This has got to be the worst bed and breakfast imaginable. I hate to call it a bed and breakfast because we didn't even recieve breakfast. Every year, my fellow board members and I, book a bed and breakfast for our annual retreat. We chose Phoenix Risin because of the price and because we wanted to patronize a minority-owned business. Needless to say, I will NEVER GO BACK. The inn-keeper was not very welcoming, at all. I was the last person to get there in my party. When I got there, two of the people from my party were there so they were able to warn me about some things... but that didn't help much. The house is a old house. It looks more like a museum than a bed and breakfast. The second level has one guest room and the "inn-keeper's" room. She stayed in her room for the majority of the visit. The third level has two more guest rooms and a "sitting room." Before we went to bed, the innkeeper asked us what time did we want to have breakfast (since it was included in the price) we told her 8:00-8:30 since we had a lot of business to take care of in her conference/dining room. Since I got there rather late on the first night, we went to sleep not knowing was was in store for us the next morning.

The next day, we woke up around 8:00. The inn-keeper was no where to be found. by 9:00 we went into the kitchen to find the nastiest kitchen imaginable. The refrigerator was filled with old food, the toaster oven has a fly trap in it, the microwave oven had flies in it. We were able to find some fruit to hold us over. By 10:30 the inn-keeper surfaces claiming to be in pain and that was the reason she couldn't make breakfast for us. She then attempted to give us some refreshments which turned out to be soda that expired in 2005!!!!!

This was the worst experience I have EVER had.

First of all, read this entire review before you stay here! I know it's long, but it is not worth the money to stay. When I told this story to people I received the same response on a number of occassions - "Are you sure you weren't renting that by the hour?"

I recently stayed at the Phoenix Risin’ and it was the worst experience I have ever had. We went into the city for a baseball game. It was moved from 7 to 3:00 so we called the hotel to see if it was okay to check in early. The woman who answered the phone seemed to be very nice. She said it would not be a problem for us to arrive at 2:00.

It ended up that we did not arrive until 2:45. It was very difficult to find the place. There was no sign outside indicating any type of business. We ended up having to park the car and walk the street to find the correct address. This "bed & breakfast" ended up being a row house. When I went to open the door it was locked. I rang the doorbell and no one answered. I called the number on our reservation sheet. A woman answered and I asked her how we checked in. She replied by saying "Who is this?” I told her the name on the reservation. So she asked "What time are you checking in?" I said now and she asked if I was standing outside. A few minutes later she came to answer the door. After inviting us in we were abruptly stopped to show her our reservation information. Once she verified that we had reservations she took us around the corner to the "living/dining" area. There was personal mail all around the front entrance. It looked very personalized.

We went to the next room. There were pictures of people, invitations to events lying out - it looked like someone’s home. The woman told us to sit down on the not so white couch while she was going to go prepare our room. She said someone had just left and she had not cleaned it yet. So at this point she is the receptionist and the maid. She disappeared behind a door for a few minutes and came out with a mouth full of food saying she would be right back. She made her way up the stairs. She must have been gone for at least 20 minutes while we were running late for the game.

She finally came back downstairs and told us to go up the stairs until we saw an open door. We went up the first flight. There were four or five closed doors and a large bag of trash. Up the next flight of stairs down a long hallway there was an open door. There was one bathroom on the floor that was the community bathroom for everyone staying there. We walked back to our room. It looked like someone’s bedroom with a coffee maker and two bottles of water sitting on the dresser. I refused to even bring my belongings inside as there seemed to be no way to lock our things away while we were gone. We went back downstairs trying to find a way to the city.

When I went to look for the one person running this place she was lying down in the "common area" out of breath from the stairs. I asked her how we were supposed to get to the harbor. She said they had a free car service. (I at this point perked up a little bit.) She tried to call the man once and told us there was no way she could find him. At this time she also told us that she was not the owner of the place. The owner was on vacation in Brazil and she was apparently someone who just came in to run the place. So, once the car service wasn't available she called a taxi cab. I assumed the hotel would pay for this since the car service was supposed to be free. I was amazed when she asked how we were paying for the taxi, but I didn't say anything to her. I just agreed. We asked if there was any public transportation available (as it had said on what appeared to be a legitimate website). She gave us directions to go up this street turn left, walk three blocks, make a u-turn, jump up and down three times, do a cartwheel - you get the idea - it wasn't just around the corner as the website had made it sound.

We decided to just take the taxi cab. As we were walking out of the place I asked her how we were supposed to get back in. She gave us a key to the front door. So now I have a key to the front door of this row house in Baltimore where some woman rents out her bedrooms and calls it a bed & breakfast. We were almost out the door when the bell rang. She did not open the door. Instead she yelled "Who is it?". The guy said I have a reservation. She opened the door and he had the same look on his face that I know I did when I came in. Completely astonished. She too made him stop as soon as he came in and show proof of his reservation. We quickly left.

I was afraid to sleep at this place. I cannot express strongly enough how creepy it was. This review does not do it justice. I ended up calling friends that I know in Federal Hill and walking to their place after the game. I paid $100 to not even stay here - I refused to. We came back in the morning to return the key. The receptionist/maid was also the cook! Imagine that. She asked if we got up early and left for breakfast because she was in our room and saw how neat it was. She was in our room! We told her we didn't come back and quickly got out of the place.

I expected this place to be a little shady knowing the location, but it was the only place near the Harbor that did not cost $400/ night so we took it. I was desperate to find a place and this was all I could find. I was expecting a little dirt and maybe not the most professional staff. I was not expecting some upscale place. This was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I would have never thought this would be a one man circus out of someones row house. I am just thankful that I had friends to stay with because I would have driven home before I slept at this place.