My wife and I stayed at the Memphis Crowne Plaza Hotel for one night in July with our one year old son.
The lobby is nicely done, but the front desk area is strange. People waiting to check in really didn't know where to go or what to do. Still, check in was quick and easy. We booked at a great rate, but it was unknown what type of room we would get. I just asked for a king room and that's what we got. Up we go to the 6th floor.
This was a quiet floor, and it really was quiet. Even our one year old son was quiet on this floor. Eerie. Anyway, the room was just okay. The ceilings are low, with popcorn texture, there was a weird cube table which seemed out of place, a desk, LCD TV on a stand, a nice chair, night stands and of course the bed. The room was comfortable, especially the bed. I like a loud A/C and the room A/C sufficed. The room, though modern in look, still seemed old to me. I'm guessing that this hotel used to be something else, like maybe a Ramada. Overall, you get the feel that they slapped some paint on the walls, added some accent touches, and basically decided to charge extra for a pretty basic hotel. Also, why have LCD televisions if you're not going to provide HD or digital channels. Many hotels are offering HD channels, if not by satellite then but roof top antennae. I'd rather have an older TV with a sharper picture than have to watch an analogue signal through a flat-screen TV.
The bathroom was the area that I had a problem with. The toilet seat was old...like very old. It had those water bumps like an old toilet seat has. Why was it like that? Plus, the door did not shut all of the way, so you couldn't lock it. With a curious one year old walking around, we had to shove something under the door to keep him from opening the door on us while using the facilities. Also, I felt like the bathroom needed more light.
Other notes worth mentioning: we self parked, which we had to pay for of course, being that this is a downtown hotel. That was fine, but you have to use your room key to get in and out of the parking lot, and the card readers never worked on the first of second try. Speaking of card readers, our room door unlocked fine the first time, but then for whatever reason, we had trouble the rest of the time. You'd put the card in, the light would turn green, and when you turn the handle the door still won't open. It was like the lock was getting stuck. While maintenance was on their way up to look at it, it finally worked, but you had to really mess with it. This happened 4 or 5 times. As for the location, there are better places to stay downtown. The Crowne Plaza sits on the edge of downtown, so it's not really within walking distance of anything besides the convention center and pyramid. The closest trolley stop was not very close either, unlike many other hotels. Finally, the WiFi was painfully slow here. Like slower than AOL dialup. If you can use an ethernet cable to plug in, then that might be a little better. I only tried the WiFi though.
In my opinion, just because you add some granite to the bathroom, replace the carpet and bed and add a cube table, it doesn't exactly mean that you automatically have a 3 1/2 star hotel. I guess having a restaurant adds a star, so if you don't care about a restaurant, you really have a 2 1/2 star hotel at best. Overall, our stay was fine, but I just don't see how this is anything more than a 2 or 2.5 star hotel. I would stay here again only if price was a concern and I could get a good deal. But, it would not be my first choice.
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