My family and I were hosted in Extended Stay America for a complimentary night. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.
My family and I stayed one night in the Extended Stay America, in Polaris (Columbus, OH). I have passed the hotel many times but I have never stayed in one, BUT it exceeded all expectations from the time I entered the lobby for check-in until check-out the next morning.
Last Saturday, we attended Zoombezi Bay for our annual family trip to the waterpark. This is our second year in a row of making the trip to Columbus for the purposes of going to the Zoo and Waterpark. Last year we only did the zoo but this year we did a few exhibits of the Zoo and the full Waterpark, I KNEW we would be too tired to head back to Cleveland that same night.
We arrived at the hotel a little later than expected, and I called from the waterpark to let the front desk know we were still coming. Once we arrived, I was greeted by “G” and “Ronnie”…they were AMAZING! They knew I was coming and their customer service was EXCELLENT! I checked in and we headed to our room…
Once in the room we were greeted with a small welcome package from the management…
The kids walked in and immediately felt at home, and they don’t always respond well to hotel rooms. While my husband unpacked the car and I got us all set up for showers and stuff, they made themselves comfortable in the recliner chair right in front of the TV…
When asked to pick between two room options; I picked the 2 Full Size bed option. I knew would could surround the kids with pillows and they would sleep in the bed together. Well that was the plan in the beginning until DJ woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep without being in the bed with Mommy…so Emma and Daddy slept in one bed and DJ and I slept in the other. Once that adjustment was made everyone slept great!
My favorite part of the room was kitchen. Since Darrick and I started having kids, one of the things we have to make sure our hotel room has in it is a refrigerator. However, in many hotel rooms if there is a refrigerator its a smaller refrigerator (dorm sized), but this full size refrigerator was EVERYTHING!!! We had a gallon of milk for DJ and ice packs…I was able to put everything in there to get cold for the next day and our trip home. The kitchen also had a small stovetop incase you wanted to cook; you can call the front desk and they will give you pots, pans and utensils.
I also enjoyed the “sitting area” in the room. Darrick and I were so tired when we finally got in the room that night that once the kids were in bed we sat there for a while and recapped our day. Nice area to sit and relax…
The next morning after I got dressed I stopped in the lobby for the “On-The-Go” Breakfast…it was perfect because we were trying to get on the road as soon as possible.
I picked up some fruit for the kids and a couple of cereal bars for the hubs and I.
Overall I loved our stay at the Extended Stay America Polaris! The hotel was clean, had great customer service and my family enjoyed it…I can’t ask for much more. I would definitely recommend the Extended Stay America for families looking to stay in a budget friendly hotel. You can’t beat the room with the full kitchen and stove top, especially if you have picky eaters like mine; if we stayed a little longer I know I would’ve taken full advantage of the kitchen.
