This is just your average Springhill Suites.
Written: Oct 21 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clean rooms and public areas, more affordable than other Frankenmuth options.
Cons: The Bavarian vibe disappears as soon as you step inside.
The Bottom Line: The Springhill Suites is a perfectly fine base for exploring Frankenmuth.
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| chelledun's Full Review: Springhill Suites Frankenmuth, Michigan |
Based on the name, one might assume the Springhill Suites Frankenmuth would be situated in some charming European town. In fact, it's located an hour north of Detroit, in a charming European-inspired town. Although this Marriott franchise looks Bavarian from the outside, it is exactly what one would inspect on the inside which is neither a particularly good or bad thing.
Know Before You Go
The Springhill Suites is one of Frankenmuth's most inexpensive hotels. While $130 per night is more than we would normally pay for a hotel in this chain, it is also a relative bargain for this heavily touristed town. Plus, this room rate includes breakfast.
The Springhill Suites, like pretty much other hotel in town, is located right on the main drag within a half mile stroll of pretty much every shop and attraction in town. In other words, don't pay more to stay elsewhere based on claims of location. From our base at the Springhill Suites, we were able to easily walk to popular restaurants Zehnder's and Bavarian Inn, numerous cheese, sausage, and fudge stores, and the town's oft-photographed covered bridge. We did have to drive about five minutes to the popular Bronner's Christmas Wonderland.
Parking is free and amply available onsite.
Public Areas
The exterior of the Springhill Suites Frankenmuth, like every other building in town, "Bavarianized." The interior, however, is interchangeable with any other Springhill Suites anywhere in the world. This is both disappointing and comforting to those who appreciate predictability. The lobby contains a tiny lounging area clustered around a stone fireplace as well as a breakfast bar space with tables and chairs. This seating area is woefully inadequate, as I will further explain below.
The requisite pool looked clean but unexciting. In the neighboring fitness room, I noticed a bike, a treadmill, and an old-looking weight machine but not much else.
Room
I always find "suite" hotel rooms to be unnecessarily spacious for our family of two, and this one was no exception. This is not a complaint, just an observation. I'm sure families larger than ours appreciate the extra space.
Our living room/kitchenette contained a little sofa (which I think converted to a bed), a chair, an end table, and some modest kitchen equipment that we never touched. The refrigerator was a miniature one. We also had a microwave and coffee maker. All of the kitchen stuff was clean, but did not look the newest. As is often the case in suite hotel rooms, the television was on a bureau straddling the living room and the bedroom so it could be watched from either space. This television, however, was a rather old looking model and did not "swivel" as easily as the flat screen models many Marriott franchises have moved to. As a result, it was difficult to see fully from either room.
The bedroom, separated by a half-wall, contained a king bed with mediocre bedding which was less plush and fluffy than it looked online. We did sleep fine, although the walls were pretty thin. Free in-room wireless internet is advertised. I can't testify as to the functionality of this feature, as for once we traveled blissfully computer-free.
The bathroom adjoining the bedroom had our preferred setup of an exterior counter and smaller room with toilet and shower. Toiletries were Pro Terra brand, which we like, but in a pared down selection from what we've seen elsewhere. I believe we only received shampoo, conditioner, and bar soap. We also had an in-room hairdryer which I never tried out.
Breakfast
Breakfast is offered for several hours each morning. We went downstairs at 8:00 a.m. one morning and 9:00 a.m. the next. Both mornings, the breakfast bar and surrounding seating area were completely mobbed. There was no clear flow of traffic one way or the other, so getting food was quite a challenge. After we finally got our food we found that every table was occupied. The first morning we took our food to go, the second we ended up eating hunched over a computer desk located off to one side of the lobby.
The food itself was nothing to write home about. We encountered several types of dried cereal, apples and bananas, a waffle-maker with a long queue, toast, and muffins. The only hot items besides waffles were some suspicious-looking round egg product and sausages. Beverage options included coffee, juice, and milk. The muffins (blueberry and apple cinnamon) are phenomenal and must be homemade. Everything else is pretty uninspiring. On the whole, the lack of seating and limited availability of interesting food made this free breakfast about a "C."
Overall . . .
The Springhill Suites Frankenmuth is certainly not anything special, but it is also as good a place to stay as any other. Plus, we got Marriott points. We would definitely stay at this hotel again instead of paying a higher price to stay practically next door. We would likewise feel no regrets about staying elsewhere in Frankenmuth if we found a better rate.
Recommended:
Yes
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