Although I am familiar with this hotel I did not ever FINISH an over-night stay here.

Background....I moved to Grand Rapids three years ago when I got married. I was from the Detroit area and brand new to Grand Rapids which is located on the western side of the state of Michigan. I needed a place to stay for 1-2 nights as my future husband and I were moving all my personal items from Detroit to Grand Rapids and it was taking 1-2 days for packing, loading, driving, delivery, unloading and unpacking. I decided to stay in Detroit the first night and then one night in Grand Rapids before I got settled in permanately. My now husband had offered to book a hotel for me but, I said I had plans already and was set (I should have taken him up on his offer!).

I had a friend who was taking a real estate licensing course in one of the conference rooms at The Grand Inn in Grand Rapids. I needed to attend the class and get my continuing education credits as well so, we attended together. My friend had decided to book a one night stay once the class was done as it was a long drive back north for her. I agreed I would stay the night too and we could hang out together. She was going to book her room the same day as I was, upon my arrival. We are lucky we did not book in advance as from other reviewers and the sign in the lobby "No refunds", no matter how bad the service or experience, would be a problem.

Needless to say...once I got to the The Grand Inn and started checking around...was I glad I did not formalize my reservation! I understand now why the place isn't booked up and why it was easy to get a walk in reservation. The place is one star at best!

Negatives to this hotel:

1) The hotel is located off a busy freeway and side street - Plainfield and I-96. There is heavy traffic both day and night here so, be patient as you wait to cross the street and get in the complex.

2) The parking lot to this hotel is very large and NEVER full. You might see a dozen cars there most days and maybe 30-40 other days. Don't be fooled, the high car count is for visting conferences NOT for hotel stays. Clearly, few people who go here want to stay
here. The parking lot has lots of pot holes and craters - clearly needs refinishing.

3) The hotel has a few entrances - one main, others on the side. None looked great and once you got in...hard to navigate or find anyone for help.

4) The exterior of the hotel has had a paint job in recent years but, could use it again. Appeared to be flaking and peeling in places. Windows were often dirty, same with door entrances. Landscaping is whatever mother nature provides for the week. Nothing seemed to be done on a formal basis.

5) It's very easy to get lost in this complex as signage is poor and the floor plan from entrance, to hallways, to rooms and service entrances is long and winding and has lots of short flights of stairs up and down and twists and turns.

6) Hallways alwayed smell musty and strong no matter if we were near the pool area or far away- a sure sign the place needs an over-haul. The carpeting and paneling in hallways was atrocious as was the dark and dismal lighting to be found. Sometimes, it almost felt creepy walking down these narrow and unattractive corridors.

7) I don't know if this place is staffed well as you can often wander around the hotel and go down different passages and often not see a soul - employee or guest. Makes you feel like you are in the hotel from "The Shining"...where is everyone?

8) When you do meet staff...don't expect much. The handy bell hop either doesn't exist or he can't be found. The front desk staff is usually one person and if she smiles you are lucky. Once in a while you'll see a cleaning person and I mean once in a while. They don't seem to like or enjoy questions or requests and try to get away fast as possible.

9) Public rest rooms are decent but, still smell funny, you aren't sure how clean they are and are missing the tops of toilet seats - honest - only the bottoms of the porcelain bowls was there - not the tops to the seats! it was crazy! We did not use other public areas like the pool, hot tub but, they seemed small by most hotel standards when we walked through them.

10) The front lobby was unimpressive and much like other corridors, hallways and foyers to the building seemed to need an over-haul - new carpet, new painting, better light fixtures and better signange. This place rates non-existant for ambiance. They are not spending a dime on improvemments as far as we could tell. Motel 8 would be four stars compared to this place.

11) The small conference room we had for the real estate class was nothing more than 2 class room sized rooms open into one another. Once again, the joy of the place shined through. Old/dated carpeting, walls with knicks/scratches and stains, drop ceiling with possible roof leaking going on, ugly flourescent light fixtures, poor technical service, standard ballroom style table and chairs(ours were off center and rocked all the time) poor food choices (coffee, yellow looking water, scarry looking danishes) and that eternal musty, wet odor surrounding the room. It felt like we were in a basement and since we were partially below grade - we were! It was a most unpleasant 6 hours! The people were nice - our instructor and other attendees' were nice - the place was not!

12) I did NOT stay the night as I changed my mind and did NOT check in as planned after seeing the basics. My friend and I did see inside a room that was open for cleaning when we were wandering during one of our breaks and it didn't look any better than the other areas we toured. The room seemed small, dark, non-descript and smelly again. We peeked in the bathroom and pretended to be looking for some tissues and it seemed cramped and unattractive. Seemed the tub and sink had some stains and things looked old and dated.

13) Since we did not stay the night as planned I can't say if room service or the hotel maids are better or not. You'll have to see other reviewers from their experience to know for sure.

We found a different hotel chain as fast as we could after the events we experienced over a six hour class, lunch hour and multiple breaks!!! There was no way we were going to stay there after what we saw.

There was just no way around it - from the parking lot, entrance, hallways, rooms and conference site - this place is a big ZERO! There is no POSITIVES as far as we could tell and this is a first in all our travels. Everyplace has some redeeming quality right? Not at The Grand Inn. Seems this hotel needs new owners, a complete remodeling job and a brand new reputation if it is to survive. My now husband laughed when he found out what I had done as he said he would have steered me away had he known of my earlier choice. My husband said this place has been owned on and off over the years by different companies and people and it can never survive as it is never run well, looks bad and has a poor reputation in town. He said if they are trying for the tumble weed, ghost town hotel look -they got it!

Keep in mind...I have now taken my real estate class here two more times and I know what to expect - just the class ma'am, just the class. I wish it would be held somewhere else but, I think our instructor picks it as it's cheap to rent. The rest of the place has not improved in all my time and short visits there.

First impressions count and this place made a bad one. I think the reviews are in - this place is terrible. Try other hotels in town that are real properties with all the amenities, such as...The Amway Grand, The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown, Sprinhill Suites off Alpine, and soon the JW Marriott being built in downtown as we speak. Lots of other choices - find them!