Needed a 1-night stay to qualify for Megabonus Promo, so stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Holland, MI, on an inexpensive weekend rate. I was pleasantly surprised by my stay, as I wasn't expecting much from a FI.

The property is 3 miles from downtown Holland on Highway 31 (31 runs north/south in Michigan) & a # of the 'chain' hotels (Fairfield, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express & Best Western) are literally located next to each other. There are a # of restaurants such as China Inn, Applebees, etc, close to the property, as well as a mall, Barnes&Noble, AMC movie theater, etc.

Downtown Holland has a # of fun restaurants, bars, shops, such as Butch's, Curraugh Pub, New Holland Brewing Co, CityFlats Hotel, Boatwerks, and is a quaint, fun, adorable downtown area with free parking. If anyone staying at FI has a car, I'd drive the 3 miles to downtown vs doing all the chain restaurants, shops, on 31.

Checked into the property & was cheerfully greeted. The lobby area & breakfast room looked nice. I think she mentioned the property had been renovated in the last few years. There was an area in the lobby where you could get a cup of coffee or hot tea.

She thanked me for being a Platinum and asked if I wanted the points. I'm not sure what else you would get at a FI & I was literally only going to be there for about 16 hours so I said yes. When she handed me the key in the envelope, I noticed she had handwritten free upgrade requested, yes, and a check mark next to it, on the envelope. So I assumed I had been upgraded.

I asked about free internet process (having forgotten that FI offers it anyway & you don't need to be Plat to get it), and she said there was a flyer on the desk in the room that explained how to log on. When I did, I noticed that it offered the option of 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month on the free internet.

On a stand near the elevator they had several copies of the local paper (which only takes about 10 minutes to read LOL).

Also you could see the indoor pool/jacuzzi, which looked nice. Didn't think to bring a bathing suit.

The room I had (#317) was a bit like a junior suite (see pics), which was nice. I was just expecting it to be a normal king room.

Besides the desk & bed, it also had a small dining table, as well as a couch & coffee table. There was a large chest of drawers at the end, which was also like a closet. The tv was a LG flat screen tv. The room had a microwave & miniature fridge. The bathroom was a standard bathroom, although it had a coffee maker. You received soap, shampooo, conditioner & body lotion. The window had a clear plastic sign on it saying there are blackout curtains behind the sheer part of the curtains & to close those for darkness, complete privacy. That came in handy because the lights from the parking lot would have come in otherwise.

Right after I got to the room, the front desk clerk called to ask if everything was alright with my room & to let her know if there was anything I needed/she could do. I thought that was a nice touch.

Went down to breakfast the next morning just before it closed. Grabbed a local paper to read. The breakfast room had a tv. Geesh it's only been 2 days so you'd think I'd remember it all, but they had dif yogurts in the fridge, along with some type of bacon/sausage/egg biscuit that could be microwaved, as well as a corn dog that could also be microwaved. OJ & cranberry juice. I think 4 types of cereal. Bananas, apple, oranges. Dif types of milk. I think sweet rolls & muffins. Maybe toast; can't remember. Same w/ oatmeal.

Rates at this property are actually pretty good even during the week, but I had gotten a manager's special weekend rate. The one time of the year that this hotel (& every hotel in Holland; not unique to FI) raises their rates is during the "Tulip Time Festival" where 100,000 people visit Holland to see the tulips & other Dutch stuff. TTF is considered a citywide 'special event', so rates are higher.

Here are pics:

http://public.fotki.com/SkiAdcock/ho...nn-holland-mi/

Cheers.