The Baymont Inn and Suites in Plainfield, Indiana

The Baymont Inn and Suites in Plainfield Indiana is an interesting experience. It has a couple of extremes, some really great qualities and some not so good ones. Typically, I either find a hotel to be great or bad. But this one was a little bit of both.

So let's begin, what's great? The lobby is nice enough, somewhere in the high middle-end of hotels. Everything was very clean, and during my 24 hours there, it seemed like cleaning was going constantly. Staff were nice enough, but I didn't have much interaction with them.

There was one funny moment where my husband forgot to use the semi-hidden non-stick spray on the waffle iron at breakfast, to which the hotel desk clerk said, "Hey, you're supposed to use that spray." While my husband scraped away at his ruined waffle.

Speaking of which, there was an excellent and diverse spread at the complimentary continental breakfast. Sometimes the term, "continental breakfast" is used pretty loosely at hotels, but not here. There were waffle, eggs, sausage, pancakes, cereal, muffins, milk, juice, coffee, and more. The breakfast was also available into the 10:00 hour, which is also rare. Usually they shut those down pretty quickly.

The best part of the stay was the pool and hot tub. Everything was clean and the water was a perfect temperature. There were plenty of towels available poolside, which is also a rarity. There were plenty of chairs available and lots of safety information posted in highly visible places. (Sounds like an odd plus, but for some reason it always makes me just that much more comfortable when I know the hotel I'm staying in is concerned for my safety.) The hot tub was genuinely hot and the pool was warm enough to swim in without ever having to wince when climbing in.

So what were the bad parts? Well, to preface, this could've just been our room. So I don't know if my criticism is true for the entire hotel. For one thing, the air circulation in-room was awful. You couldn't open the windows, which not only made me claustrophobic, but also made it impossible to get any fresh air. This meant that even with the air conditioner running, the air felt and smelled stagnant. Even with the hotel being as clean as it was, the air felt dusty.

Also, and this is a strange one...the floors were thin and uneven. We were on the second floor, and the floor felt so warped that we honestly considered asking to be moved for fear of falling through. (To be fair though, I'm a touch neurotic.) We were there for a family reunion, and I didn't hear anyone else complaining about it, so we let it go and it didn't bother us after that. The gym area was also very small, but honestly...that's not that big of a negative point for me. Unless you live on the road, chances are, you're not really using the gym when staying in a hotel.

I would actually recommend a stay in this hotel. If you're in the Plainfield area, this is a swell place as well as the Wingate by Wyndham which is just across the street. If you want something a little more upscale for a vacation, head to the Indianapolis area. But this place has a great pool, which makes it more fun automatically. When a hotel has a great pool, how much time are you really going to spend in your room anyway?

Also close by this hotel is a place called, "Chateau Thomas Winery". I used to work here, so I can vouch for the fact that the wine is excellent, there's a large selection of gift items and special events too. So if you're in the area, venture across the street and have some wine.