Grand Rapids, Michigan ~ Holiday Inn stay, Happy Hour and dining info

December 2017, Weekend, 2-nights

Covered Sky Walk between Amway parking garage and hotel.
Beautiful corridor covered wth snow and decorated with blue lights.

We did not get to all of the new locations we wanted to visit this trip, although we did make it to a few, and we went on a brewery tour at The Knickerbocker New Holland Brewing Company (details at the end of  this post). We love Grand Rapids!

Holiday Inn executive guestroom 711 and facility

I redeemed points for both nights of this stay. I like that I am able to redeem my points online for any room type at this hotel. We stayed in this hotel few times before this stay; in executive rooms 511 and 811, and in non-executive rooms prior to that. I did not take any hotel photos this stay. I am sharing some new hotel information, and you can find more info about the hotel and photos in blog posts from February 2017, and April 2014. 

I observed only a couple of changes in the guestroom since our last stay: The bed pillows are an improvement, and are much nicer quality than pillows usually found in Holiday Inn hotels. A recycling basket had been provided by the desk. The coffee items, which had changed before 2017, were the same as they had been last time: Keuring coffeemaker (yay!) with disposable cups, rather than glass glasses and ceramic coffee mugs. 😐 The Internet connection speed this visit was extremely slow, and we did not experience this during previous stays. Be aware that the hall noise outside the executive guestrooms can be bothersome, as the rooms are located directly across from the elevators. Another thing to be aware of, if you do not like to stay in hotels that accommodate pets; there were several dogs in this hotel during our stay, and I never encountered this on previous stays. One dog was left in the guestroom down the hall from us both evenings, and barked continually when the guests were gone. Fortunately for us, there were a couple of rooms between us, so the barking was not too loud when we went to bed. Unfortunate for the poor dog though! And, for any guests closer to the room.

The water temperature in the whirlpool tub in the pool area was good; however, it was not very clean. There seemed to be a problem when we decided to check it the next day, as it was not bubbling, and engineers were working in the maintenance room adjoining the pool. 

We loved the Happy Hour specials at Pearl Street Grill located in the Holiday Inn lobby. Appetizers are half off Monday - Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., and Michigan craft brews are $4. I thought the Beer City Pretzels were amazing, and another patron raved about the Buffalo Chicken Wings.

Dining and happy hours: Grand Woods Lounge, Peppino's Pizza, Divani, CityBuilt Brewing, Bobarinos

Grand Woods Lounge has happy hour Monday - Friday from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. I did not think I was going to get anything when we stopped there so my husband could get their $5 happy hour burger. Our server described the happy hour Woodtinis so well, I decided to try one - It was delicious!

Woodstini from Grand Woods Lounge with fruit infused vodka

Peppino's Pizza has fabulous happy hour specials Monday - Friday from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. Drafts, well drinks, and wines are half off, and most appetizers are $4.99. We shared an order of fried pickles, which were a decent portion size.

In Divani Women's restroom

One of our favorite stops when in Grand Rapids is Divani. This is a classy good quality venue with excellent service. Happy hour runs Monday - Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. They have $6 cocktails and $3 local drafts, including one of our favorites--Dragon's Milk by New Holland.

Buffalo Chicken Rolls from Bobarino's

Happy hour at Bobarino's runs Monday - Saturday from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. Appetizers are half off, and $4 drinks include some brews, sangrias, and cosmos. The Buffalo Chicken Rolls were delicious.

Spokes and salsa from CityBuilt Brewing

City Built Brewing Company is a bit farther from downtown, north of Michigan Street. Happy hour runs Tuesday - Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. with discounted appetizers, and $2 off full pours of beer, wine, cider & mead. We tried the $3 Spokes and Salsa, which our server had said are similar to pork rinds, although they are made with wheat flour. They do, surprisingly, taste similar to pork rinds.

We had lunch at The Knickerbocker before our brewery tour. Although the tour was fabulous, we were not too impressed with our lunch service. Our server did not seem to like the sun shining in the window at the table where we had been seated, and part way through the meal she disappeared. A second server checked on us, and said our first server had gone downstairs because she was not feeling well. Before this, we had waited an unreasonable amount of time between each course, and for anyone to check on us. The second server brought the checks at the end, which were completely mixed up. The individual in our group received a check for one item, which was not either of the items he had ordered. The other check contained both of the items he had ordered, along with another item ordered by that pair. Initially, we thought that just the appetizer had been placed on the wrong check, so we did not have the server correct this. After we set our payment out, all of a sudden, our first server reappeared to process the payment. At least our food had been flavorful and good quality!

Glasses from The Knickerbocker tour

The Knickerbocker New Holland brewery tour

This tour is about an hour long, and the usual cost is $20. It includes beer and spirit samples (spirit sample in the form of a mini-cocktail), and a logo glass. I follow The Knickerbocker on Facebook, and was able to snag our tickets for $5 during a holiday promotion.

View of distillery room from Zeppelin Lounge

We enjoyed everything about this tour. I highly recommend it, even for the $20 cost. One thing I did not initially understand about the spirits sample, is that our guide was trying to see if everyone wanted the bourbon or gin sample as a group. They mix up only one type of spirit sample/mini cocktail, so everyone gets the same taste. These were given at the end of the tour, and then we walked up to the Zeppelin Lounge for a few minutes.

Zeppelin Lounge

If you do this tour during cold weather, and do not want to carry your coat, there is a coat rack against the back wall by the main bar, across the room from the gift shop.

Overall

The walk to downtown is a bit farther from the Holiday Inn than from the hotels connected to the Sky Walk. It is still an easy walk, and the Holiday Inn is closer to The Knickerbocker, and other businesses on the west side.

A couple of upcoming events I am looking forward to downtown are the Valent-ice sculptures, and the opening of Embassy Suites near City Built Brewing Co.

Let me know if you have any questions or information to share!