After checking out of our hotel in Horse Cave, we stopped back by Mammoth Cave National Park, before visiting both Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace and his boyhood home.
Once we were done visiting those, we continued heading eastwards to the city of London – the Kentucky one, not the England one 😉
We’d booked a six night stay there as the Country Inn & Suites London was, at the time of our stay, a category 2 property. That meant it was good value when using our Radisson Rewards points. It was also in a good location for visiting Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum (the birthplace of KFC) and more.
Here’s a review of our stay at the Country Inn & Suites London, Kentucky.
Check-In
Due to all the places we’d visited that day, we didn’t arrive at the hotel until about 6:15pm. There was no line, so we were able to get checked in straight away.
The lady checking us in was friendly and made sure we knew there was a pet fee for having our dog Truffles with us. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the fee is lower for Radisson Rewards members – there’s more about that later in the review.
Within a couple of minutes we had our keys to room 119 and we made our way down the hall to our room.
Bedroom
When entering the room, the bathroom was to the left, with the bedroom straight ahead and to the left.
We’d booked a king bed which was very comfortable, as were the fairly small pillows. In the corner of the room was a red armchair which was also comfortable to sit in.
On the opposite side of the room was a desk and office chair.
To the right of those was the room’s dresser. That also held the TV, microwave, coffee maker and mini fridge. The mini fridge was on the mini-er end of things, but it was just about large enough for what we needed. We live in hotels and Airbnbs now, so we probably make use of mini fridges more than your average traveler.
The TV had a pretty good selection of TV channels. And by pretty good, I mean it had channels like ION, USA and WE TV so I was able to get my Law & Order and Chicago PD fix.
The closet contained an iron, ironing board and luggage rack. On the top shelf was an additional blanket, something that Shae always appreciates having.
Bathroom
The bathroom had the sink on the left, as well as a long countertop area.
The toiletries were White Water Collection by Beekman; I didn’t use the conditioner or lotion, but the shampoo was decent enough.
The room also had a bathtub with shower. The water heated up pretty quickly which has been a rarity so far during our time in Kentucky. It was therefore nice not having to wait several minutes for it to get warm.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in your room rate when staying at the Country Inn & Suites London. It’s served from 6am-9:30am during the week and 6:30am-10:30am at the weekend and during holidays.
They had a pretty good selection of breakfast items, including a few hot items each morning which alternated every other day or so. The morning I took the photos they had biscuits, sausage gravy and sausage patties, while other days there was scrambled eggs, bacon, etc.
It did seem a little unusual that scrambled eggs were only available every other day, as most hotel breakfasts have them as a staple everyday. Having said that, they did have hard boiled eggs.
The other breakfast options were the same each day:
There was a tropical fruit salad each day (seemingly served out of a can rather than being fresh), although it was empty the morning I took the photos.
Similarly, they also offered yogurt at breakfast, but the fridge was empty of them when I took these photos.
As for things to drink, there was a juice machine, tea and coffee.
The breakfast area itself was a very good size, so there was never any problem finding a table and chairs to sit at.
Amenities
The Country Inn & Suites London has quite a few amenities. There’s an indoor swimming pool which was nice and warm, although they didn’t have a whirlpool.
There was construction going on during our stay as all the rooms on the second floor were being renovated. That’s where the guest laundry area is, but they thankfully kept that open for guests, even though it meant making our way down the empty hall past all the construction materials.
The washing machine cost $1.50 per load and the dryer was $1 per load. That’s not the cheapest laundry facilities offered by hotels we’ve stayed at (all Candlewood Suites properties offer free laundry), but it was still cheaper and more convenient than going to a laundromat.
Having said that, the washing machine didn’t seem to clean dirty items particularly well. I’d slipped in mud at Mammoth Cave National Park on our way to the hotel, so I had a pair of shorts that needed washing. There was still mud crusted on there after washing them, whereas they got perfectly clean when washing them at a laundromat the other day.
The hotel had a small fitness room with three pieces of equipment. I don’t think they had any weights in there, although the air conditioning unit could be controlled by guests – a feature I appreciate.
