If you would like to turn back time and have a realistic experience what it was like to stay at a hotel in the late 90's / early 2000's, then this is your jam. For those of us who already lived through it, there is a reason this property has 2.5 stars on Expedia. Let me start by saying the staff are absolutely wonderful! No qualms there whatsoever. Super nice with down-to-earth hospitality. Literally couldn't ask for nicer people. As for the environment, if you're sensitive to odors, then this place is not for you. When you enter the hotel, the overwhelming smell of perfume hits you. It's as if someone used a whole bottle of Febreeze followed by an entire bottle of your grandma's favorite Body Fantasy spray and sprayed it directly into your face. Check-in was a breeze, and instructions to find my room were easy to follow. After you check in and begin walking to your room, the odors at the front desk dissipate only to be replaced with the strong smell of weak weed. As if people have been puff-passing in the hallway every day for decades. This isn't a deal breaker for most people, but this is a hotel. The way the damp smell seems to cling to the carpet and walls is depressing. When you reach your room, you open the door, and immediately start coughing. Smoking indoors in public and private businesses was made illegal sometime around 2006. This room smells like mildew and cigarette ash have always existed here. As if people still smoke in here. The room looks as if it was carefully thrown together. Like good, clutter free, clean, and the AC unit was already humming. The beds themselves are not restful in the least. I appreciate a good, firm mattress, but these mattresses are like rocks. I slept seven hours straight, but woke up incredibly sore and feeling more tired than when I fell asleep! Lastly, there is a bathroom. I generally have no qualms about the bathroom. The tub is fat kid friendly (250+ club here.) The bathroom is clean and odor free. The water is nice and hot. There are VERY basic amenities. There are small signs of wear and tear on the bathtub seam and the back of the toilet which need some attention, but nothing serious. Being able to convalesce my sore muscles in the tub has been lovely. The heat lampnis the ceiling and hair dryer on the wall take me back in the best way. There's no fan, though, which helps explain the mildew smell. Breakfast is from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. If there is anything other than your standard, run-of-the-mill continental breakfast here, then I will update this post. Edit to add: I did not expect a full, hot breakfast! It's pretty decent, and it looks like it's prepared with a lot of care. Thank you! I'm adding a star. A second perk of this hotel is that it is walking distance to The Hideout, which overall is a great place to eat. I do love the plants placed throughout the hotel. Implementing a lot more of these live plants will help clean the air. For any managers who read these posts, here are my recommendations on how to improve. 1. Remove as many fabrics as you can immediately and replace them with objects that do not absorb odors. For example, remove all of the carpet and install vinyl laminate planks or some similar hard flooring, like tile. Replace any curtains. They're genuinely ruined. 2. Repaint all the walls to help get rid of the smell. 3. Add mattress covers and mattress protectors to all of your mattresses. Replace the bedding or find a way to clean the smell out of it without using perfumes. I have had a lot of success using All free and clear with Lysol Laundry sanitizer. 4. Institute and STRONGLY enforce rules such as no smoking and no more than two adults under the age of 25. This will prevent the parties, decrease insurance costs, and decrease the damage. 5. Give your people a raise. I don't know what they make, but I know it isn't enough to compensate for rude customers and working indoors in smokey halls all day. read more

This place was clean, with good air conditioning, large fridge, and a microwave in the room. We were very happy.

It's too old and basic for the price 106 for a 2 bed smoke free room, if I would have the time or a preview of it before I'll definitely say nay-nay read more

Best Western Marion Hotel - No light smells weird it looks super old and used there is no a single one thing that looks decent - Hotels Near Me - Marion, Illinois

Not the cheapest hotel in the area, but the lowest price with the most amenities and cleanliness. Has an elevator, pool, free breakfast, and workout room. Checked in in person the night of, and many rooms are blocked due to low staffing. Clean despite staffing. Front desk manager and hotel maintenance manager were helping in the morning with breakfast, AMAZING maintenance man , he walked table to table with coffee. Parking in the front and back. Many people staying here, families. I didn't feel unsafe traveling alone. Beds are not the best, nor the comforters thick, But doable. I had hot water, shower pressure good. Fridge cold. TV great with handful of channels. 5 minute drive down Main Street straight to downtown square. read more

