Crown Plaza Hotel Springfield, Ill.

Located outside of downtown Springfield, the Crowne Plaza Hotel is conveniently close to I-55. Having said that, even though it is visible from the highway it was not as easy to find as I expected, even Tom Tom was confused. South Deiker was not the street that exit 94 empties out onto. When coming from Springfield, you need to take a right off the exit and then S. Deiker is another right. I was very surprised that in this area a 14 story building was hard to see, but it was.

After the initial confusion, it is easy to spot. It is the tallest building around. The hotel has a large self-parking lot. You enter on the first level but that is not where the guest registration is, it is on the second floor. You can use the escalator or the elevator. The lobby is very attractive and I found the staff at the desk to be very friendly and helpful. They explained that if I was a Priority Club Member, Internet access would be free, that was very good news.

We had reserved a king room and we were given 1023. The room was spacious with of course the king-sized bed. The blanket was between sheets. The bedding is all crispy white and very comfortable. I loved the pillows. The mattress was firm and gives a very comfortable sleep.

When we got into the room it was a little too warm. A quick call to the front desk determined that I needed to turn on the fan and voila, the air conditioner was pumping away. I am not quite sure why the cleaning staff would have turned it off when a guest was scheduled to check into the room and the outside temp was over 90 degrees, but the remedy was easy.

Beside the bed, there were two nightstands a table and two chairs.

A large flat panel TV sits atop a dresser and inside the double doors, there is a mini-fridge. The room has two closets with mirrors, one of which faces the bed, which is a bit odd and disconcerting. Everything was very clean and in good repair in this room. It was much more spacious than many rooms we had on this trip.

The bathroom was spacious as hotel bathrooms go. It has a one piece tub/shower and a vanity that extends the entire length of the wall. The coffee pot was located on the vanity. The lighting in the bathroom was excellent and there was a makeup mirror, as well as a blow dryer on the wall.



The 14th floor is the location of the pool, hot tub, gym and the rooftop deck. What an attractive area this is. Tables are located outdoors where you can enjoy the fresh air and the best views that the hotel offers. The pool is a nice size and the hot tub looked very inviting. Unfortunately, our bathing suits remained somewhere in the minivan.

The TV in the room has Direct TV with a good selection of channels offered. The Internet connection was strong and I had no connection issues.

The Crowne Plaza is a convention hotel which offers a variety of services to large groups. It is a few miles from downtown but is well located for visiting the zoo. The hotel offers room service as well as a sit-down restaurant, a bar, and a coffee shop. There are a variety of restaurants located within a minute or two of the hotel including Outback Steakhouse, Smokey Bones, and Applebees.

We had breakfast with our rate and since the occupancy was low, there was no breakfast buffet. Breakfast was nothing special and service was slow considering the restaurant was nearly empty.

The location of this hotel makes it a good choice if you are not here to spend time downtown. It is located quite far from all the Lincoln attractions.