When exploring our options for using hotel points in Illinois, I noticed that the Country Inn & Suites Manteno would be good value.
Neither of us had heard of Manteno before, but when checking Google Maps could see that it was near Kankakee State Park, so there was at least one thing we’d be interested in visiting.
As it turns out, there’s quite a lot of stuff to do in and around Manteno, so it’s not a bad place to spend a few days. Here’s a review of our five night stay at the Country Inn & Suites Manteno.
Check-In
The check-in process was quick and easy. The front desk agent was friendly and made sure we knew there was a $25 per night pet fee.
As we’re traveling with our dog Truffles, she put us on the first floor near an exit which was appreciated.
Bedroom
We’d been allocated room 128 which, as mentioned above, was near an exit. We’d booked a bedroom with two queen beds as there weren’t any rooms with a king bed available when making our reservation.
Our room looked out over the parking lot at the back of the hotel. The hotel wasn’t very busy during our stay (apparently a very large group checked out the day we checked in), so no one really needed to use the rear parking lot. That meant our end of the hotel was quiet throughout our stay which was nice.
When entering the room, the bathroom was on the right, with the bedroom ahead and to the right.
The beds were comfortable, although they looked a little strange with the ridges. That was due to the mattress topper not being properly stretched across, but it didn’t cause any issues comfort-wise.
There was a bedside table between the beds, with a lamp that had two power outlets for charging our phones overnight.
Opposite the bed closest to the window was a desk and office chair.
To the left of that was a cabinet containing a dresser, microwave, mini-fridge and had a TV on top.
When entering the bedroom, there was also a closet on the right hand side. That held an iron, ironing board, luggage rack and an additional blanket and pillows.
Bathroom
In the bathroom, the sink and vanity were on the left, with the toilet in the middle of the room. The water pressure from the faucet was very poor – it took about 45 seconds to fill a 32 oz bottle. The sink took ages to drain as well and so could probably do with some Liquid-Plumr.
On top of the vanity were the toiletries which were White Water Collection by Beekman. I think they accidentally left two bottles of lotion rather than a lotion and conditioner.
Also on the vanity was a small Hamilton Beach coffee maker.
The bathroom also had a bathtub with shower. Similar to the faucet, the water pressure of the shower was awful.
Other than the issues with the water pressure and sink, we were happy overall with our room. It was a good size, the beds were comfortable and it was nice to have both a mini-fridge and microwave.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in your room rate when staying at the Country Inn & Suites Manteno. When heading into the breakfast area, the breakfast offerings initially looked sparse as they were spread out over long countertops. There did end up being a decent selection of breakfast items though.
For beverages, there were coffee, tea and juice options.
There were different hot options every morning of our five night stay. The first morning there were breakfast burritos (containing egg, cheese and sausage) as well as breakfast potatoes.
On another morning there were breakfast potatoes, ham/bacon and scrambled eggs.
They also had a waffle maker…
… as well as a fridge containing milk and yogurt, along with muffins, donuts, English muffins and bread. Although the blueberry muffins weren’t the greatest ones I’ve ever had, they were fairly moist which made them better than muffins from most other similar hotel chains.
In addition to preserves, there were Nutrigrain bars and Pop-Tarts.
On a couple of mornings of our stay there was fresh fruit, along with what was presumably either plain or Greek yogurt. To the right of those was hot oatmeal with a few different toppings.
Finally, there were hard boiled eggs and four different breakfast cereals.
Amenities
The Country Inn & Suites Manteno has several amenities to enhance your stay. There’s an indoor swimming pool which was nice and warm – I dipped my hand in to test it, but we never got around to using the pool.
There’s also a somewhat sparse looking fitness room with only three pieces of equipment. That said, I didn’t notice anyone in there during our stay, so overcrowding probably isn’t much of an issue.
Next to the fitness room was the guest laundry area. Both the washer and dryer cost $1.50 to use.
Out in the hotel lobby is a business center consisting of one computer and a printer. Unlike many other hotel business centers, their printer also appeared to have scanning and photocopying capability.
Something else in the lobby you’ll find at all Country Inn & Suites properties was their Read It & Return Lending Library. This has a selection of books you can read during your stay. If you don’t finish the book by the time you check out, you can return it at any other Country Inn & Suites the next time you stay at one.
The lobby also had cookies that seemed to be available 24 hours a day. It was probably a good job they’d put us at one end of the hotel and near an exit, otherwise we’d have likely grabbed cookies every time we went through the lobby.
If you need any additional snacks, there’s a vending machine containing all kinds of options, along with a drinks vending machine and ice machine.
If you like living the outdoor life, outside the front of the hotel there are two sets of tables and chairs.
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi at the Country Inn & Suites Manteno was awful. It would constantly lose connection which was frustrating, especially when I was trying to work.
We used our Fire TV stick several times during our stay to watch shows on Netflix and Hulu on their TV. The poor connection meant the TV shows kept being interrupted, with us frequently having to retype the Wi-Fi password when that happened.
Pet-Friendliness
As mentioned earlier, this hotel is a pet-friendly property. The downside though is that there’s a $25 per night pet fee. That’s not necessarily too bad if you’re only staying one night as some hotels charge high pet fees per stay regardless of your length of stay.
However, we were staying five nights which meant we had to pay $125 which, in my opinion, is excessive.
On the positive side, there were lots of grassy areas around the hotel where Truffles could go and do her stuff.
Service
There’s not much to say about the service we received during our stay as the only staff interaction we had was when checking in. The front desk agent had been friendly though, so we didn’t have any service issues.
Location
The Country Inn & Suites Manteno is just off I-57, so it’s a great location if you’re traveling along there and need somewhere to stay for the night.
It’s only a few minutes to downtown Manteno with its restaurants, bars and Berkot’s (a grocery store). It’s also only a 15 minute drive to Kankakee River State Park and Perry Farm Park.
Cost
We decided to use hotel points to stay at this property. It’s a category 2 Radisson Rewards property and so costs 15,000 points per night which made it a good use of points.
For comparison, the cash rate would’ve been $75.47 per night. That means we got 0.50cpp (cents per point) of value by using points which is fairly good for Radisson Rewards points.
Having said that, if we weren’t traveling with Truffles and so wouldn’t have had to pay the additional $25 per night pet fee, I might’ve been inclined to pay the cash rate rather than use points. That’s because a $75 per night hotel rate is pretty good, especially given that it included breakfast. In addition to that, we’d have earned ~5% cashback by booking through a portal, along with 35 Radisson Rewards points per dollar spent. 25 points per dollar would be due to having Gold status, with the other 10 points per dollar due to paying with a Radisson Rewards credit card.
We’re on a tight budget though (you can find our monthly stats here), so paying $100.47 per night (when taking into account the pet fee) would’ve been a bit too much.
Final Thoughts
Although the Wi-Fi was frustratingly inconsistent and the water pressure in our bathroom wasn’t great, we were happy with the rest of our stay. Our room was comfortable, the hotel had some good amenities and there was a good selection of breakfast options.
If you need somewhere to stay in the Manteno area, the Country Inn & Suites Manteno is a great choice.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! She liked how large the grassy areas around the hotel were, but the $25 per night pet fee was excessive.
Our Rating
Room = 4.3 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.5 / 5
Food = 4.4 / 5
Location = 4.3 / 5
Service = 4.3 / 5
Overall Value = 4.6 / 5
Total = 4.4 / 5
Address
Country Inn & Suites, 380 South N Frontage East Rd, Manteno, IL 60950
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