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Mason Hotels


benny1388
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I booked a room at Microtel for this evening. We'll see how it goes.

 

We're driving south after work today to get a few hours in the park, then crashing and trying to motivate everybody to get some ERT in tomorrow and get the biggest part of the day in before heading back north to Cbus area.

 

It seems like it will fit our needs well enough, bases on what I've seen here and other online resources. I'll update this thread and let you know.

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This thread regarding advice on motels close to the park reminded me of my first trip to Washington, DC back in 1984.   I was searching for places to stay in DC that was clean, safe, close to all of the monuments, museums and most of all, within my price range.  I purchased this book titled, "Washington, DC on $35 a Day."  It gave me good tips on affordable places to eat and most of all, decent hotels.  What got my attention of a hotel called, The Hotel Harrington, which was located 2 blocks from the FBI HQ and 3 blocks from the Mall.  The rates were around the $60/day range.  I decided to make reservations at The Hotel Harrington for 5 days.  Because I was very concerned about this hotel, I made reservations as a national motel chain 10 miles away.  I was concerned that this old hotel was a haven for "ladies of the evening" and other unsavory elements.  But I was wrong.  As I drove up to it, it was a nice building, clean and saw lots of families and tour groups going in and out.  This hotel reminded me of the old Hotel Gibson in downtown Cincinnati.  It had been rehabbed in and out.  It was very clean and well kept and maintained.  Like I said, it was just two blocks from the FBI building and I walked there in time for a tour.  I enjoyed my stay there and stayed there there again on my next trip to DC.    

 

So I can understand when families are asking about good places to stay near the park.  Like me, they want a clean and safe place and not too expensive, but most of all, a place that provides a good place rest after a hectic day at the park

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Microtel was, basically, as advertised and matched up with reviews I'd seen online at various travel-related sites.

 

It was not posh or fancy by any stretch. In fact, it was minimal by typical hotel standards, but what should one expect for $76 for a Friday night stay (the rate via hotels.com). For example, I'm accustomed to there being a small bottle of shampoo and (usually) conditioner. Nothing great, but something a guest can use to get by. There was soap. Maybe I'm spoiled by tending to stay in higher end hotels (in Vegas - Wynn, Venetian etc) when I'm on vacation. I do not consider this sort of stay a 'vacation' - it's a way to skew the drive time to park time ratio more favorably (we have a 90+ min drive to the park).

 

They do allow pets. This isn't a deal breaker for us, but I know it is for some.

 

We do a check of every hotel room we stay in for signs of bed bugs before we even bring our bags in from the car. There were no signs here.

 

The room was clean and functional and provided what we needed - a place to shower and crash after an afternoon in the park and be ready to return to the park in the morning.

 

Would I stay again? Yes

Did I feel it was a fair price? Yes

Was I "wow'ed" by the value? No

Was it clean? Yes

Was it functional? Yes

Will I try other places? Certainly, I will shop around until I find what I feel is my 'go to' hotel for a one night stay near the park. This one is a candidate, though.

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I stay at Super 8 when i am doing Haunt and Snoopy's Halloween Party for the whole weekend. I never have any issues unless i check in late with my Haunt makeup on. Lol. With Kings Island Inn now torn down, the hotels in the area will be more full. I may just go with Great Wolf Lodge since i get a discount though my work.

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I stay at Super 8 when i am doing Haunt and Snoopy's Halloween Party for the whole weekend. I never have any issues unless i check in late with my Haunt makeup on. Lol. With Kings Island Inn now torn down, the hotels in the area will be more full. I may just go with Great Wolf Lodge since i get a discount though my work.

Be aware that GWL shuts down completely for a short time in late September and/or early October for annual maintenance. This shutdown generally coincides with the early part of Halloween Haunt.

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I stay at Super 8 when i am doing Haunt and Snoopy's Halloween Party for the whole weekend. I never have any issues unless i check in late with my Haunt makeup on. Lol. With Kings Island Inn now torn down, the hotels in the area will be more full. I may just go with Great Wolf Lodge since i get a discount though my work.

Be aware that GWL shuts down completely for a short time in late September and/or early October for annual maintenance. This shutdown generally coincides with the early part of Halloween Haunt.

 

They are open when i go in to eat on the weekends during that time.

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To eat, yes, but rooms may not be available. Currently, the website indicates on the rate calendar that no rooms are available for the 8-night period from Thursday, September 24, to Friday, October 2, this year.

I know that they have a big tow truck event in the fall every year. But does that no rooms available thing mean that they are booked, or they are doing for annual maintenance? Not sure why they would close down when they are busy at the park.