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We came down for a burial service for a friend's grandma and thought immediately of this hotel when thinking where to stay as we were here in 2015 for a family reunion. Back then, in 2015, no issues, everything worked fine. LOCATION Location of the hotel is great, surrounded by stores (i.e, Walmart) and a sundry of restaurants - you wont go hungry. I recommend 20s The Hideout if you're into steak (but pricey). Right off the express way so you can get where your going quickly. OVERALL Overall, the hotel is clean and (most) of the staff are friendly + helpful. The Cleaning Staff are honest as all hell from what I saw - I left a tip out for cleaning my room only to find out she didn't take it because she did not want to assume (yes, I gave it to her as she was cleaning another room). BREAKFAST + Cook Wonderful. All great stuff you'd expect. Nice Buffet to start your morning. MY ROOM (305) Overall, it was clean ( The room looks out into the back parking lot - mostly quiet; you might see a truck or bus parked overnight; security light will come on around 730 or 8pm - will shine into room, the shades will do their best to block it out, but not much Microwave Could have used a quick wiping as I only saw how dusty is was when then sun came shining in at a certain angle 3 nights into my stay, but I never used it. Bathroom Clean; low-profile toilet, Shower cleaned, shiny, no real good place to put soap and shampoo, there s a middle shelf, but I think soap would fall right off, can use edges of tub with no issues; TOILET -- works the way it should EXCEPT loud rattling noise coming from unit after the water fills up (REPORTED - never looked at/fixed). Phone Never worked - informed at-least 3x while I stayed (REPORTED - never looked at/fixed). I even volunteered to take a working one up to my room and plug in myself. Rooms may have different phone styles. TV REMOTE (DID NOT REPORT - only watched 1 channel when I did watch) The replacement they had barely did the basics, only to fine out that my room had a "we need a replacement that will work, go out any buy something cheap from Walmart" rather than the actual Samsung remote (I know because my friend's room had the real deal.) AC/HEATER UNIT (REPORTED - never looked at/fixed) Was working 1st night we arrived, then it "broke down" - caught it self in AUTO mode, wasn't pushing out the hot/cold air to the maximum it should when HIGH, LOW settings were set. Go to the point, only way to run it most of time was to click the CONSTANT FAN button. POOL * Don't need keycard to access, its open to anyone (signs say otherwise) * Water -- GREAT temperature! no complaints there at all * Inner lights not working * Wall lights 5 units (10 bulbs) burned out (REPORTED - never replaced) - was a tad too dark after the sun went down. * Inside Room needs cleaning -- mold? WHIRLPOOL (NOT REPORTED, but left info with survey) * Inner light burned out * Timer BROKEN - you can set it for 10 minutes, you can hear it ticking...BUT IT ISNT COUNTING DOWN. Major liability, IMHO So you might think I'm nitpicking, but it's not like most of these things were not reported and I was told that my repair tickets were still in the system until Sunday morning, when they were not -- as if someone wiped them from the system and I never reported anything. Was I ever offered a new room? Nope. Did I ask for a new room? Nope, because it was seen as though something was going to happen until Sunday morning when nothing was going to happen. Did I flip out? Nope. I pushed the priority of the AC Unit and was told Sunday morning that a repair guy was to be on the premises Sunday --- and nothing happened. Even If I moved, I doubt nothing would be looked into until a new guest checked in. Anyways, would I return? If improvements were made (and proven); repair requests were taken seriously, and a staffer replaced, sure I would return, as I think this hotel is great for what it is. If Best Western wants to contact me, feel free. read more

This is a really nice Best Western The check in was very professional and friendly. We even received delicious chocolate chip cookies. The room was clean and spacious. It had a nice desk, a refrigerator and the wifi worked well. Our room was extremely quiet. They offered free breakfast but we passed on it. We did take some fresh fruit. We found Marion, Illinois to be a very friendly place. read more

