Back when we were planning out the second year of our 50 state road trip, we’d planned to spend a week in New York with several members of Shae’s family after spending 10 days in Rhode Island.
Those plans fell through though which meant we had a week to kill before heading to Bali. Shae’s mom and stepdad had been due to join us in New York too, so the four of us decided to meet up in Vermont instead of New York as we’d loved our time there.
We booked an Airbnb in Vermont, with the stay starting on Tuesday. We had to check out of the Hampton Inn Providence/Warwick Airport the day before that though. That gave us one night’s worth of accommodation to find, so I looked along the route from Rhode Island to Vermont.
Seeing as we travel full-time with our dog, we needed somewhere pet-friendly and which had little-to-no pet fee. We also had a few free night certificates from our Marriott credit cards to use up, so I started by looking at our options with them.
And there it was, a property that met our requirements perfectly – the Element Hanover-Lebanon in New Hampshire. It was pet-friendly, didn’t charge a pet fee and was a category 4 property which meant we could use up Shae’s category 1-4 certificate (mine are all category 1-5 certificates).
I don’t usually review hotels when we only stay there one night for a few reasons. It can be harder to gauge how good a property is when making a quick overnight stop as we usually arrive late and leave early-ish, Another reason is that writing hotel reviews take maaaaaaany hours to put together due to all the photo editing, not to mention the fact that my reviews always seem to end up being 2,500+ words.
I decided to make an exception in this instance though as it was a great hotel and I feel like we got a good taste of the property despite it being a short stay. As a result, here’s my review of the Element Hanover-Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Check-In
We arrived at the hotel at about 6pm while it was raining. All the parking close to the hotel is reserved for electric cars, car pooling, etc., so we had to park on the lower level. Thankfully we only had to bring in a few bags due to it being a one night stay; the hotel only seems to have luggage carts like you get at airports, rather than the larger luggage carts that most hotels have.
The person checking us in was friendly and I think she had us fill out a pet form. It only took a couple of minutes, then we went up to room 527.
One Bedroom Suite
I was pleasantly surprised when we entered our room as it turned out to be a one bedroom suite. We’d only booked a standard king room, so it looks like Shae’s Gold status got us an upgrade. It’s rare that we get a room upgrade at any hotel chain without asking, so the fact that her lowly Gold status bumped us up was unexpected.
This was our first time staying at an Element, so I’m not too familiar with the brand. From what I understand though, all rooms have a kitchen. That was on the left when entering the room, with the living room just past that. On the right was the bathroom, with a sliding door to enter the bedroom beyond that.
Living Room
The living room had a corner sleeper sofa – similar to those you’ll find at Hyatt Places – along with a coffee table.
Opposite the couch were a couple of ottomans and a wall-mounted TV. The hotel has DirecTV, so there was a good selection of channels. I love when hotels have DirecTV on offer as it makes it easier to scroll through to see what’s on and upcoming.
Back by the entrance was a large storage unit which contained several shelves and an empty closet. Beneath the unit was a table on rollers, along with another couple of ottomans.
Between the kitchen and living room was a desk and office chair.
Kitchen
The room had a well-equipped kitchen with a full-size fridge-freezer, dishwasher, microwave and stovetop.
The plates, dishes, silverware, etc. were stored on a shelf, with cooking equipment stored in cupboards.
Bedroom
The bedroom had a comfortable king bed and blackout curtains that worked well. The pillows were great too, being fluffy but not too soft.
Opposite the bed was another wall-mounted TV and an additional closet.
Unlike the empty closet in the living room, this one had an iron, ironing board, luggage rack and a safe.
Bathroom
The entrance to the bathroom was next to the bedroom, but in the main living area. That was nice as it meant I didn’t have to go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom after Shae had gone to bed.
It was a larger than your average hotel bathroom with a nice sink and vanity.
The vanity held a bar of soap and some body lotion.
The bathroom had a walk-in shower with double shower heads – one rainfall and one handheld. The water pressure was pretty good, although not as amazing as the rainfall showers at the Park Hyatt New York or Renaissance Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
The shower had wall-mounted dispensers for shampoo & conditioner and shower gel. They were Pharmacopia brand which I’d not tried before and were better quality than many hotel toiletries.
Overall, we were incredibly pleased with our one bedroom suite. It was spacious, had clearly defined living areas and was very quiet. The suite was also in very good condition; it looks like the hotel has been open almost 5 years, so I was surprised that it still felt so new.
Breakfast
Breakfast is free for all guests at the Element Hanover-Lebanon and is served until 9:30am during the week (I’m not sure if it’s served later at the weekend).
Like I mentioned earlier, we’d not stayed at an Element before and so weren’t too sure what to expect of breakfast. Their buffet had a decent number of items, with a selection that was a good mix of healthy and tasty.
There weren’t any pre-made hot options like scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, etc. However, there was a made-to-order station serving smoked chicken and sweet potato hash with kale and a fried or over easy egg.
I got a serving of it and it was very good. I’m assuming the hot option changes each day, but I’m not positive about that seeing as we only stayed one night.
There were a couple of other hot/warm options – egg frittatas with onions, peppers, spinach and cream and warm blueberry muffins. I’d grabbed the last muffin, but probably should’ve left it there to at least get it in the photo! It was very good considering it was a hotel muffin – it was more like one you’d get from a bakery or coffee shop.
There were a few bread and pastry options too. I’d already picked up the muffin before I saw that there were raspberry turnovers. I love turnovers and rarely have them, so I got one of those too.
