We went to check in but scary parking lot had weeds growing out of concert cracks no landscaping maintence at all. went to look @ room prior to check in clerk gave us a key that still had a guest in it. On top of this smoking!! Pool had scum & had dirt debri on the bottom. Tons of dust & spider webs.
Bates motel for sure, one question wheres mother, Norman?

My boyfriend and I reserved a room here and were happily surprized that everything turned out as well. Our room was very clean, jacuzzi worked very well and hotel was close to a lot of shopping and resturants. The only downside was that the bed was a bit stiff.
Nice little spot for the money!

I live right down the road but anytime we want to just getaway or refer friends and family who are in town visiting this is our place. The prices are totally reasonable, the lobby is beautiful. The rooms are run down...but each room has outside access which is really great, and if you can..request a room on the creek/woodland side, it is so gorgeous. We generally see deer, raccoons..besides how amazing the woodsy view is. They have a continental breakfast in the lobby everyday which is the usual you find at other chain hotels, but the seating area is just lovely. The staff is always friendly and the price for what you get is truly hard to beat around this area. It is the closest hotel to Baily Homestead, Chelllburg farm and Porter beach, the Dunes national park is just down the road. I keep coming back and love it everytime!

A subtitle for this review might be, "Looks Can Be Deceiving."

When we found ourselves having to make an unplanned trip to Chicago for a medical consult, we did some quick online research for overnight lodging en route and found some positive reviews for The Spring House Inn, about an hour outside Chicago in Porter, IN.

Our first surprise was getting off the expressway exit at Porter. We'd imagined a quaint little farming town; instead we found a gritty little truck-stop town whose chief employer seemed to be a fireworks factory.. And when we reached the hotel, we found an unused auxiliary parking lot with cracked, weed-strewn pavement and an empty banquet building on premises with a FOR SALE sign at the roadside.

Uh-oh, we thought; had we made a big, pig-in-a-poke mistake in our haste to book a hotel room?

Our third surprise: What a great hotel we'd found.

We found the Spring House clean, comfortable and quiet -- just what we wanted after a day on the road. Grounds maintenance aside, the hotel itself is tucked into the edge of a lovely, verdant woodland area. Our handicap-accessible room was roomy, with a HUGE, well-maintained bathroom. The bed and pillows were very comfortable; above average. Room amenities also included a safe; an ironing board and iron; a coffeemaker.

Common areas include a spacious lobby and sitting room, an exercise room with a variety of machines, a parlor area that would be great for meetings, a kitchenette and dining area for the complimentary breakfasts and a patio surrounded by trees. (The breakfast was one underwhelming experience, but no worse than the average chain-motel breakfast.)

The staff is tiny, but we found them very friendly and helpful.

With my partner's military discount we spent less than $50 for our room -- amazing. The general off-the-street rate starts at $69, which is still a huge bargain. (The chain motel just off the exit was charging in the mid-80's, I think, for an equivalent room.)

We would definitely stay here again -- and we are, since we have to go back to Chicago two more times. In addition to Chicago visitors who'd prefer to lodge outside the city, the inn is also very close to the Indiana Dunes and to Valparaiso University. We also noticed that, despite the hotel's off-the-beaten-path location, it had a decent number of lodgers on the Sunday and Monday evenings we stayed there.

Positives: Comfort; cleanliness; room size (for handicap-accessible rooms); friendly, quiet atmosphere; pretty woodland surroundings.

Negatives: Mostly cosmetic. Lawn and landscape needed trimming; first-floor rooms had doors opening directly outside, but no paving from the doors to the sidewalk, necessitating stepping through the muddy shrub border, where previous customers had worn down little paths to the walk. The complimentary breakfast and coffee -- meh. All minor stuff.

PS If you do choose this hotel, check out Wagner's, the local BBQ restaurant. We had two excellent rib dinners here; it's about the most "happening" place in town; has great food and a fun atmosphere.