First time here at this particular spot only Reserve this room because where we wanted was an available, and we figured well this might be just fine never know till you try so we went in with an open mind we reserved one room with a king size bed on the phone the lady said it might smell like smoke because it used to be a smoking room we were like okay well that's fine we'll deal, so I went prepared I had some room spray and a candle customize the scent of the room, we get in the room and it was not what we reserved they put us in a room with two double beds and since it said no vacancies downstairs we knew there was nothing more to do with that point so the next day in the morning when we went down for the okay breakfast we've had much better than that and for the price it could be better, we spoke with the concierge and told him this is not the room we reserved and we do have the email to show that we had reserved and it was already confirmed for the room with a king size bed and yet we were given two double beds he said did you change it a couple of days ago did you call to change it we said no we never asked for it to be changed he said because I see in here that it was changed 2 days ago but it doesn't say why so I have no idea who there changed our reservation to two double beds instead of the king we requested it was very uncomfortable I did not sleep much that first night especially at all the bed wasn't comfortable and it is not enough room for two full grown adults for one bed and why should we have to sleep in two separate beds we're not living in the Rob Petri days or Lucille Ball days it's not the 1940s anyways the concierge said they would refund us 30% so I am watching my bank account to see what they actually put through because at this point it is still showing the full amount they charged us as a pending amount I do not recommend this place simply because it is pretty low and lame of them to change somebody's room they've already reserved without even calling and asking them if that would be okay and just doing it so we get there expecting what we reserved and we received something totally different but I can say the room was okay I cannot complain about cleanliness it did seem clean and I did like that there was a good size refrigerator that is a plus so we could put our Starbucks coffee and Waters and our energy drinks read more

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Little to no hot water. The cleaning service did not come and clean our room so we had to clean it our selves. Elevator stopped working. Green hot tub that smelled like Urine, definitely would not stay here again read more

I really liked staying here (Room #301) judging this as a basic $69/night hotel. For the price I paid, this is a quiet, clean, pleasant hotel. Sure, there were some surprises: a window that had a weird white chalky residue between the panes of glass, the low flow faucet in the sink that barely gve an even flow of hot water, and housekeeping that made up excuses as to why my room wasn't cleaned one of the days I was there. But I loved the simple breakfast (nice way to try almond milk for the first time), the cheerfulness of the front desk staff, and the proximity to Deyong, the main road with lots of fast food and businesses. A Walmart and Target are within a couple of miles. The heated pool is hit or miss, depending on what you want: lap swimming is difficult because the pool is shaped like a kidney bean; the hot tub was clean. Everything in the room worked, and the microwave oven and fridge were clean. The telephone was out (weird), and I disliked the square-shaped pillows though they were firm. read more

Bathroom was dirty, but I wasn't going to complain. Electricity went out at 3 am which woke me because the a/c stopped. The electricity did not come back on. Other guests in the hotel said this had happened two weeks ago. I'm told half the city lost electricity, but that's not my problem. Buy a generator if you already know your electricity is unreliable. There was no coffee, or "free"breakfast. No hot shower, no lights in the room or hallways. Couldn't have taken. a shower anyway in a pitch dark bathroom. My devices could not charge overnight, so I couldn't map my location before starting on the second leg of my trip the next morning. The refunded me 18$. Can you believe it? $18 Do not stay here because the electricity will go out again and you will not get your money back. read more

Best Western doesn't care about the community around there hotel I had to work a hour from my house booked a reservation through Expedia so I didn't have to get up so early. After showing up I was told that I couldn't get the room I already paid for because their policy is they won't rent a room to anyone within 50 miles and it my fault that i didn't give them a address before I booked but there policy wasn't anywhere online Expedia didn't ask for it then I had to push to get the lady at the front desk to call Expedia so I could get my money back. read more

The staff was very friendly, the pool area was nice, there was always fresh ice water with lemon in the lobby (I loved that part), but the positives ended there. The room was advertised a queen, but seemed more like a full, and the bed was so hard that I woke up every thirty minutes or more with backaches. Breakfast was pretty stale, so I'd definitely plan on eating elsewhere. There was almost no water pressure in the shower, and looking back at old reviews, now I see that this has been an issue in at least some of the rooms for two years, so it's for sure in need of some updating. read more

