River Inn of Harbor Town

When we travel, we tend to pay more for "special;" for oceanfront or creekside, fancy, vintage or charming accomodations - like staying in Jimmy Buffet's Hideaway cottage rather than his 14-story Hotel. But this hotel, the River Inn of Harbor Town in Memphis is truly SPECIAL without paying extra (or being expensive). It's small and set like a pearl in the city, yet seperate (via bridge) on a small island, protected and alone, presiding over unobstructed views, lawns and walking paths alongside the Mississippi River. It's surrounded by cute apartments and a colony of custom high-end homes with enchanted bridges and parks, with a small market serving the locals. The hotel rooms and suites are high-quality with big windows (and bathrooms), high ceilings, beautiful furniture and bedding, three tasty restaurants and an eager, friendly and super-responsive staff. We've stayed here several times and consider it out secret getaway spot. And oh yeah...my room-service steak last week was one of the best I've ever tasted. Read less

Our rooms were very comfortable and the hotel amenities were superb. Excellent meeting rooms, cozy sitting area with fireplace for early morning coffee. Paulette’s anxiety Tugs offer excellent choices for food and refreshments. The hotel staff were quick to please and service in both restaurants and the Terrace Lounge was excellent! I recommend The River Inn for meetings and personal travel. You will not be disappointed! Read less

Everything about this place was great. High attention to detail with a great and extremely helpful staff and management. Rooms are exceptional. It's about a 2-3 minute drive into downtown Memphis but miles away from the feeling of being in downtown Memphis. There are three restaurants associated with the River Inn, one of which is truly fine dining. I ended up eating at each and was not disappointed. Parking is easily available anywhere on the property at no cost. There's also a really nice little boutique grocery store about a minute's walk that has a nice selection of cheeses, wines and general groceries. This is an Inn in the best sense of the word. It's welcoming. I look forward to staying there again. Read less

I’m writing this review due to multiple issues at the River Inn that were not addressed during my stay here. My husband and I got married June 2023 at the River Hall across the street and our family stayed at the River Inn. The first issue: we booked a junior king suite but was basically thrown into a room that completely flooded and smelled like mold and mildew our first few nights there. The entire hotel and all of the staff knew that we were getting married and it seemed like going out of their way was too much to ask for. We asked multiple housekeepers about our room and they all admitted that our room flooded a while back. We didn’t get put into the correct room that we booked for until our wedding day, an hour before we were to get married so my husband and I had to deal with the troubles of moving rooms. Pam Bradley, the catering sales manager was incredibly rude to me and everyone in our wedding party. I cannot imagine being so miserable with my career that I am nasty and mean to a stranger getting married and having one of the best days of their lives. Pam made this entire experience for us terrible and I do not recommend anyone booking or having a wedding here as she was too obnoxious and lazy to do anything else for us outside of reading emails. I have asked Pam nicely for table rounds but rather she gave us a blueprint of the venue the way SHE wanted things to be set up. Sorry to break it to you, but if you don’t like your career, maybe you shouldn’t work at a place that has a wedding venue. I had asked for very small details but of course, everything was too much of an issue for her. She did not notify the banquet manager of our wedding/reception and he did not anything about it until 2 days prior to the wedding. There were small requests like table rounds instead of rectangular tables but she insisted that it was her way or no way. I asked for white napkins but of course, she didn’t accommodate. Many other things that was too much to name. It was very evident that she didn’t tell the banquet manager that there was a wedding and reception happening but rather she waited last minute to tell him. He told us that he did not like doing things at the last minute and didn’t even know a wedding was booked. I have many and several complaints about Pam but to keep it short - she makes this hotel and business look terrible. Do not book here. I booked with a different catering manager prior to this and the turnover when it comes to staff and management is absolutely insane. Pam did not want to do anything because she was not getting the commission for taking care of us! Pam made a HUGE deal about how I wanted to order chairs from a different company but she couldn’t even provide me with the chairs that she PROMISED! We complained to the other sales manager, the front desk manager and the rooms operations manager but nothing was ever done! This place does not deserve a single dime. Take your business and dream wedding elsewhere. Read less