After leaving Naperville, we headed about five hours south to the relatively small city of Marion. We picked Marion as it placed us in the center of southern Illinois and close to everything that Shawnee National Forest had to offer.
Marion is near the slightly larger city of Carbondale, but neither had many suitable hotel or Airbnb options. One of our biggest issues was the fact that we’re traveling with our dog, so we needed to find pet-friendly accommodation. That requirement ruled out several properties and, of the hotels remaining, there weren’t any good options when it came to using points.
Thankfully there were a couple of reasonably-priced options, the best of which was the Super 8 Marion. We therefore booked a six night stay there – here’s a complete review of our stay.
Check-In
We arrived at about 6pm and there was no one else checking in at the time. That meant the check-in process was quick and we had our keys to room 200 within a few minutes.
The hotel has three levels but no elevator. The hotel entrance is effectively at level 1.5, so you have to walk up 21 steps to the third floor, up seven steps to the second floor and down seven steps to the first floor.
I was therefore grateful that we only had to walk up seven steps given that we bring in pretty much everything from our car since it was broken into. As it is, that required several trips to and from the car.
Bedroom
When entering our room, the bathroom was to the left and the main bedroom area ahead and to the left.
We’d booked a room with a king bed which felt even larger than a regular king. The room was decorated quite nicely considering it’s “only” a Super 8.
To the right of the bed was a closet rail, armchair, iron and ironing board.
On the other side of the room was a good-sized fridge, microwave, coffee maker and luggage rack.
To the right of those were a couple of drawers, cubby holes and a shelf above them. To the right of those were a desk and office chair, with a TV mounted to the wall.
One downside to that particular TV was that the HDMI outlets were at the back of the TV and so were inaccessible. That meant we couldn’t use our Fire TV stick but it wasn’t a huge issue. The Super 8 Marion has DIRECTV and there was a great selection of channels.
There was a Pilot truck stop next door to the hotel which is the view we had from our room. To be fair, I don’t think the views on the other side of the hotel would’ve been up to much either.
Bathroom
When entering the bathroom, the sink and vanity were straight ahead, with the toilet and bathtub with shower to the right.
The toiletries were Total Results by Matrix. I only used the shampoo and soap, both of which were perfectly adequate.
What wasn’t adequate was the water. For starters, there wasn’t any cold water – the coldest the cold water ever got was tepid.
Even worse was the taste. I’m not at all fussy when it comes to drinking water from a faucet. We’ve stayed at dozens of hotels and Airbnbs on our 50 state road trip so far and I’ve always been happy drinking their water. This time though, both Shae and I agreed that the water tasted unpleasant enough to warrant buying bottled water from the grocery store.
Overall, we were happy with our room. It was clean, didn’t feel too crowded and we appreciated having both a fridge and microwave in the room.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in your room rate at the Super 8 Marion, although it’s an underwhelming selection. There was only two types of cereal, oatmeal packets, fruit, yogurt and hard boiled eggs.
There were dry muffins, a couple of types of bread and a few types of condiments and preserves.
The final breakfast option was a waffle maker, although the batter they use didn’t produce great-tasting waffles.
That meant there wasn’t any kind of hot breakfast option – no eggs, no bacon, no sausage, etc.
For beverages, there was tea, coffee, a juice machine, water and sweet tea.
Amenities
As light as their breakfast options are, the Super 8 Marion is even lighter on amenities. There’s no pool, fitness room, guest laundry, grill or even a computer for guests to use as best as I could tell.
Pretty much the only amenity is an ice machine in the lobby and a pantry area to purchase snacks and beverages.
Pet-Friendliness
As I mentioned earlier, the Super 8 Marion is a pet-friendly hotel. There’s a $10 per night pet fee which is reasonable, but they didn’t end up charging us for that.
The hotel isn’t in a great location for taking your dog for a walk, although there are sufficient grassy areas around for it to do its business.
Service
The service at the hotel was perfectly fine in my experience – not amazing, but no one was rude. Shae went out to the lobby to work one evening and got chatting to Connie who was working on the front desk that night and apparently she was very nice and friendly to both Shae and the other guests checking in that night.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi at the Super 8 Marion was free, had a good connection and didn’t have any speed issues.
Location
The hotel isn’t in the most glamorous of locations given that it’s right next to a McDonald’s and Pilot truck stop. It’s just off I-57 and only a mile or two from downtown Marion.
In terms of things to do in the area, Little Grand Canyon is about 45 minutes away to the west, while Garden Of The Gods (the Illinois version rather than the Colorado one) is about an hour to the east. The city of Carbondale and Crab Orchard Lake are 20 minutes to the west.
Cost
As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, we booked the Super 8 Marion as it was reasonably priced. Our average nightly rate was $69.58 including tax. We effectively ended up paying less than this though as we booked the stay through Hotels.com using gift cards we’d bought at a 20% discount. That meant our effective cost was only $55.66 per night which was good value.
Super 8 is part of Wyndham Rewards. The Wyndham Rewards scheme charges the same number of points per night – 15,000 – at every one of their properties. Using their points can provide great value at expensive properties, but isn’t worth it for low-cost stays such as ours.
Final Thoughts
We were happy enough with our stay at the Super 8 Marion. It was good value, the room was clean and had a microwave and fridge and it was in a good location for where we wanted to visit in the area.
On the downside, the breakfast options weren’t very extensive, while the water tasted bad enough that we bought bottled water throughout our stay.
Ultimately though, if you need a relatively cheap, clean and comfortable stay in southern Illinois, the Super 8 Marion is a good option. Despite the issues I’d mentioned above, I’d be happy to stay here again if the price was right.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! The $10 per night pet fee (which we didn’t get charged) was reasonable and there was enough grass around the hotel. However, its location meant there wasn’t really anywhere to walk her unless we drove further afield.
Our Rating
Room = 4.3 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 2 / 5
Food = 3.7 /5
Location = 3.9 / 5
Service = 3.8 / 5
Overall Value = 4.6 / 5
Total = 3.72 / 5
Address
Super 8, 2601 Vernell Road, Marion, IL 62959
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