IN Indianapolis University Place Downtown

HOTEL REVIEW:

This hotel is really mainly for guests who are there for the hospital or are visiting the campus. So for this reason alone, I have to say this hotel is adequate as it is and should not be rated against such chains as Hilton or Marriott. It would not be a place to stay on vacation for an extended period of time. So please take that in to consideration when reading and evaluating this review for your own personal needs.

I expected a lot worse than what I found when driving up to the hotel, based on reviews I have read.

It was not Fancy, but it was nice. It is under renovation at this time and it should be done within the next few months.

I was NOT impressed with the level of service at check in. I might as well have been at a Super 8. The staff at the front desk were passively rude and really made me feel unwelcomed, even with such a high bid for this hotel. The gal who checked us in called to see if our room was ready and cleaned-this was at 4:00pm! She told us our room would be ready in 10 mins. I said "no problem, we have to get our luggage anyway so it should be done by then I am sure". When we got back, 15 mins later with our luggage on the cart, the room was still not ready. I asked her if she could move us to a different room. She said NO they are all pre assigned. My husband and I stood and watched as couple after couple, guest after guest checked in and went to their rooms, while we stood in the lobby with our cart full of luggage. After about a half hour, I became a LITTLE upset, but yet was very nice about it. I just stood myself right in front of her at the desk and waited. LOL The manager overheard me and my husband talking, and came over to check on our status. He was VERY upset when he found out we had been waiting for a room that long. He immediately checked us in to another room and gave us a junior suite!!! I was so thankful and impressed with this level of care and it immediately turned a bad review into a good start!

The room was more than I expected. But let me start with the trip TO the room. Torn wallpaper, dirty windows and musty odors greeted us as we stepped off of the elevator. It is very dated, but they are remodeling and updating the hotel (not sure why they can't clean the OUTSIDE of the windows, however, when they are only remodeling the INSIDE). So, taking this in to consideration, I braced myself for the entrance to the room. I was pleasantly surprised by the room (again I expected much worse). This was a junior suite, keep in mind. The room was equipped with a fridge (didn't close all of the way), micro (old but worked), small sink, small table for eating, two chairs (dated and old but acceptable), King bed and nice TV/Armoire.

We immediately noted the archaic heating/air system controls that were located in the room. My husband said he might have to call Grandma to find out how to work them (I have NEVER seen controls like this before!!!)..LOL But the temperature was comfortable. The bathroom was large and came with Bath and Body Works Toiletries! WOW! That was it for me!

The bathroom also had peeling wall paper and was in need of many improvements. The shower..OMG.. The tub had MOLD in the corner where, to the credit of housekeeping over the years, the bath mat was rolled up and obviously NOT moved to clean every time a guest checked out. It was nice that they try to hide the mold and mildew, BUT OMG.. I was about sick at how thick and black it was. Nasty. That is totally a health hazard and uncalled for in any hotel.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a bath robe and slippers in the closet. Nice!

The room walls are paper thin. You can hear everything around you and across from you. Not sure why they made walls for these rooms..LOL

We did visit a king room (actually the one they were going to put us in originally), it was STILL being cleaned after we had put our stuff in our room and were leaving. I can't imagine..we would have been waiting hours. The housekeeping staff were cleaning, all three of them, this one room. But SLOWLY and one was hanging out on one of the chairs watching TV. Glad to know they were in such a hurry with a guest waiting in the lobby for the room!!!! Thank goodness for that manager! Anyway, the room was NOT bad! However, I would never ever pay on priceline more than $30 for this room. HONESTLY.

NO POOL, NO FITNESS FACILITY and NO BAR. The sports bar is a TV set up on one side of the restaurant with a makeshift bar table. Totally hilarious. It is their temporary place though, until the Sports bar opens up (should be opened by now or end of Nov 2005). The restaurant was very good for breakfast. Buffet was $10 per person, and a good deal. However, if I didn't just like yogurt, cottage cheese and items like that for breakfast, I would have been disappointed. I tried the eggs, bacon and hot entrees they had and they were VERY disappointing. The tip is also included, even for two people, and listed under "service charge". However, they still leave a spot for you to add a tip (a little misleading, I think!).

For Fitness you can use IUPUI's facility at a cost of $2 a day for the basic area or $10 a day for the fitness center. We never visited either one so I can not rate. I felt this was a big rip off..the hotel claims that one of the "advantages" of staying there is the use of these facilitiess...of course, at a charge..LOL Not much of an advantage to me (it is also a pretty fair hike over to the facilities from what I could see).

Parking per day is $10. Free shuttle to/from downtown.

The new facility is going to have a fitness area on the top floor.

We did see one of the new rooms, and to be honest..it is very nice, but NOT 3 star nice. The Plasma TV is awesome, and the furniture is nice. It has an ecclectic feel to it. The rooms though, are still SMALL and STILL are the same size as a regular Motel 6 or Super 8 (set up the same too). I sure hope with all of this money they are spending they added some sound proofing to the rooms. They also had not added lighting to the closet area (in the entry way as you walk in), and they also took away the sliding glass mirror doors and put sliding wood doors in its place. A little more thought could have been put in to making the rooms not only more appealing visually, but also more functional and pleasing for the guest in the little ways that make you want to come back.

But it does appear that they are making things much nicer for guests, and that is a good thing!!!

Whew, there. That is my review! Bottom line, until the new restaurants/bar/rooms/etc are done, I would not recommend staying here unless in a pinch.