The Avia strives to be portrayed as a high-end, modern boutique hotel.

Yes--it is modern...yes, it is boutique-like...but there are shortfalls in room design and services that place it firmly in the "average" category.

The front desk staff was friendly, but decidedly inexperienced. And the front desk was consistently under-staffed (at least when I needed them). Looong waits on the phone were common...confused desk clerks at check-in and check-out also dulled the experience.

Surprisingly--for a supposedly high-end boutique hotel--there was no valet service and no one was standing by at the front door to help with luggage. For parking, you needed to schlep your car to a parking garage across the street.

In the rooms, they have a high-tech system for tracking convenience bar snacks and drinks--When you move an item, the item's movement is registered, and it shows up as having been consumed. I moved most of the snacks to take a look at ingredients, and also moved a number of juices and sodas to see what was available in the fridge. At checkout, they wanted to charge me for a boatload of goodies--everything that was moved. I had to explain to the skeptical desk clerk that I was simply checking out labels and contents. He admonished me that a sign warns you not to move items around. The sign wasn't visible to me. My advice--Ditch this system and go back to the old tried-and-true way of tracking convenience bar items. Or at least, train the desk clerks to apologize for mis-charges and don't admonish guests to pay attention to signage.

Room design was just ok. Looked like a lot of architectural jacking around to achieve a boutique look. Really not all that functional.

On the plus side--The hotel was clean, the bed was comfortable, and the neighborhood was the "happening" place to be.

All in all--worth the stay if you get a good deal.