I'm in this area a few times a year and have stayed here once before and I must admit it's better than I expected. I'm somewhat of a hotel snob, and will pay extra for clean and comfortability. These two things I will not compromise on when it comes to a hotel, but the BW did not disappoint. It's clean and comfortable and even comes with a decent amount of amenities, like free breakfast daily, free wi-fi (that's actually decent), a mini fridge and microwave in the room, nice size tv (like a 40 inch) a nice size swimming pool, a hot tub and even an outside patio that's connected to the pool where you can sun tan or just summer time chill on. The rooms are really clean, especially the bathroom, which is where I'm the major stickler at, the beds are comfortable and clean as well and all at a very affordable price. The hotel staff is very nice and accommodating. I mean I am truly impressed. I stay here and at Drury Inn when I'm in town. Drury Inn is around $50 additional a night and honestly Best Western is a great second option that I will always consider. read more

As I noted in another hotel review, this isn't the Taj Mahal. However, if I need lodging for a night this place is very good. The rooms are clean. The staff is friendly. I loved the Halloween decorations they had in the lobby. I'm sure some Americans will be triggered by such decorations but at least this hotel had them. It's close to the interstate (I-57) and there are plenty of restaurants in the immediate vicinity. read more

Super hotel ! Would recommend this hotel to anyone. Clean friendly well equipped. Got DVD Player in room over 100 cable TV channels, smokers and non smoking rooms. Clean hot pool and hot tub. Gym. Clean towels clean comfortable bed. Near all restaurants.. very nice personal. Stayed here almost 8 nights and loved it so much... will come back for sure when I'm in the area ! Dont have any negative points at all! read more

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Not a luxury hotel but it is clean! The rooms are quiet and comfortable. Super friendly staff and a great place to overnight on a long road trip! Best Western is not usually a top choice for me but this one was a very pleasant surprise! read more

Good place just to sleep and go. Nothing fancy but good place to rest right off the highway. There is Cracker Barrel right across parking lot. That's always a plus in my book. Free wifi and continental breakfast. I say that package worth 60$ indeed. read more

Best Western Marion Hotel - One queen bed room - Hotels Near Me - Marion, Illinois

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Absolutely the worst customer service! Extremely unprofessional and rude! Would never stay there!!

Avoid at all costs!! Dirty towels, dirty linens and the manager says "we are out of clean towels and sheets". Do not stay here unless desperate. read more

Very nice hotel. The staff were friendly and always said hello and asked if we needed anything. The hotel and our room was very clean. Everything worked as expected including the WiFi. The elevator was a bit slow (I'm not a patient person), but the stairwell was roomy and well lit. This is not a 5 Star hotel, and never claimed to be, but we had a great stay. This is an inexpensive hotel with great staff, clean rooms, and nice amenities. read more

Reserved two rooms 1 adult and two kids per room. My son received balloons for his birthday and begged to bring them like any other kid would do with something new I agreed he could bring them two minutes after entering room general manager calls room threatening to kick us out for having a party which we were not. I have never experienced such rudeness I felt like every move we made was being watched not a pleasant stay! Place was also musky smelling and not very clean read more

My husband and I stayed for one night on 1/3/19 it was very nice. Really clean and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The breakfast was very good and the breakfast area was clean and very pleasant. We will definitely stay again when we go to visit family. Teresa Bowen read more

They charged me $5 per hour to check in before 3 pm. Washer and dryer was out of order. Pool water was dirty and no pool towels. Our room was on the 3rd floor and we had ants. Beds are not comfortable. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone read more

We stayed one night on August 10, 2020. Room 101 had not been checked before our arrival. The room had nice amenities. However, the door on the cabinet for the refrigerator had a hinge missing. It did not close and was a hindrance to the walkway through the room. All lamps were unplugged. The alarm clock was unplugged and broken. The shower door did not close completely. Microwave clock was off time. In and of themselves, each problem doesn't seem so bad. But, taken together, they made our stay a bit unpleasant. When in Marion, about 4 times a year, we usually stay at the Comfort Inn. However, we thought we'd try the Baymont during the pandemic. We were looking for a hotel with some sort of breakfast that my diabetic husband could eat. The egg and sausage patty fit the bill. However, for my taste, I would have liked cream cheese for my bagel, or some yogurt, since a refrigerator was there, but empty. The clerk who checked us in was very nice. Not sure if I'd stay here again. read more

