Prince Hotel

If you must stay in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, then I recommend few places more than the Prince Hotel. The previous reviewer made the astute observation that you will either be charmed by the kitschy decor or frightened by it.

The Prince Hotel (formerly Wall's Hotel) was built in 1844 by Henry Stark. In the early days each guests' room had its own wood-burning fireplace and below on the ground floor was the comfortable kitchen dining room. The present owners have uncovered two of the fireplaces which heated them main dining room and one fireplace which heated the main sitting room. Today these areas host breakfast amidst the updated business center, reception area, and gift shop-ish nook. The main portico consists of six stone pillars that are nine feet high, sixteen inches square and weigh between 1.5 and 2 tons each.

A number of famous guest have stayed at the hotel including Henry Ford (who has a room named after him), Evangeline Booth, and a number of state Governors.

In 1943 the hotel was extensively remodeled with bathrooms installed in nearly all the rooms (and apparently haven't been updated since then). You will be able to also note that most of the woodwork including the staircase was done by hand.

The present hotel owners, Milton and Lois Van Horn have worked diligently to keep the establishment interesting and accurate to itself original design.

All of this hometown-style management and upkeep does come with several caveats that the traveler should be aware of:

Firstly, if you are looking for a Hilton hotel this is not the place. There are few if any modern amenities. No wi-fi in the rooms, no ipod docks next to the beds, and no 800 thread count sheets. The rooms are heated by radiator so if you are a light sleeper this may disturb you. The owners lock the main door from the inside at 10 PM and there is a "night-man" on duty after that; so after 10PM you're pretty much in for the night.
Secondly, the owners are also kinda nosy. They want to know where you're from, what you do for a living, why you are in town, and they take great offense if you do not oblige their questioning. They also do not like people taking pictures of the inside of the hotel for fear that someone may be casing their hotel to heist their flea market treasures.
Lastly, check-out and cleaning services. Check out is promptly at 11:00 AM. No questions. We packed some of our bags in the car at 10:30, had breakfast at the hotel, and went to retrieve the last of our bags at 11:15. Mrs. Van Horn chastised us for not having completely vacated the room. When going back to the room, we noticed that the blankets had merely been pulled back, and the waste basket emptied no other cleaning had been done....other than my luggage had been tampered with (read:opened). I asked the cleaning staff if they had seen my phone charger but they said they had not...there seems to a lack of integrity amongst the staff. I was again asked for my address "in case it showed up." Yet again, an attempt at nosiness.

Overall, I was impressed by the decor, spookiness, and the rate ($54/night), but disappointed by the intrusiveness of the staff. So if you have a need to be nagged by a grandmotherly figure while being possibly haunted by some long dead lumberjack then this is the place for you. If not, there's always Scranton...just 30 miles south.

This place is about as paradoxical as you can get in a restaurant. If a "standard" restaurant ambience is important to you, this is not your place. It is indeed a little wacky. If you get a chance to walk up into the hotel room area and walk through the corridors a bit you'll either think you're in "The Shining" or be impressed with its uniqueness and charm. It's a very old hotel and obviously has a lot of history, every bit of which has been accumulated in the walls and the hallways. The owner is clearly a pack rat and there is a lot of stuff everywhere. It was quite an experience and I walked away pretty happy and would definitely go back. The entree's were quite good and everything else was pretty mediocre. Canned fruit cup, old-school slightly wilted salad, and frozen tasting rolls started us off, but the entrees were very good and well made. I think it's a great place to go after seeing a movie at the Dietrich and it makes a great counterpoint to Tunkhannock's trendier restaurants on the same street.