My mother always said, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all". Well, if that was the case, this would be VERY short.

First, let me say we've stayed at the Arbor Suites many times before and it was always average or better. I like to call it slightly rustic, but we always enjoyed the 2 story rooms with the kitchen and other amenities. Now it's time to search for another Springfield hotel.

Here we go...First, we arrive and check in without any problem. We booked directly through their 800# and received a great rate of $99 per night, at least we thought. Remember, always ask about the rate during check in. Our mistake. More on this later. Go to our room and it's noticeably dusty and drab. Not a huge problem, so we unload and hit the town. Come back and my wife uses the lower level bathroom. The combo light/fan sounds like a helicopter is taking off from inside the room. Again, not a huge deal. We can live with it. Kick back in the living area and watch a little TV. I notice an ant on the coffee table, so I whack the little guy. Again, nothing major, until we look by the fireplace and notice a few dozen of his brothers
and sisters. Get the wife's hairspray, take care of them and go to bed. See a couple ants upstairs, but again, after a couple ant murders they are history. Next morning we bump into housekeeping and mention the fan problem, which is now starting to smell like tires burning after being left on longer during a shower (Oh, almost forgot
...they left us a half full, or is that half empty, bottle of shampoo
from the previous guest--NICE!!) Before we could finish, she says...
"It's really loud isn't it?" I agree, then mention it smelled like it
was getting hot, so she offered to call maintenance. I don't know if only being noisy would have been enough to bring the boys from maintenance in. Returned to the room and found they remedied our noise problem by totally disconnecting the fan. I guess that was easiest. Night #2 and the ants multiplied by about 100 during the day. I guess the birth rate is high in Springfield. Tons of ants downstairs and the hair spray was out in force. Things didn't reach their peak until we found dozens in our bed. Tried shaking them out, but decided this was ridiculous and called the front desk around 11 p.m. They nicely offered to move us to a studio room, as all the comparable penthouses were full. This was fine, and they offered to deduct $40 per night from our $129 rate. Hmmm, what happened to $99 per night? It was late and we didn't want to argue, so we took room #2, at the adjusted rate of $89 per night(check any online site and this room can be booked for $79, so YIPPEE!!). At least, after some discussion, they gave us the original night at the same $89 rate, so we benefited a little. We move all our luggage to the new room. This one is much cleaner, but the air conditioning doesn't work and it's very stuffy. We make the best of it. Only the fan blows (similar to this whole hotel complex), but luckily a cold front comes through the area and we enjoy open window breezes for the final 2 nights. And to top things off, the next morning my wife asks me if I clipped my nails by the bed. I hadn't, so a small mound of toe/finger nails had been left on the carpet by the previous guests. That was really nice to find. Also, unbelievable but true, the hotel actually rented our original room the next day after we bailed. To our knowledge, no one took care of the ant problem. You could still see the little guys
crawling around the front window, so I'm guessing they were still stopping by to see their buddies in the room.

My advice, for $100+ I'm sure you can find much better accommodations
in and around Springfield. It seems housekeeping is the main issue with the hotel. What once was a nice hotel located very near shopping and attractions has gone straight downhill. My opinion...
Avoid at all costs.

We've always stayed with friends when we come to Springfield, but with a growing family we are looking at other options. Arbor Suites seemed like a great choice due to their convenient location, cheap prices, full kitchen, and large rooms.

I found the best price on Expedia, then called the hotel directly to see if they could beat it. They wouldn't, so I booked through Expedia.

Check-in was quick and friendly. We were told about the continental breakfast and hot tub. The lady at check-in asked a few questions and gave us to a room that best fit our needs (first floor, outside, with extremely close parking, for easy loading and unloading of our stuff).

The room was spacious, but filthy. The floor needed vacuuming very badly, and there were several dead bugs. The room was very well maintained (looked like fresh paint and very little wear) but was poorly cleaned.

We got a studio rather than a penthouse, since we didn't want our 1-year old in a room with stairs. There was a couch (which folded out into an uncomfortable full bed), a king bed, a couch, a coffee table, a desk and chair, and two barstools. A table and chairs would have been nice, but we managed without it.

We were planning on having some family over for dinner, so we checked out the kitchen. There was a stove, fridge, and microwave. There were no pots, pans, bowls, cookie sheets, etc. There were three plates, four bowls, four saucers, and silverware for four (except no steak knives). Before I went to buy food, I checked the grill in the courtyard to make sure it worked and checked with the front counter to make sure I could get extra plates, bowls, silverware, and some steak knives. They said it would be no problem.

After I bought the food, I came back to pick up the stuff I would need. I experienced one of the most obnoxious, rude workers I've ever seen. He told me that they probably didn't have any of the things I needed. When I told him that I had asked just hours earlier, he said "That was then. This is now." and suggested that I go to Wal-Mart. He ended up scrounging up a plate, three steak knives, and a couple forks. We ended up having to feeds the kids on saucers, share knives, and wash dishes before we could eat dessert. Also, the oven stunk up the room. It needed cleaned as well.

Housekeeping never cleaned our room the three days we were there, despite several calls and visits to the front desk requesting it. We had our "Do Not Disturb" sign up for a couple hours each morning while our daughter napped. Apparently, if the sign was up at any time during the day, the housekeeper would never check back.

The continental breakfast was hit and miss as well. There were two bananas out the first morning, but we never saw any more after that. The oranges were rotten. Bagels, cereal, and french toast bread were all fine, just not what we wanted.

The "outdoor heated pool" was closed, and the hot tub was small and dirty. The courtyard area was covered in leaves.

Based on the poor service from one staff member, total lack of housekeeping for us, and poorly equiped kitchen, I would rate it 1* or 2*. But other staff members were very helpful, the rooms were huge, and the price was right, so that raises it to a 3* or 4* to me.

We have stayed at alot of hotels in many cities. I have a large family, and we need hotel rooms that are nice sized. It is very hard to find that. Most of the time we are tripping over each other. But not at this hotel. We stayed in a Penthouse, and part of my family stayed in a suite. The penthouse was two stories. The top floor had a king sized bed, television, and a bathroom. The bottom floor had a pull out sofa, an area that had two twin size beds, a table seats four, a full kitchen, and bathroom. We were very comfortable. The staff was nice and helped us with whatever we needed. It was a great stay.

We loved it. It was like you had your own little mini apartment. We will be returning there the next time we travel that way. A little hint, the receptionist said they can beat any internet price if you just give them a call.