The rates at this hotel were reasonable, and the check-in process went smoothly. Platinum bonus points posted to my account right away.
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| Holiday Inn Express guestroom 211 in Cuero, Texas |
This guestroom is located on the second floor of this three-story hotel. It is on the front side of the building overlooking the parking lot and pool.
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| Holiday Inn Express guestroom 211 in Cuero, Texas |
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| View from inside camper on campsite 3 in Wilson State Park |
This was a brief last minute one night stay for us, and we did not make an advance reservation. We arrived a bit before the 3PM check-in time. Staff happily let us pick our site, as well as checked us in.
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| Campsite 3 in Wilson State Park |
This campsite is a very large grassy site, and the view overlooks the lake somewhat. Since we were just staying one night, and leaving in the morning, we did not want to spend time with camp set up. This site is large enough, and level enough, that we were able to park without unhooking our truck from the trailer. The power box is quite a ways away (on the edge of sites 3 and 4), and we had to use two cords.
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| Campsite 3 in Wilson State Park Below: fire rings on sites 2 and 3; small tree in between is on lot line |
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| Overlooking playground and beach area in Markin Glen Campground |
It is easy to make a reservation at this campground via phone, and the cost to camp for a full hook-up site is fair. Our arrival experience was a bit unpleasant, as we arrived shortly before the 3:00 PM check-in time, and were told we had to wait in the parking lot, or return after 3:00. Since we arrived on a Tuesday, and the campsites had all been vacated and cleared, this seemed ridiculous. Another camper arrived at 2:55 PM, and also pulled into the parking area to wait 5 minutes. 😳 At least the staff member had processed our paperwork when we arrived, so we did not have to go back out and enter the check-in line at 3:00 PM. Apparently, a lot of people thought Tuesday was a good day to arrive, as we observed a couple of campers in line, when we drove from the picnic area parking lot to our campsite.
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| Campsite 27 in Markin Glen Campground |
Campsite 27 is the very last site on the outer loop. It is a grassy, private, and beautiful site. We got some rain during our stay, and this site floods a bit on the cement pad.
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| Campsite 27 in Markin Glen Campground |
The park website is not great for making reservations or choosing campsites. I contacted the campground via email to ask a couple of questions, and then I called to make our reservation. Apparently, the only non-primitive campsites that are not seasonal, are sites 1 through 5. These sites have water and 50 amp hookup. Site 5 looked like the most spacious and secluded from what I could see on the map drawing and google maps, so I asked if we could have that site. That is the site we were assigned when we arrived.
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| View from campsites 5 in JaDo Park Campground |
We thought site 5 was the best campsite of sites 1 through 5. The campground was mostly empty the first night of our stay. There was a camper on site 4 when we arrived, and a tenter arrived on site 3 the second night of our stay. We noticed few seasonal campers arrive/return the second night of our stay.
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| Campsites (#5 above) from entrance drive in JaDo Park Campground |
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| Sunset over Saginaw Bay in Caseville County Park |
This was our first stay in this campground, and our first visit to the thumb area. We chose the county park instead of one of the state parks, because it is close to town (we wanted to visit Thumb Brewery), and I had read good things about the beach area.
It was pretty easy to make our reservation on the Huron County website. The off season rate for water and 50 amp power was $38 a night. There was no reservation fee. We arrived in the afternoon shortly before 3:00 PM, and were able to easily check in. Since we needed to empty our holding tanks, we had to do a little loop and then reenter the campground after we checked in. The sanitation station is next to the park exit.
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| View from campsite 72 in Caseville County Park |
We chose this site because it is an end lot, and our front camper window would be facing the water. We had a great view when we arrived, and a partial view after the motorhome parked on the site across the street from us.
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| Campsite 72 in Caseville County Park |
Campsite 72 is long and quite narrow. Our truck in the photo above is parked on the edge of the site. The fire pit is located behind the camper, closer to campsite 47. Even though the site is long, there is a large tree near the back, which prevents campers from backing in all the way. The park wifi came in at this site. My understanding is that this is located at the pavilion/picnic area, and does not come in throughout the park. When I checked in, the staff member told me that the person on campsite 47 chooses that site so she can use the internet.
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| Fountain in outside courtyard in Holiday Inn Express & Suites Youngstown N (Warren/Niles) |
We received a great welcome and platinum perks at this hotel: upgraded room, bottled water, and snacks.
Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the guestroom. It was the usual Holiday Inn Express type room, except that it was by far, one of the cleanest, quietest, and most comfortable rooms I have ever had.
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| Whirlpool tub in Holiday Inn Express & Suites Youngstown N (Warren/Niles) |
This was a last minute stay for us, at the end of Labor Day weekend, so our campsite choices were limited. We were glad to have been a part of the trial group for the new notification system being tested, so we received an email when there was a cancelation. Campsite 221 is not a campsite we would choose again, if we had had more options to choose from. It is not an awful campsite; there are just many better sites in the campground.
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| Campsite 221 in Platte River National Park Campground |
The area around the camper is somewhat private on this site; however, the main area where the table and fire pit are located is not the greatest.
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| King studio #302 in Staybridge Suites Cincinnati South |
We received no welcome or status recognition at this hotel. In fact, our room had not even been preassigned when we arrived after check-in time. The 500 platinum points automatically posted to my account after check-in.
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| King studio #302 in Staybridge Suites Cincinnati South |
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| King suite 322 in Staybridge Suites Westport--St. Louis |
We received a great welcome at this hotel, along with an upgrade from a queen studio guestroom to a one-bedroom king suite.
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| King suite 322 in Staybridge Suites Westport--St. Louis |
This guestroom was the cleanest and most comfortable guestroom we stayed in this trip. The hotel was actually a few miles out of our way; however, when I was looking for hotels just south of St. Louis, this looked like one of the best options. We were happy with our decision to choose this hotel!