Stayed at this motel the weekend of October 23rd, 2010. We are a young professional type family with three young (5 and under) kids.

When I reserved the room I was told the occupancy was 4. I assumed they meant 4 adults but in reality they meant 4 people! I told the lady at the desk that I had three kids and she said "I'll pretend I didn't hear that" and booked us in. We guessed that the staff was not concerned with this policy and we were fine. Was I wrong! (more on that later)

What about a family we thought? When I grew up motels didn't discriminate against families they tried to accommodate them. We use to love HoJo! Four people? The average American family has 2.5 kids... What they want Mom with some of the kids in one room and Dad with the rest in another?

Later that night, when I went to the front desk for pool towels (they do not provide them at the pool) the man working the desk started giving me the third degree about the number of people in my room when I asked for a stack of towels. He was rude and would only give me 4 small, old, towels. I asked for a few more due to the small size of the towels and he refused! Can you imagine? LOL

The room smelled odd, like machine oil? The pool area was old and need of repair. The workout room was locked with a real key (not a room card) and the only way to get inside was to go to the front desk and get the key. We asked about breakfast on Sunday and they told us "Nope, closed on Sunday".

We will NEVER stay at a Howard Johnson again!

Two positives: 1. Recreation area: I had visited someone staying at this hotel last summer and was impressed by their recreation area. They have converted the entire 5th floor into a recreation area with tables and chairs, a pool, games, shuffleboard, mini golf, etc. It is very well designed and the staff keeps it as clean as they can. My family decided to stay here for a family reunion.

2. Staff - The staff were trying so hard at this hotel. They were very friendly and remembered people during the entire stay. They also worked hard to keep the recreation area clean, and were very nice. They made us feel like we were their personal guests. The lady at the buffet was also very nice and actually remade the entire buffet for us as it had gotten a bit old.

The cons:
If it wasn't for the staff, I don't know how this hotel would survive. It has wallpaper peeling off the walls in spots, older linens, lots of dings, etc. in the walls that just let you know that the hotel hasn't had a major renovation in many years and is due. The bathroom tub looks like it had a bathmat on it for a long time that has been peeled off leaving a sticker remainder in the bath. It just has a very neglected look - but everything has been scrubbed as clean as they can get it.

Our room was on the first floor which unfortunately looked onto the parking lot that connected with their very popular lounge. The smell of smoke was huge down the hallway every night and our luggage smelled like we had been smoking ourselves when we got home, even though we had a non smoking room. The noise level from the bar was also very loud until 1am every night with Karaoke and people yelling in the parking lot. Since our family all had rooms in a row, it seemed more of a problem than it was worth to try to get a different room so I just bought some earplugs.

This is one of the rougher areas of Grand Rapids. I didn't know that until we got there and drove past the area that was right around the hotel and saw lots of people hanging around. It is not a terrible area - just not a very nice tourist area. At night, the people coming in the door to the hotel, some to stay, some to visit, were a tough looking crowd. We had no problems, but we made sure to take everything out of our cars. If we were not in such a large group, I would have been concerned.

I would recommend that the Howard Johnson company invest some money in bringing this hotel back to life. Country Inn and Suites just built a new hotel right next door to this hotel, and I would recommend that people stay there if they need to stay in the area. However, if you are looking only for a nice recreation area - especially for kids, this is a good hotel for a small sleepover party.

August 14 - 17, 2006
The room was not exactly clean. The wallpaper was pulling away from the wall along the floor, the ceiling in the bathroom was very low, especially in the shower. One good thing was we never ran out of hot water during our showers. The rec. room on the fifth floor had a pool, hot tub, sauna, mini golf, shuffleboard, ping pong, and video games. This was all nice, but the same thing, it could have been cleaner. It was also extremely warm upstairs. The restaurant in the hotel "Holly's" had very good food and I found this was the cleanest place in the hotel.

Stayed at the hotel for two nights in November 2004. Pool and play area on the 5th floor are very nice for families/reunions etc. The lounge and restuarant were very nice and clean. Only ate breakfast in the restaurant so can't comment on the quality of food. I would say the pool/holidome area/lounge/restaurant are the best features of the hotel. It's not located in the best part of town as my son had a person approach him for money when he left the hotel one morning, also no eating places within walking distance. The rooms definitely need updating, especially the bathrooms. The bathrooms appeared unclean, my son claims there was alot of mold around the tub area. Each morning when turning on the bath water I had to let the water run for awhile until the rust disappeared. The rooms need a major overhaul in my opinion. Rooms appeared clean but didn't look clean if you know what I mean. There are definitely alot newer and better hotels near the airport for the same price that I would stay on my next visit although they are a few miles from the downtown area. Although this hotel is not within walking distance of the downtown area either.