Embassy Suites Hotel Indianapolis

For our trip to Indy we chose the Embassy Suites Hotel downtown. I like Embassy Suites, as a general rule. I've stayed in 6 different ones, I think, and never been disappointed. Until now.

First, a general overview of Embassy Suites. All rooms are true suites, meaning there is an actual separate bedroom. This is key for us. Call us hoity toity, but if you had a teeth-grinder like ours, you'd want your own bedroom at all times too. There is a nightly Manager's Reception, which is free food (often snack type food, sometimes fancier) and drinks (wine, beer, mixed drinks). There is also a daily breakfast, which is more than the standard free continental - made to order omlets, pastries, eggs, breakfast meats, etc. Combine that with what amounts to a reasonable nightly rate, and I call that a bargain.

Our stay started out promising. The lobby was nice enough, and the desk staff upon check in were very nice, and even gave us a free upgrade to a corner room (totally worth the extra price, I note for next time. It is a much quieter room, and larger. It is one of those hotels where the atrium is open for all 20 floors, which means that there isn't anything really buffering lobby noise from the rooms. It is not generally a problem in the bedrooms, which are set behind the anteroom, but if you have kids on the sleeper sofa, it can be a bit loud.

The room was nice enough - a bit dated. Couch had a ripped seam in a cushion, and a few stains but overall, things seeemed clean. We had a nice view.

Manager's reception was chips, dip, a cheese log and (blissfully) booze. Not one of the better I went to, but they're giving out soda cups full of wine (and there were kiddy cocktails too) so who am I to complain. The next night there was popcorn and a cheese log that looked suspiciously like the one we had the day before (ie, half eaten). Hmmm. Kids liked the fresh popcorn though and it allowed us to sit and drink our tumblers of wine without much complaint from the peanut gallery.

Our real problem started once we got the kids tucked in (5 year old in the sleeper sofa, 2 year old in his tent). We went to our room and I sat on the bed. The noise it made was a kin to an animal in considerable distress. I mean, the neighbors would have thought we were newlyweds just by the act of flipping our pillows over. We put our Columbo hats on and discovered the issue was that there was a piece of wood attached to the bedframe rubbing against the metal headboard. Hmmm. Kids in bed, no way I'm letting maintenece or housekeeping climb over them as they're falling asleep. So, we put aside our Columbo hats and put on our Bob Vila belts and literally disassemble the bed. Everything off, pried the piece of wood from the frame (luckily, it was poorly nailed - though we always travel with a Swiss Army knife!). Problem solved, but it was a good 20 minutes of maintenence and housekeeping work that I was pretty sure I wasn't paying $149/night for. Also it was GROSS under that bed (the bed frame was solid to the floor, its not like housekeeping could just vacuum under it, but I'm pretty sure this piece of wood we moved was a lot younger than the dust we found). Old remotes, 1/2 inch of dust, and God knows what else.

Ah well, we'll deal with it in the morning. And I did - went to the desk and explained the situation to a desk guy who really couldn't be bothered to even look up from whatever task he was doing, and CERTAINLY offered no apology or sympathy. He said "Well, we have other rooms, I can move you." We decided that packing up again wasn't worth it. And really, it wasn't that the room situation bothered me that much, but HE did, as poor customer service is my #1 pet peeve.*

The breakfast was a disaster. The layout of the buffet is a problem in itself, but the lack of silverware, juice, coffee, cups, etc. was the bigger problem. The food was rubbery (though you will hear no complaints from my kids, who think the best thing about travel is that I let them eat Fruit Loops, which they had) the coffee mediochre, the juice watery and the toaster almost made bread warm. We almost went elsewhere for breakfast the last day, which is saying a lot because I don't tend to pass up "free."

There was a pool, and two hot tubs. Both of the hot tubs were, however, empty the whole trip. The pool was so heavily chlorinated that my nose burned just being in the room. In the end, this didn't matter to us because my 5 year old managed to "blow" pool time each day with behavior infractions. (He's really a good kid, but still has some things to learn about when he's crossing the line with Mommy - particulary when she has a headache.)

There were some really good staff members at the hotel. Every bellman I encountered was great, and one housekeeper who happened to be in the elevator told us that there was a PBS Kids event in town, and even left the name of the park where it was happening at the desk for us. Our waiter at the hotel restaurant was

*another pet peeve is people who don't bother to change out of the pajamas to go to breakfast in a hotel. When did this become ok? Small children I can see, but grownups? And not even nice jammies? But I digress . . .