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Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center
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$$
1 review for Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center
Absolutely awesome service from a friendly and professional staff that's always ready to go above and beyond. If you happen by Big Rapids, plan on spending the night here. You won't regret it.
We were heading home from up north and needed a place to stay the night. It was almost 10pm when we found the hotel's number on our GPS and called. The front office clerk was very welcoming -- she made us feel at ease after a very tiring day. The room was very clean and smelled great -- no funky odors anywhere. A little later around midnight, my wife felt a craving for hot chocolate. I knew there were no vending machines or free stuff in the lobby, so I slipped on my shoes and headed down to get some from the Walgreens nearby. I saw the clerk and, pretty much on a lark, asked her about hot chocolate. To my utter amazement, she immediately stepped behind the counter, went inside and came back with a steaming cup of cocoa! Now before you start calling me a pushover, understand I do travel quite a bit, and have stayed in Holiday Inns before -- no great shakes. But this was different. The staff actually cared enough to treat a tired bunch of travelers with honor and grace -- past midnight! Their attitude is entirely different from that of the typical hotel staff you find. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the hotel is owned partially by a state university, but I've never seen such a professional bunch of people that take real pride in their work.
Things got even better the next day. My wife wasn't feeling well, and I requested an extended checkout. No problem. When she took our daughter for a swim in the heated indoor pool, the staff was very helpful again. Everything was so good at the hotel that we were kinda sad to leave.
The attached Bennigan's restaurant was another thing entirely. This place really needs some help in the kitchen. I squeezed out about half a cup of grease from the hash browns at breakfast. Lunch was so-so, and again, laden with artery-busting amounts of grease. Before long we were past puke point. Service was indifferent. The maitre d' was fun and gracious to a fault, but the waitress acted like an automaton on Red Bull. Maybe it was the lunch crowd that made her slightly cranky. Overall the experience wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either.
But in the end, it was fun. We'll be back!