We were attending the NYE party at the Weber Inn across the street, but they had no more rooms. Weber's suggested the Clarion as an overflow property. The prior reviews are accurate. This is a combination property supporting families as well as business travelers. The atrium area contains the pool, hot tub, and a large multi-use area which was set up with individual tables at the time of our stay. The area was relatively quiet, but it was NTE and the parking lot was at least 1/2 empty.
It was obvious that one large family was having its annual get together in the atrium area. There were numerous groups setting at tables playing games or talking. Various hotel room doors were open so family members could go in and out. There was a large table in an alcove that was set up with crock pots, cakes, snacks and so on. This was not in the way or anything like that. Everyone was relatively quiet. There were some individual families wit hsmaller kids that checked in at the same time as we did. They quickly made their way to the pool, with the kids being kids. They were rather loud. The sound was noticable in our third floor room that faced the pool atrium area. If you were a business traveler you would want a room on the back, away from the atrium.
Our room was clean, the sheets and bed were fine. We were puzzled when a king size bed had only three squace accent size pillows. We called the front desk and were told to come down, as they were short staffed and could not bring pillows up immediately. The pillows I was given were two more of the square ones.
The room was relatively clean. I would cite only a few things for improvements. The grout and caulk around the tub could stand some attention. It was not yucky, but did have some dark marks.
There was a inexpensive plastic lens that covered the light bulbs in the bathroom, dropped into a frame like a suspended ceiling tile. Any time the door to the room was opened or closed this plastic lens lisfted and then flopped back, making a loud obnoxious noise. They shoud put some velcro on the lense and frame to prevent the flopping noise.
One other thing really bothered us. Here it was, New Year Eve. My g.f. is trying on a couple of outfits while I was gettig ready myself. There was a knock at the door, and someone says "Maintenance". I looked out the peephole, and there is indeed a guy standing there in a Clarion shirt. I opened the door, and the guy is saying that he is there to check to see if the coffee pot is working correctly. HUH? Secondly, the guy looked like he was about two days out of prison - long grease hair pulled behind his ears, unshaved, and so on. I literally put my hand in my pocket, and took hold of my folding knife. The guy was kind of pushy, wanting to get in. I thought it was a ruse. I told him to go away and slammed the door. I immediately called the front desk, presuming I'd hear that there was no such person working. In reality i was told he was with indeed maintenace staff. They had lost a lot of coffee makers, and he was checking each room to see if it was stolen or not. HUH? Why couldn't housekeepers check when cleaning? I told them to use the time between check out and check in for such things, not to bother us!
Oh - the pool area and hot tub were clean. There was a dry sauna, but it was not working correctly. The pool water was rather warm, which was fine with us due to the frigid temperature outside. It was a bit like a tepid bathtub.
- Best Western Ann Arbor
- Ann Arbor Best Western