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To eat, yes, but rooms may not be available. Currently, the website indicates on the rate calendar that no rooms are available for the 8-night period from Thursday, September 24, to Friday, October 2, this year.

I know that they have a big tow truck event in the fall every year. But does that no rooms available thing mean that they are booked, or they are doing for annual maintenance? Not sure why they would close down when they are busy at the park.

It's indeed annual maintenance. There's no way they would be fully booked for those dates this far in advance, especially the weekdays. And the shutdown period always shows up as unavailable on the rate calendar as soon as the dates in question are visible on it.

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To eat, yes, but rooms may not be available. Currently, the website indicates on the rate calendar that no rooms are available for the 8-night period from Thursday, September 24, to Friday, October 2, this year.

I know that they have a big tow truck event in the fall every year. But does that no rooms available thing mean that they are booked, or they are doing for annual maintenance? Not sure why they would close down when they are busy at the park.

 

It's indeed annual maintenance. There's no way they would be fully booked for those dates this far in advance, especially the weekdays. And the shutdown period always shows up as unavailable on the rate calendar as soon as the dates in question are visible on it.

So much for doing it during the winter lol.

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The good reason is that the maintenance is primarily to the waterpark, i.e. what Kings Island does every offseason, just on a smaller scale. I assume that water slides can be inspected and have maintenance performed much faster than coasters and flat rides can, due to the relatively small number of moving parts. However, since the waterpark is the single biggest draw for GWL, they shut the whole place down during that time, presumably because they can't justify the cost of staffing the whole place for the extremely small number of people that would actually book a room while the waterpark is closed. At least that's my guess.

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If anyone is interested. The Comfort Inn down on Fields Ertle Rd is about 70 a night on the weekend. I've been there 3 times in the past month and its pretty nice for the price.

 

It's on my list of places to try. They didn't have any rooms that fit our needs when I was booking for this last trip (was sorta last minute).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I really enjoyed my stay at The Shaker Inn.  As expected, the staff were extremely  nice.  Both nights, I came back to the room very late after being at KI for ERT, and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.  This is in contrast to the freeway noise and people noise of the Super8 in Mason.  The room was quirkly--there was about one foot between the bed and the entertainment center, there was no desk, and the bathroom was very tight.  As I mentioned earlier, the only single room they had available was smoking permitted.  So, the room smelled of smoke.  I am sure the smell permeated my clothes, but was replaced in short order in the park with "park smells."  The place was very clean, well maintained, and had a nice charm to it.  It is about 10-15 minutes from KI, but that is not problematic for me.  All in all, a great place for me and I will try stay there for my next trip.

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It seems crazy to me that a hotel would entirely shut down for maintenance. I would think that they would stagger and do sections of the hotel in stages.

 

Then again, I am not a hotel manager. And it is entirely possible that there's a good reason for that.

 

It is a shut down only for the waterpark and they generally do not try to book rooms.  This year, it is fully booked for a conference type event, but the pool is shut down for that time.  

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  As promised, a report for the Shaker Inn.

  Just as jtro said above, we really enjoyed our Shaker Inn experience, though Chugh43, may disagree. For reasons that will become obvious.

  Positives;

  As mentioned, very quiet. With no interstate close by it had a quaint back road peacefulness that can't be found at the big exit hotels. The drive was well worth the extra 5-10 mins. 

  As soon as you pull into the parking lot, the landscaping, and care of the exterior are immediately apparent. Once inside, the room was clean, immaculately clean.

  The staff was awesome, they found a way to let us check in late, and add a day with no questions. And gave us work arounds for both. 

  Negatives:

  The only real outstanding negative, was the pull out sofa. The mattress was so thin the springs would have made a mosquito uncomfortable. Poor Chugh43 ended up sleeping on it in it's sofa configuration. 

   The room configuration was kind of strange, as it's listed as a suite, but access to the bathroom is only through the bedroom. 

  All in all, I'd highly recommend this place. Clean, quiet, and off the main road. We didn't have a chance to check out the pool area, though it looked as pristine as the rest of the landscape.  

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Long-time Lurker, planning a family trip to Kings Island this summer! 

Does anyone know of a hotel in the area that has a shuttle bus to the park? 

We used to stay at the Kings Island Resort and Conference Center, but that is no longer an option.  We have Platinum Passes, but would also love the option for some members of the group to come back to the hotel on their own.  Thanks!

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Long-time Lurker, planning a family trip to Kings Island this summer! 

Does anyone know of a hotel in the area that has a shuttle bus to the park? 

We used to stay at the Kings Island Resort and Conference Center, but that is no longer an option.  We have Platinum Passes, but would also love the option for some members of the group to come back to the hotel on their own.  Thanks!

I think Super8 has shuttles.

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