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| - An impromptu weekend trip to Madison found me needing a room on short notice last October. After looking at the various booking sites, this Holiday Inn was the highest-rated hotel for the best deal. And I had a nice time, but there definitely were some hits and misses.
HITS:
- The "King Leisure" room was spacious and shaped kind of like a 90's-era telephone - a large sofa in the earpiece and big comfortable bed in the speaking piece. The bathroom was a trapezoidal offshoot off the "handle". The mattress was comfortable and everything was fresh and clean. The room even had a full-size mirror so we could take a full look at ourselves while getting ready for dinner.
- The hotel was hosting a big wedding, but we had no noise issues at all. Like, usually you can hear SOME noise in the hallways from normal guests. We heard nothing at all, and the hotel parking lot was packed. So kudos to the soundproofing in this one.
MISSES:
- The pillows on the bed weren't my favorite - they were too soft. There's a difference between soft, fluffy pillows and that kind of soft that sinks down and eventually just flattens completely. These pillows were the latter kind.
- Our mini fridge was on the small side, so we didn't have as much room as we thought we might for our leftovers from the Farmer's Market. We made it work, but it took advantage of our Tetris skills.
- The rooms could do with a remodel eventually. There was a good amount of lighting, but the light bulbs, shades, and wallpaper combined to make a yellowish cast, which I dislike. The yellow light plus the dark carpeting and furniture ended up making the room look smaller than it was, which is a shame.
- I was shocked to discover that the breakfast at this hotel was not free. I called to determine what the offerings were, and was told that it's your typical breakfast buffet offerings - scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, Belgian waffles, toast, cereal, that kind of thing. When you're paying $150 after taxes for a room and you're expected to pay extra for access to breakfast, that breakfast better be something more than you can eat for free at the Baymont Inn down the road. It just feels like you've bought the "free" version of an app, but you know you're not getting the full app experience unless you fork over $4.99 of your hard-earned cash to iTunes. Technology rant aside, I opted to drive a minute away to the Barriques and get myself some breakfast goodies and coffee.
Now, let's be clear: I love Madison. I love that city with all my heart and would sleep in little more than a shoebox just so I can eat hot and spicy cheese bread and take pretty pictures of lakes. But anyone who has spent any significant amount of time in Madison knows that the city has a hotel problem. If you want to stay where the action is - that is, downtown - you're paying through the nose for the privilege. This Holiday Inn does a nice job of saving you some money and getting you away from any noise problems you may find. But I would eventually like to see the furnishings get updated and have the breakfast opened up to all guests - for a hotel regularly charging more than $120 for a room before taxes, guests nowadays expect no less.
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