I travelled with my Husband and In-Laws for a wedding reception. There is no bell-staff, although they did offer us a bell-cart to haul our own luggage to our rooms.

I think the hotel is trying to save money by not running the air-conditioners in the hallways, because as soon as you walk out of your room, you are hit with hot-humid air, especially in the elevator banks.

One thing I found especially to be true is that the whole place reeks of stale cigarette smoke. It reminded me of a second-rated Laughlin, NV casino/hotel but without the games.

The reception food was bad, especially the salad, which was brown and wilted.

A sandwich that was ordered in the sports bar was made with cheap, over salted lunch meat and the breakfast buffet was quite possibly the worst food I've ever eaten and a hotel.

I'm just glad that the room was cheap, less that $100 a night for our stay.

My best friend chose this hotel for her wedding reception and it seemed logical to stay there for the entire wedding weekend. After driving down from Chicago on Friday, we arrived at the hotel at 4:30 p.m. Our room, which we had reserved well in advance, was not ready. As we were all bridesmaids, we had to stand and hold our full length dresses so they would not wrinkle in the middle of the reception area. We stood there for an 30 minutes. Finally, our room was ready, but when we went there (Now 45 minutes before the rehearsal dinner)- it was not the room we had reserved for the 3 of us- it was a double bed with a chair- not 2 queens. So, we trekked (it was quite a distance, with all of our luggage and dresses) back to the front desk, and again had to wait 30 minutes before a room could be cleaned for us. It was now 5:30, we all had to change, and we finally got a room. We of course were late to the wedding rehearsal. Our first night's stay was horrific- our air conditioner sounded like a jet engine- it would come on and go off- no sleep was actually had. We left by 8 am and when we returned our room was not cleaned. We left again for the wedding and pictures, and when we came back before the evening reception- our room was still not cleaned. I had to go to the front desk for clean towels (the hotel uses well water- I felt dirtier after the shower than before). Post reception, we returned to our room and went to sleep with our jet engine air conditioner (our room could not be switched because there was some kind of event going on that weekend). At 4 AM, someone from the hotel knocked on the door- LOUDLY. They had brought by our bill. These people had all my credit card info- and yet, they still knocked on our door at 4AM. When I attempted to check out, which took an hour, I did not have time to speak with a manager- if one was even on site (I had a flight out of O'Hare- 2+hours away 3 hours from the time I actually go to check out). I sent a letter to the hotel, describing the hell of our time there, and I received a letter from the manager, chiding me for not coming to management right away. They also made a housekeeper write me a letter apologizing. The best part- they gave me a free voucher to stay there in the future. I tore it up. You could not pay me to stay there again.

After reading the reviews on this website I wasn't thrilled about staying here, but this is where my cousin was getting married and the whole family stayed at this hotel. The desk staff weren't overly friendly, but I didn't have a problem with them. The breakfast buffet was average. The ballroom was very pretty and the reception area was nice. I did call ahead and ask if a refrigerator was available because my daughter was on amoxicillan for an earache and it had to be cold. I was told fridges were usually $20 extra but because it was a medical reason it would be free and it was already in our room and cold when we checked in. I thought that was pretty great. The pool was large and heated. There were also two hot tubs. One warm and the other hot. I didn't hear any of the guests complain. Overall not a bad stay and the wedding was beautiful.

Now called the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, I stayed here before when it was a Holiday Inn Select. My memories of the Holiday Inn were great. My memories of this most recent stay as an unbranded hotel are not so great. What happened? As I entered the hotel I was impressed as usual by the lovely lobby. Checking in was painless and my room was large and near an entrance to the large parking lot. I noticed almost immediately that there was a lot of dust on the furniture. A call to housekeeping brought a promise that this would be handled promptly - and a delightful housekeeper dusted and then asked if anything else was needed - she gave us her name and said to ask for her personally. I was impressed. The remainder of the stay was quite unpleasant. Room service hung up on me twice and then the phone rang for several minutes before someone picked up. I was told that the item I wanted was unavailable - that I must have an "old menu". I was told I could come to the desk and get a recent menu but no one could bring it to me. We decided to just eat at one of the restaurants. Service was inattentive, slow, and the quality of the food was way below the standards I was used to at this hotel. The servers spent more time flirting with one of the male employees than they did waiting tables. I wasn't the only one who complained to a very unfriendly male manager from the front desk. There was no one available to complain to who seemed to be a restaurant manager. When we returned to our room, there was a distinct odor of marijuana smoke coming from one of the rooms in our corridor. Calling to the front desk resulted in the comment "Gee, and they didn't invite us?" I didn't find that amusing at all. Someone knocked on our door to ask if we were "the ones getting high". I informed the gentleman I was the one who complained. He said he didn't smell anything and to let the desk know if we needed anything further.
We checked out - a task which was painfully slow due to only one person being at the desk when several people were checking out. I will not return to this hotel - sadly - because it was one of my favorite places to stay when visiting friends in Decatur and Springfield. I am not sure what company now manages this hotel but I can see why Holiday Inn wouldn't want to be affiliated. Aside from some very nice employees (especially the housekeeping staff), I wouldn't say there was much outside the attractiveness of the building to recommend any more. During my stay here in 2004, there was an enthusiasm and excitement from the employees that just isn't there now. If you want just a decent room (rather overpriced for the area, but some deals could be had here if you check them out) and a place to sleep, you'll be fine here. Don't expect the service to be great, but it is a large hotel with many nice rooms and suites.