Downtown Savannah is what you think of when you think of the South. The small mysterious city with moss hanging from the trees and tall classical buildings beckoning from the early Victorian days. Well our hotel was not in downtown Savannah. Actually, it was in Savannah, but across the street is the smaller bedroom town of Pooler. It is a typical suburban town with all the modern conveniences for families and food you know your kids will eat. This makes this hotel a nice reprieve from expensive food and unknown results with your kids. In the south you feel at home and there is always someone willing to talk and explain the local culture and where to go. We had an extensive conversation with the sweetest lady at Chick-fil-A that made sure all our kids left with a stuffed cow.
The hotel was built within the last five years and has a bar and small lounge area in the lobby. The desk was off to the right with a friendly staff. You are in the South and people just have a friendlier attitude. It is just a little more laid back outside of Atlanta and the North. In the morning, they offer breakfast for a fee, if you aren’t a Diamond level member of their Hilton Honors Club. The real reason to put these hotels on your list are the warm thick, moist, hot, chocolate-chip and walnut cookies that are complimentary with your room. I have a little happy moment when we are approaching a Doubletree hotel.
The older Doubletree hotels are traditionally two or one bed in a room, but they seem to be building more and more suite type layouts. This one was a semi-suite, studio room. It had two beds in the far room with a half wall and then a room with a sofa bed. There is no door or true wall between the two rooms. They claim the beds are a double or full size, but that is pushing it. We have learned that two adults can’t share a double bed at hotels with double beds. My husband gets his own bed, then we divide and conquer the rest of the beds between the four of us. What is nice is that each area had their own television.
The bathroom is near the front door, which is nice because it is far away from the double beds. The sofa faces a direction that won’t be disturbed at night by the bathroom light. There is no sink outside the bathroom, which is always inconvenient for a family over three. It is a rather small bathroom, with a small area to get prepared in the morning. It isn’t shareable. One other thing to keep in mind is that these hotels that are built along the major highways aren’t built as well as the taller in-city hotels. You can’t run or walk heavy and you can’t jump without disturbing multiple neighbors. It is hard on our family, since our kid with autism loves to run back and forth. We were on the top floor, so we weren’t disturbed by anyone and we must have done a good job managing the kids, because we didn’t get the call.
You can’t fault them on their service and cleanliness. The front desk counted us and immediately had towels sent up without us having to ask. This is much appreciated because we always make it up to our room and are short on towels. Usually rooms are set up for three people. We usually just manage with what we have because we are too tired to care.
If you can find the strength after a long day or just have to go to calm your sensory child, there is an inside pool. It is nice because it is always available, but those facilities are like echo chambers. It is always loud with just our family.
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