HLS2002

I spent the weekend at the IC Suites at the Cleveland Clinic. To start with, Cleveland seemed like an unlikely place to find an IC. I supposed they might be trying to leverage the brand's recognition in the Middle East to attract the Clinic's Middle Eastern clientele. In any event, there are now two ICs essentially on the Cleveland Clinic campus.

My Ambassador VIP welcome consisted of the doorman yelling at me to move my car from the front door. Apparently parking to unload and check in was not permissible. After this negative first impression, however, there were no major incidents. There was an "Ambassador Instant Check-In" sign on the front desk, and check-in was nearly that fast. There were no problems with my very low pre-paid rate (booked on the IC web site), and the appropriate number of PC points posted to my account within a week (2000 + bonuses).

This particular property doesn't seem to have an IC Club floor, and all the rooms are suites. Accordingly, there's not much opportunity for upgrade. It looks like room 800 is a very big suite, so it may be possible to get that if you're lucky. I had a room on the top floor, number 821. I posted a few pictures at hotelscoop.com. The hotel left me a fruit plate, a bottle of San Pellegrino, a gift (I think a back massager), and a note from a manager as Ambassador goodies.

Housekeeping was a little haphazard. There was a pretzel on the couch in the living room when I arrived, there were some papers on the floor, and it looked like the towels in the bathroom may have been used. Also, they were very stingy with the soap and shampoo, not replacing the former after the first night, and though the hotel offered shoe shine, they neglected to shine my shoes when I left them as instructed.

At less than $100 (I paid $79 + tax and parking [$12]), this hotel was a great value. The Ritz-Carlton downtown is a nicer property with better service for sure, but I've usually paid in the mid-$200s there. The downtown Sheraton and Renaissance Hotels are not nearly as nice as the IC, both of those having sort of a run down ambiance despite their renovation attempts.