Horrible place .. the wifi is so slow feels like you are on dial up, the ONLY channel on tv we could get was HBO none of the others worked, the water is tepid warm and there is no water pressure, forget washing your hair if you happen to have long hair.. the pool was supposed to close at 10 but for some reason it was close at 8 .. don't bother waste of money .. if I wanted a one star motel I would have went to motel 6!!!! read more

I made a reservation for a non-smoking King size bedroom with crib a month prior to the stay. I checked in at the hotel on July 1st, 2016 for a non-smoking room. So I was given room 315. I was also provided a roll away crib for my 2-year-old son. The first day went well. The second day I was there which was July 2nd, 2016. I went to leave my hotel room to go to my twins' brother wedding in Carterville. Before I left I placed the "Do not disturbed" sign in the door where it was mentioned to be placed, in the slot of the door. So I left the hotel and got down the road about 5 minutes later and realized I left the wedding card in my hotel room (315). I proceeded to turn around to go to the hotel and go inside. When I reached my door (room 315) I noticed the "Do Not Disturb" sign was moved and just dangling on the door handle. So quietly put the key card inside the door and proceeded to go in to see a maintenance worker bent over going through my belongings inside my suitcase. I immediately starting yelling at him and asking him what he was doing. He never stated who he was when he started to say he was responding to a "lost item call", I said no way. I went from there to tell him that I saw what he was doing and he will have to follow me to the managers' desk. He followed me to the front desk. As soon as he made visual contact with the manager, he proceeded to walk the opposite direction and head out of the building. I stayed at the front desk and informed Kate (the front desk manager on duty at the time.) I told Kate I had to leave anyways for my brother's wedding as it is supposed to start within 20 minutes from that point of time. Kate informed me that Ray is the individual that I am referring to about this. Ray would be stripped of his keys and how the GM of the hotel was informed about this and the GM is coming into work to get this dealt with. After the wedding I came back to the hotel to meet with the GM and Marion Police Department. After inventorying our belongings, we noticed we had all of our stuff. So police couldn't do anything about it. The GM did confirm that Ray is no longer an employee at the hotel and was terminated. Also when I originally made the reservation for this room a month prior I was told (I called into the Marion location) the roll-away cribs were complimentary and when I was issued a refund from the GM because of this situation I noticed on the bill there was a 10 dollar charge each night for the crib. I wanted to make sure you are aware of the situation and also the hardship it put us through to pack up and switch hotels while I'm trying to enjoy my brother's wedding. read more

The room we had was spacious and very clean. The wi-fi worked perfectly. The bathroom was clean, too. A full breakfast was included: bacon, eggs, gravy, biscuits, muffins, waffles, cereals, yogurt, juices, milk and coffee. The staff was extremely helpful. I would definitely stay here again if in the area. read more

Upon arriving at the hotel tired and beat from the road I was informed by the desk clerk that I had no reservation despite having made that reservation more then a week before. The I was told that IF I wanted to stay there that I would have to pay cash because their computer system was down...I was then bruskly brushed aside so he could take care of the person standing behind me. After a while of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off he the informed me his "boss" had found the reservation, NO apology and no acknowledgement that there even had been a problem. I have to travel to Marion and for the last 4 months I have chosen to stop at this hotel but no more. Bad service is like a disease it spreads fast and poisons a business. I could have gotten angry but I chose the high road. read more

The place is decent and very reasonable via hotwire, but my room was completely musty smelling--like it hadn't been used in weeks. Later figured out it was probably mold, as I had trouble breathing the next day. Not good. read more

