedom the bride has in choosing the décor for her big day, and she replied with a curt «Within reason.» Needless to say I continued on in my search. Cathy seemed to be perfectly fine with this development as she never followed up about hosting my reception. (Most places I communicated with were quick to follow up after a visit or even inquiry.)
In sum, I was really surprised by the coldness and judgement I received from the Stanley House as not only is that plain old rude, but really unwarranted given the tackiness of the décor and difficult location (parking and noise from trains). I do not recommend brides to bother.

I’m not sure why these people are in business other than to run a wedding venue. I made a reservation, which they canceled without telling us. We showed up as scheduled, were shown to the master bedroom (lovely), but noticed they were stand-​offish the next morning. (Breakfast not until 9:00 a.m.?? really???) That’s when they told us they were moving us to another room because they had a wedding party coming in. After some questioning, they admitted to having canceled our reservation. I guess that was because I asked for a quiet room, and with 60 freight trains running through Marietta, maybe they thought it was hopeless. In any case, they never told us we were canceled. So, we spent our second night at the Hilton and it was lovely.

Our experience at The Stanley House was appalling. When we walked in, they looked surprised to see us and were visibly annoyed that we didn’t remember the name of the room we booked 3 months ago. I honestly thought they forgot we had a reservation.
The man who works in the kitchen was assigned to take us to the room and when we informed him we had to get an early start the next day, he told us breakfast wasn’t until nine, but that we could feel free to «rummage around» for something to eat before we go. Obviously, we didn’t do that and got no breakfast. So much for the Bed and Breakfast concept!
When we went out to dinner that night, we got back at 10:30 and were locked out. We found a phone number to call and after a very complicated conversation, were finally given a code to enter the back door. This is something that certainly should have been made clear to us when we arrived or before we went out.
There is very minimal parking and we ended up parking in a bank lot across the street because the bank was closed. I don’t know where you park if the bank is open.
Because there were discussions underway with a family holding a wedding shower there, it was suggested we use the back door where suppliers were bringing in the food for the shower.
We were there during a bit of a cold snap and the room was absolutely freezing! They put the heat on for about 4 hours during the night, but other than that, it was so cold! The bathroom is the size of a postage stamp with minimal amenities. There’s not even a decent bathroom door. The sink is in the middle of the bedroom.
The only positives, which is why I even gave one star, were the room was clean and the bed was reasonably comfortable.
I would in no way recommend this place to anyone going to Marietta who wants to stay at a Bed and Breakfast. I’ve been to several Bed and Breakfasts in various parts of the country and have never seen anything run so poorly.

The bedroom was very nicely furnished and clean. The architecture of the home is pretty and the outside plants are lovely. If what you are looking for is a place to sleep that is more homey than a hotel than this is fine. The location to Marietta square is great.
Stanley House is not a typical B&B. There is no place comfortable to sit downstairs except hard wood folding chairs set up for a wedding, or on the porch hard iron chairs. There is not a sitting area with sofa & coffee table etc. We did have a little sofa in our room. There is no bar set up where you pay by the drink, or evening social hour with other guests. There is no one to greet you when you arrive if you come after a certain time (5pm?). I definitely would consider this a wedding hall with a few guest rooms upstairs. Also I sent an email asking a question about our stay the Sunday prior to our Saturday stay and never received a response. Overall this is a fine place to spend the night, as long as you are not expecting typical B&B amenities.

Why 4 stars? Because the Stanley House was super convenient.
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I had 24 hours in Atlanta (Marietta mostly) so the Stanley House ended up being a clutch crash pad. It was only a few blocks from the OTP Unilocaler Party I was attending.
Though this was a bed and breakfast… I was mainly interested in the bed much more than the breakfast. For one, I was (and still am) on a pretty hardcore diet at the moment, so I didn’t want to eat much in terms of unhealthy stuff. But the host of the place was being so sweet and concerned about what I was going to eat. It was like going home for the holidays.
When I arrived back at my room after the party, there were little cookie/​cake things waiting for me. Stanley House, you’re so nice but yet, so evil! :)
The shared bathroom concept was interesting, as I’d never done it before. I never ran into those sharing it with me, but apparently they were on their honeymoon. I thought I might hear them celebrating the occasion, but the walls were sufficiently thick enough.
I’d do this B&B again, yeppers!

The Stanley House is much more of a wedding chapel/​event space than a bed and breakfast. Keep this in mind. If you don’t mind being surrounded by wedding promotional materials, white bows everywhere, wedding photo albums, and wedding quotes on the walls, this place might be OK for you. But there was no space other than our room to relax (like a parlor or other common area, for example). It seems that the owners are looking to rent a few rooms on the days between wedding events, and that the focus is not much on being a typical bed and breakfast but more on promoting the wedding side of the business.

We truly enjoyed our two night stay at Stanley House in Marietta, Georgia. Beautiful 1890 home, large room (well I think we had the wedding room!), wonderful furnishings, just great all around. Good location, walk to Marietta Square. Fantastic breakfast — very interesting and filling, including peach muffin, mediterranean eggs, and the second morning a wonderful croissant stuffed with creamed cheese and jam… and the bacon was cooked perfectly! Not great for my diet, but what a nice splurge. We highly recommend Stanley House.

We just enjoyed a visit to The Stanley House for our 14^th wedding anniversary. En route, they called to see which afternoon snack we would like to have upon arrival. My husband chose root beer floats which turned out to be wonderful. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by the innkeepers who by the way were exceptionally kind and friendly. We were upgraded to the Buckhead Room without even asking because it was our anniversary. The room was warm welcoming and reminiscent of the days long past. The Stanley House mansion was built in 1895 for the aunt of Woodrow Wilson. The mansion is within great walking distance to the historic and charming Marietta Square which is breathtaking and has many unique shops. Overall, the Stanley House Luxury Bed and Breakfast was just perfect for our anniversary! We are fans!