Stayed for one night so we could attend the ND- Boston University basketball game and had a nice stay. If you have ever stayed in another Courtyard this is almost identical. You get a nice room and a nice hotel at a decent price. Room was big and clean with very comfortable beds. The hotel is also surrounded by a few malls and numerous restaurants.

I recently stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott in Mishawaka. When I arrived at the hotel I was greeted by a very nice person Jamel . When I got to my room I realized my phone did not work and my TV only had a few channels. I went to the front desk and was told the hotel had been hit by lightning and they were working on it. The maintenance guy there Dave was great he had my TV and phone working before I left and also jumped my car for me when I left the lights on. Overall a good stay.

My husband, son and I were invited out to a Notre Dame game by ND's develpment office, who made the arrrangements (but didn't pay for it). I almost gagged when I saw it was over $600 for two nights (we paid less at Disney's Polynesian) but I imagine all the local hotels gouge you on game weekends. The ND people got us awesome tickets to the game so we didn't want to complain.

Mishawaka is no Orlando though...the town seems to exist solely to service and support visitors to the University. All the typical places are there...Red Lobster, Hooters, Panera Bread, etc. The Courtyard (not that it has one) is on "Main St" flanked by two extended stay hotels and backing up to Lowes.
Upon check in, my 8 year old son was handed (a la Hershey resorts) a thick candy bar with a Notre Dame wrapper. Too bad it tasted like those awful foil wrapped chocolate coins, but a nice gesture nonetheless. There was also a tray of fresh caramel apples (yummy) and coffee service and cookies in the entryway. There's no "Lobby", just a partition separating the breakfast area from the reception desk, decorated with football balloons.

The first room we had overlooked the sights (and sounds) of the Lowe's delivery dock. Worse, it was right over the pool machinery which buzzed so loudly the floor literally shook. No thanks. We asked for and immediately were given a room across the hall, overlooking the highway but we couldn't hear any traffic noise so OK. Wonder who got stuck in the first room. Wonder if they paid $325 a night too.

The Irish were playing the Cougars of BYU that weekend, but the hotel room was nothing but SPARTAN. 2 full beds (not queen), an armchair squeezed between one bed and the window (no room for a reading lamp), a desk, 4 drawer dresser and 15" TV with Nintendo for $6.95/hr. The TV was right in front of the mirror. Bathroom with tiny toilet that is the same size as the one in my kindergartner's classroom lav. If you're over 5'7", you have to duck to get under the showerhead. The sink outside the bathroom had long hairline cracks in it; when I moved the coffemaker to get some counter space on the vanity there was a brown tinged puddle under it. I don't drink coffee so I don't know if the unit was leaking or just poor housekeeping. The rest of the room was very clean though. The bathroom amenities consisted of soap and 1 bottle of shampoo. The towels, while folded and hung in an attactive fan-shape, where small and thin. Not worn, just cheap.

There's no restaurant (they don't need one, really) but our "Football Package" includes buffet breakfast. There's a big advertising placard stating "Eggs Your Way--Made To Order" . Well, fine, if "your way" means "scrambled sitting in a steam tray on a countertop all morning". When I asked if I could get a couple sunny-side...the attendant very nicely and apologetically said "no, sorry, not on football weekends". Guess only the people who pay $99 a night the other 355 days of the year are worthy of the chef's effort. There is, however, a lady pouring waffle batter to order (sooo...waffles, yes; eggs, no) which were thick and fluffy but like the candy bar, no flavor. That's why they're served with cherry and apple pie fillings, whipped cream and maraschino cherries. The rest of the buffet is diner food...bacon (nice and crisp) sausage, danish, cold cereal, frozen-and-thawed melon chunks, breads, good oatmeal, and fresh tasting but watery orange and apple juice. There were warm biscuits (again, taskted previously frozen) served with some white speckly glop that my midwestern-born husband told me was "gravy". Where I come from gravy is brown or (if you're Italian, red), not white and looking like Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup still in the can. The attendants are very nice and hustle to refill your coffee. The fake flowers in the clear plastic vases anchored by clear plastic "water" made great entertainment for the children who were "spilling" it on each others' heads.

There is a small indoor pool (3-4 ft deep, I took 8 strokes to get across) which felt great after the game and a knee-deep whirlpool, and an exercise room with treadmill and weight machines. Not quite what we saw on our tour of the new Athletic training facility on campus but gets the job done.

The last time we came out 9 years ago, we stayed at the Hampton Inn in South Bend without a reservation. I don't remember the price (I was pregnant at the time, it was late Nov and raining so I probably didn't care) but it was a lot nicer...thick carpeting, nice living room type lobby with fireplace, bigger rooms and better breakfast options. There are a lot of independent and chain hotels in the area so it's inexcusable why a company the size of Marriot won't invest in making their property stand out by giving the customer more than the bare minimum, whether the price is $84 or $324. The staff couldn't be nicer and the entire property is clean and well-kept (nice flower plantings and lawns outside), it's just a shame that paying more doesn't translate to getting more.