Satisfactory but...
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 4/4/05
There's no doubt that this Embassy Suites has a wonderful location overall. Just a short walk away is a lovely pond and public park with picnic areas and easy walking path. The swallows on migration from south to north were nesting freely among the hotel's exterior walls. The hills all around are lovely. Because we were travelling with two children (one a teenager), we thought the suite concept would be a winner, and we were right. The separate bedroom was helpful. The pool was very well received, by the 9 year old, though rejected by the more sophsticated teenager. When our reservations were made by telephone, a very enthusiastic agent said that the early evening "manager's reception" would provide free drinks and
"a light meal." While the drinks were free indeed, the "light meal" was in fact chips and salsa accompanied by cheese and crackers. Please do not plan on making this your evening meal, as it is not that. The promised "free breakfast," on the other hand, was a full spread all-you-can-eat meal, complete with hot and cold food, with nutritious alernatives to high fat cereals and hot foods. We descerned, however, that on nights where the hotel is full (read: Friday and Saturday nights), the breakfast spread is only as good as the staff's ability to keep up with the demand. Coffee? Maybe when the pot is refilled. One more order of bacon? No problem, but get in a line of 10 or more people with the same thing on their mind. Overall, however, the hotel made an earnest attempt to deliver, even if an erruption of last minute hotel guests just-before-breakfast-closes patrons made it difficult to deliver the goods. Moral: don't go down to breakfast just before it closes. In the way of the suites themselves, we noted that the pullout couch which comprised the "second bedroom" of the suite, was comfortable enough for a tired teenager, which is how we used it, but probably would not have been suitable for a tired adult of more developed preferences. Embassy Suites in SR, for better or worse, has not caught the wave of the pillowtop generation of sleepers, meaning that the "traditional beds" of its units are clearly made for guests of hardy pioneer stock. This did not include me, age 40 something, who could not tolerate the cardboard surface provided. Back problems? Maybe a severly hard surface helps you. But if you need something softer, their standard beds won't fulfill. For the price, I would have hoped for something a bit more, may I say trendy, in their offerings? The EB has caught on to some customer needs but not all of them.