The hotel was beautiful and absolutely perfect! Our room was clean and the indoor pool was​ well kept. I stayed by myself with my three kids and felt safe in the hotel/room and with the location of the hotel. Check-in was quick and breakfast was good. Cereals, muffins, juices, ham, biscuits and gravy, eggs, fruits, waffles, and coffee. My only complaint was the biscuits were really hard. I loved that there was a gas station close by and a couple of quality restaurants within walking distance. I will definitely stay here again. It's affordable, safe, and was way above my expectations. read more

The accommodations are lacking. The employees are very nice and helpful but the rooms need to be updated. When we entered the room the closet to the right had a ironing board (old), a luggage rack which did not fit properly in closet and a few other odds and ends that looked like items they just didn't know quite what to do with so they just pitched them into the closet like you and I would just "hide" items in closet cause we didn't know what to do with the stuff. The sink to the left looked nice but then when I used it to wash my hands we noticed was clogging up, was draining very slowly. Front desk was very accommodating about it and offered to move us but my husband was tired and it was only one night so we just dealt with it. The very very small bathroom (as if they weren't small enough) was outdated. The toilet lid (plastic) was peeling away which made the toilet seem "dirty". The carpet along edge at bathroom door looked like no one had vacuumed it before we arrived. The "lazy boy" chair they had in the room had many questionable stains on the upholstery that kind of grossed me out that I took one of the towels and covered up the stains. The desk chair was all worn on top of back rest from MANY peoples hands moving it around. The bed was very minimalist and mattress was too soft. For the price I did not feel we got our money's worth. Will not be going to another BW when I or we travel. I only gave it the rating I did because of the customer service. read more

Really liked this hotel. It was a bit cheaper than the one I usually stay at and I really loved this hotel. It was good breakfast, they had movies to rent for the DVD players in the room. Great customer service! Would definitely stay here again. read more

I stayed here last night after a disappointing experience at a Carbondale motel and it was a breath of fresh air when I walked in. I was not greeted upon going to check in, the lady was on her cell phone so I had to wait for about a minute. She wasn't exactly professional but she was friendly and helpful, so I was happy with the check-in. The photos online of this hotel are pretty accurate, nothing fancy but nice and clean. The room was comfortable, clean, and had all the advertised amenities I expected. There was a noticeable stain on one of the pillows, but there were 4 pillows so I just didn't use that one. There was nobody in the pool area both times I used it, which was nice because I could swim freely- which I love. There were some dead bugs in the pool but I enjoyed it anyway. Their whirlpool was fantastic and just what I needed to loosen up some tense muscles. They do have a fitness room but I did not use it. In the morning, the breakfast was bland and the biscuits were getting hard, so I ended up throwing most of it away. For the price, this is a good hotel to stay at and I would come back. If you want a good meal you can always go across the street to Cracker Barrel. Something that bothered me was when housekeeping knocked on the door at 9am and woke me up. Check out is at noon, and I feel like housekeeping shouldn't bother people during their stay unless they request something or they are staying more than one night. Otherwise just do your cleaning after I check out. If I stay here again I will definitely put out the do not disturb sign my entire stay. I would give this hotel a 5 star review if they would clean up their pool and improve their breakfast but for now, I will give 3 stars. It's a good value if you don't need things to be perfect. read more

well I guess I can begin with the moment we sat down on our bed and tiny little ants started marching towards me. But after a 12 hour drive I let this slide. Then I go to put our soda in the fridge only to find that not only is it off, but someone has stolen the knob so you can't turn it on. Although the front desk guy was nice enough to give me his needle nose plyers to turn it on, he was the only pleasant person who works at this hotel. Throughout our seven days there we encountered bugs floating in the pool and hot tub, more ants invading not only our room but the pool area and the breakfast buffet, and very unpleasant staff, more worried about playing on there cell phones than helping a guest. And the icing on the cake...my 12 year old daughter in the rush of leaving the hotel at 6 a.m. left her charm bracelet ( birthday present, from Kay Jeweler # not cheap) behind and they "couldn't" find it. Thieves on their staff if you ask me. Not that I'm surprised that they hire thieves after the week we had at this awful hotel. Never again. Better off sleeping in your car in Wal-Mart`s parking lot. read more