Plenty o' Places & Pithy Prose: 5 Hotel Reviews You Can Read in < 5 Minutes

“O

ver the past 30 days, I’ve stayed at five hotels. Pretty crazy, yes?

I attended three conferences (and spoke at two of them), visited my daughters/grandkids, and treated myself to a staycation. And now I could use a real vacation (more leisure than bleisure).

Necessity (and exhaustion) are the mothers of invention. So, here’s something new for Bleisure Living — the 30-second hotel review. Five reviews in under five minutes. Scan away!

The Gwen (Chicago):

Great location. Walk to Michigan Avenue. Attached to an upscale mall.
Cocktail bar with addictive crunchy snacks and diverse appetizer menu.
Two sinks in bathroom. Free coffee (AND soy milk!)
Views were not as great as other Chicago hotels, but unless you spend lots of time in your room, it’s not a deal-breaker.
Special thanks to the Sweets & Snacks team for putting me up there!

The Boulders (Cave Creek Arizona)

Awe-inspiring boulder formations (hence the name — DUH!)
Lovely spa.
Incredible Mexican restaurant — The Spotted Donkey Cantina— within walking distance PLUS happy hour specials, fun bartenders, and unique tequila selection. They are aging custom cocktails and tequila in little barrels. (I need to go back to sample the products as they age, I suppose!)
Great places to walk on property. (I saw a snake and a lizard, but no javalinas).
Netflix on the TV.
Part of the Hilton family, so I got points!

The Crowne Plaza (Annapolis):

Fine for a family visit. Near highway.
Free coffee but just milk. (Are you noticing a theme here?)
Big mall across the street and a bar/restaurant within walking distance.
Noisy air conditioner. (Both places I’ve stayed in the area have suffered from that problem. Time to upgrade?)

The William Vale (Williamsburg, Brooklyn):

The epitomy of hipsterville (in a good way).
Amazing view of river, downtown skyline, and many other places. Even had a balcony!
Smallish room (but the balcony and view compensated).
Has a pool and a restaurant with decent brick oven pizza and good people-watching.
Walking distance to MANY restaurants, bars, and even more hipster haunts. Close to Manhattan if you decide to borough-hop.

The Refinery (Midtown Manhattan):

This week was definitely hip week! Lots of fashion-y people in the lobby at all hours.
Trendy and quirky touches in the spacious room. (Not a great view, but many interesting things to look at inside the room.)
Cool wall switches that enabled me to adjust from mood lighting to super-bright.
Gigantic shower with good-smelling bath products. No Q-tips, however. One of those random hotel mysteries.