Looking For Adventure? The Hotel Evernia Is Just The Ticket!

The other day I was driving down Rosemary Street, the main drag in West Palm Beach's very upscale CityPlace neighborhood, and there was a detour, directing me over to the next street and to drive two blocks before returning to Rosemary. And just before I was about to turn back onto that street, I spotted the Hotel Evernia, as seen in the photograph on the left. This hotel was built in 1925 and is the oldest operating hotel in West Palm Beach, if it is still operating, that is. It definitely looks pretty nice from the outside. Just for fun, I checked online to learn a bit more of its history (I wrote a little bit about it on this blog last year) and happened upon a number of yelp reviews of the place. The latest review was dated May 18th, 2024, and simply said "Horrible Place and Horrible Staff - Do not stay here - RUN." Two of the reviews were in depth stories of the guest's experiences, which were pretty amazing to read. One guy who was attending a nearby conference was pretty detailed about his 3-day stay, mentioning the good and the bad, and pretty philosophical about the experience. Evidently the place had only two staff members who worked 8:30 until 6:30 and then went home, leaving guests on their own. The rooms had no phones, and so if you needed help, you had to use your cell phone to call a number that was provided, which was in New York. When he called, the person he talked to said he would have the person who checked him in call back, which never happened. There was no sink in the bathroom, only in the main room, and no mirror, which made shaving an interesting experience. And at night, lots of street noise. His summary was just to know what you are getting into. "If you are into wild rides, this place will be an adventure. 

Another guest wrote how her husband, who was in town to pick up a service dog, was checked in by a young girl, but then at 10:00 that night a woman began pounding on his door telling him the room was booked by another person and he had to leave, since he never paid. It was quite the back and forth, and when she saw his dog, without its service dog vest, she went crazy. He did wind up staying the night but was very stressed out. Other reviews were about filthy rooms with roaches and bedbugs, and rooms with no bathrooms. However, three of the reviews were very positive, saying how charming the place was. Go figure. In any case, I went to the hotel's web site to try and book a room - as regular blog readers know, I am ALWAYS up for an adventure - but there was an error on the page, and it said to send an e-mail, which I did not do. I also tried booking through some popular online travel sites but kept getting messages saying to find a different hotel. And by the way, the hotel's web site touts the great location and that it is very close to, among other places, the AMC Cityplace 20, which actually closed on April 30th, 2023. And so for all you adventure seekers out there, the Hotel Evernia might or might not still be open. Definitely call first.