We were really over a barrel here. It was Parent’s Weekend for the U.S. Naval Academy. During your son or daughter’s four-year stay at the Naval Academy, you only get one of these and it is an incredible chance to experience Naval Academy classes, dine in the actually midshipmen dining hall and so on. Even worse, it was Homecoming weekend. Every retired Naval officer / football fan was in town. I think there were a few other things going on as well.

Annapolis was packed. The only other available rooms were in the $300 and up category. We decided that we could live with the Homestead Suites.

I have to say that it was OK. Our weekend was a lot of fun and the hotel room got the job done. Nevertheless, several points were unusual for properties in this segment:

1. No maid service at all.
2. No breakfast.
3. No free internet. The hotel advertises a one time $4.99 fee. The front desk covered this for us (nice of them) However, when I brought up the browser, the first thing it explained was that this was only for the tin-can-and-string internet connection. Did I want to pay some more money for the “real” internet? I paid an additional $15 for one week. The resulting wireless connection seemed to be fast and stable for the rest of our visit.

The room included a small kitchenette, which was helpful. We cooked and ate our own breakfast. The kitchenette included a full sized refrigerator and freezer, a toaster, a standard 4-cup coffee maker, a stove, frying pan, dishwasher, spatula, a very small cutting board. One pack of soap was provided for the dishwasher. Plates, cups, and silverware for four people were provided. No paper towels, sponge, liquid dish soap or other cleaning supplies were provided. The coffee maker dripped when you poured coffee into cups. Only two chairs were provided. Our third family member pulled up the balsa-wood coffee table and used that as a stool.

If you plan to cook, be sure to bring a kit of small things like salt/pepper, coffee, coffee filters, dish soap, sponge, etc.. The local Whole Foods is also in the highway robbery category with no single item (no matter how modest or trivial) priced less than $4. We had to spend $85 to get setup to prepare and eat three breakfasts for three people. That price would have been cut dramatically, if we had brought all the small, light, non-perishables from home and only purchased eggs, bread, butter, milk, juice at Whole Foods.

The one good point of the room was that it had a lot of drawers to put stuff away. Of course, these were in the cheapest imaginable, rickety furniture. The couch was a hide-a-bed which was used gladly by our midshipman. There was a sheet and a pillow for the hide-a-bed, but no blanket. Also, when opened, the hide-a-bed basically touched the foot of our bed, leaving no remaining floor space in the room.

The closet was tiny, not large enough for two people. An iron and ironing board were provided in the closet. The door to the closet required some force to open and shut.

The bathroom was small and dated, but functional. Three towels were provided. Be sure to bring bath soap and shampoo. No such extras are provided in this hotel.

The hotel had no other amenities (swimming pool, exercise room) etc… that I could detect. The location is in a small industrial park. Zero charm, but safe and clean and a fairly convenient 15-minute drive from downtown Annapolis and the Naval Academy.

Including taxes, we paid around $580 for three nights. That price seemed pretty expensive (frankly speaking outrageous) for the product provided. Then again, as I mentioned, they had us over a barrel…