The Country Inn & Suites London has their business center in its own room which consists of one computer and a printer.
The lobby was home to a few amenities. There was a small seating area in front of a fireplace and behind the couch you can see in the picture below are some cookies. These were kept well stocked throughout the day and were delicious, especially the oatmeal & raisin ones which were some of the softest cookies I’ve ever had.
Also in the lobby was a tea and coffee station that was available 24/7…
…as well as a Lending Library. Every Country Inn & Suites property has one of these, where you can take a book and return it whenever you next stay at one of their hotels. There wasn’t a very wide selection of books, but it’s better than nothing if you’re bored and want to read something for free.
At the front of the hotel were a couple of outdoor seating areas, one of which was designated as a smoking area too.
The other side had a grill that’s presumably available for use during nicer weather.
Pet Policy
The Country Inn & Suites London has an even better pet policy than anticipated. The official pet fee is $25 per stay which, as pet fees go, is still incredibly low.
It got even better than that though. When checking in, we were advised that our pet fee would only be $10. I can’t remember the exact reason – it was either due to simply being a Radisson Rewards member or because I have Gold status with them.
The hotel doesn’t have much grass around the property, although they do have a grassy area out back for dogs to do their stuff.
There’s apparently a dog park at Dixie Street Park about five minutes away, although we didn’t end up needing to use it. There’s also a ton of great hiking in the area, so we managed to wear Truffles out that way.
Service
We didn’t have any issues during our stay, so there was minimal interaction with staff. They were always friendly when checking in and out, getting change for the laundry, etc. though.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
You can check-in at 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi at the Country Inn & Suites London was free for all guests. It wasn’t great – it’d occasionally cut out or be slow, but overall it wasn’t terrible. I’m writing this review from the Hyatt Place Lexington and I think they might have the worst internet I’ve ever experienced, so the Country Inn’s Wi-Fi was wonderful by comparison.
Location
The location of the hotel was pretty good. It was next door to a Starbucks, Steak n’ Shake and Frisch’s Big Boy, with plenty of other stores and restaurants within a short drive.
London is only 10-15 minutes from Corbin which is home to the birthplace of KFC, as well as some great restaurants like Sonny’s BBQ and The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery.
The hotel is 35-45 minutes from Cumberland Falls State Resort Park which has some beautiful waterfalls and great hiking. It’s also only an hour from Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. That also has some good hiking, along with Tri-State Peak which is where Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia meet.
Parking
Parking at the property is free and there were always enough spaces.
Cost
At the start of the review I mentioned that we booked our stay using points. That’s because the Country Inn & Suites London is (at the time of writing) a category 2 property in the Radisson Rewards scheme. That means it only costs 15,000 points per night which is very good value.
If we’d paid cash for our stay, it would’ve cost us $90.04 per night including tax. That’s also a reasonable rate, so I wouldn’t have had a problem paying that if I didn’t have enough points.
It means we got 0.6cpp (cents per point) of value by using our points. Radisson Rewards points tend to be worth ~0.4cpp, so we got above average value with this stay.
Final Thoughts
Shae and I enjoyed our stay at this hotel. The room was decent, the breakfast options were filling each morning and it was good value for our points.
Although there was construction on the floor above us, it didn’t disturb us often as they didn’t work into the evening. It’s in a good location for visiting the surrounding area, with lots of restaurants close by.
If we ever return to the area, I’d be more than happy staying at the Country Inn & Suites London again.
Truffles Approval Rating
Although there wasn’t a huge amount of grass around the hotel, there was lots of hiking nearby. The fact that they only charged a $10 pet fee was also fantastic.
Our Rating
Room = 4.4 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.4 / 5
Food = 4.4 / 5
Location = 4.5 / 5
Service = 4.1 / 5
Overall Value = 4.5 / 5
Total = 4.38 / 5
Address
Country Inn & Suites, 2035 West, KY-192, London, KY 40741
[…] was also a surprise as I’d not heard of it until we booked a hotel there. There was a Country Inn that was a bargain when using points and which seemed to be close to several activities people had […]