The Hotel

I usually figure a hotel is a hotel is a hotel. Yes, some are more comfortable, some offer more amenities. But it's basically about being clean, having a decent bed, having a decent shower. Embassy Suites in Blue Ash changed that for me. There is now a bar to be met. An expectation to be exceeded. I didn't get pics of everything but if you visit their website, you can take a tour of the hotel and see more. Like the arcade. Or the waterfall in the pool. The lobby leads to the elevators and a small bridge. On either side of you is a waterway and off in the distance- a waterfall. This atrium area is filled with greenery and palm trees. One side of the atrium is where the daily Manager's Reception takes place. Where you get free drinks. Of the adult variety. Free.



On the other side of the atrium is the restaurant- Cascades- which is also where they serve the free breakfast. Past vacations or hotel stays, we've been perfectly content with the do-it-yourself waffle makes, bananas, apples, bagels, bagged pastries, cheerios. Been impressed when the options expand to refrigerated breakfast sandwiches that you can heat up. But this place... oh my stars. The picture below is an above shot of the breakfast set up. See at the top of the pic? Those guys in white tops and the one guy wearing a white hat? Those are chefs. Actual cooks, preparing made to order omelets, eggs, pancakes, sausage links, bacon, home fries. Wide variety of things you could put in an omelet, too. Plus salsa to top it off with. Hot syrup. Many options of cut fruit, yogurt. Under one of the red umbrellas, you can see the breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs, sausage links, bacon, home fries, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal. And there was the drink station- milk, coffee, a variety of juices, soda (although the Sprite was horrible both days- but we also never asked about it or complained). 4 or 5 cereal choices. I never got around to even looking at the bread/bagel/donut/pastry area because I was so taken with the rest of it. Our 2 mornings here... we left for our adventures very full of very good breakfast food.



One of the things that my kids really loved about the atrium was the animals. A large assortment of koi and about 8-10 turtles live in the atrium!

There is a heat lamp type light where the turtles "sun" themselves on these rocks. There are also giant skylights so plenty of natural sun comes in as well.







The hotel is very nicely maintained and decorated. Teagan was taken by the funny chairs in the lobby.



Our suite was a 1 bedroom with a king sized bed. The living room had a couch (pulls out into a bed) and chair and small desk, a kitchenette (small sink, fridge, microwave, coffee maker, counter space). We had a good amount of room to move around in and not step all over each other. Thermostat in the room so we controlled the temp. It was set on 50 when we first got there- yikes! Ended up having to keep it around 68 to be cool and comfortable. Which is way lower than what we set our home thermostat!

We used the pool twice. The water is kept almost too warm but just right for kids eager to jump right in. Just don't go to the pool expecting to cool off. The waterfall in the pool is really neat. The hot tub was really hot and I didn't use the steam room but it looked nice from what I saw. They kept the towels very well stocked (we've been to places where they've run out over and over). There were teens who got a bit rowdy... but that isn't the hotel's problem.

Our one complaint would be the $5 per 24 hours charge for internet use in the room.

So it wasn't a resort or anything. But for being a "basic" hotel in the suburbs of Cincinnati.... we were so happy with it all! I'll be looking for Embassy Suites whenever we travel!