The other breakfast options included cereal, oatmeal, juice and a Chobani yogurt bar with more than half a dozen different topping options.
You can’t see the topping options too well in the photo above, but there were strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, granola and a few other items.
Shae and I seem to stay most frequently in Hyatt Places and Residence Inns, so it was a nice change having a different kind of breakfast buffet, especially seeing as it felt a little healthier (albeit with a muffin and turnover thrown into the mix).
The hotel also had a coffee and tea station that was available 24/7.
Amenities
The Element Hanover-Lebanon had a good selection of amenities for guests to use during their stay. One that we didn’t end up taking advantage of was their happy hour (and a half) which offered free beer and wine from 5pm-6:30pm Mondays to Thursdays. Although we’d arrived just in time to get a free drink, we hadn’t realized that was on offer until a little later into the evening after it had ended.
The two draft beer options were from Switchback (a microbrewery in Vermont) and Sam Adams Summer Ale. It was therefore a couple of decent options rather than it being a choice between bottles of Bud Light and Coors Light.
The hotel’s fitness room had several pieces of equipment and weights.
The temperature couldn’t be controlled by guests, but it was a reasonable temperature in there.
The Element Hanover-Lebanon had an indoor swimming pool that was a comfortable temperature, although there wasn’t a whirlpool.
The hotel likely had a business center, but I didn’t think to look for one at the time and so I don’t have a photo of it.
There was a guest laundry room with a couple of washing machines and a couple of dryers. They were all $1 per load which is very reasonable.
If you don’t have laundry detergent with you, there’s a wall dispenser you can purchase that from.
If you want somewhere to sit and hang out with friends, family or colleagues, they’ve got you covered. There are a lot of different seating options in the lobby, with sofas, bar seating, breakfast tables and chairs and more.
There’s also an outdoor courtyard with more seating that looked like it would be lovely area to sit if it wasn’t raining. I think there was a fire pit and possibly a grill, but I didn’t explore because of the weather.
The hotel had a pantry area with snacks, meals, ice cream, beverages, etc. for sale.
Pet Policy
Like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, one of the reasons we chose to stay at the Element Hanover-Lebanon is because they’re pet-friendly and don’t charge a pet fee. I’m not sure if they have any weight restrictions as their website doesn’t provide any information on that – it just says to contact the hotel.
One small downside to the hotel is that there aren’t many grassy areas for your dog to do its stuff – there’s a fair bit of mulch, but even that has plants and flowers in it. There are a couple of small grassy areas though, plus there’s Watson Upper Valley Dog Park about 15 minutes away in White River Junction, Vermont.
Service
Service was very good at the hotel with everyone we interacted with. The people who checked us in and out were friendly, as was the person working the front desk overnight.
I’d gone downstairs to get a cup of tea and used one of the ceramic mugs they provided rather than a disposable one. After finishing my tea, I looked around and couldn’t see anywhere to put the mug, so I asked the front desk agent what I should do with it. She said to just leave it anywhere and that she’d take care of it.
The lady working at the made-to-order breakfast station was also lovely, especially seeing as she didn’t have a problem making me something even though we’d arrived at the tail end of breakfast. The breakfast staff at our last couple of hotels had seemed to want to do as little work as possible, so this was a refreshing change.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in is at 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm. We needed a late check-out, so they were happy to extend that to 2pm.
Wi-Fi
As much as we loved our one night stay at the Element Hanover-Lebanon, the only significant negative aspect from our stay was their Wi-Fi. It was awful as it kept cutting out; then, when it was connected, it was extremely slow. I’m not sure if it’s their ISP or if every single guest was streaming Netflix at the same time, but it made it virtually impossible to do any work.
Shae had a couple of classes she was teaching online and had to resort to using her phone for one of them because the Wi-Fi connection on her laptop was so bad.
Location
The hotel is about halfway between Hanover and Lebanon and a couple of miles off I-89, so it’s fairly easy to get to. There wasn’t much in the immediate area other than a hospital, several other hotels, office buildings and a handful of stores and restaurants. Given its proximity to Hanover, it’s only a few miles from Dartmouth College.
Parking
Parking was free and there was a good amount of it. If you want to park at the front of the hotel though, you’ll need an electric vehicle or be car pooling. Otherwise, you have to park down a level (the hotel is on a hill) and walk up.
Cost
The Element Hanover-Lebanon is a category 4 property in the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program. That means it costs 25,000 points per night. We had a category 1-4 free night certificate to use up from a credit card that has a ~$95 annual fee. Paying cash for the room would’ve cost $201.65 for the night, so we got good value by using the free night certificate.
$201.65 is more than we’d have paid for a room there, so I don’t think it’s great value from that perspective. I got the impression though that they have a lot of corporate guests staying there due to the businesses nearby, so that’s probably why the paid rates are a little higher than I’d have expected. 25,000 points per night for award stays seemed reasonable considering the high paid cost for staying there.
Final Thoughts
Shae and I really enjoyed our stay at the Element Hanover-Lebanon and it has me wanting to check out other Element properties. We got an upgrade to a one bedroom suite without asking which is always appreciated. The suite was stylish and spacious, the breakfast was tasty and there were good amenities.
The only negative thing about our stay was the Wi-Fi, so hopefully they sort that out in the future. I’d love to stay there again when we return to New Hampshire on our road trip, but I don’t know if we’d be able to justify the cost. We travel on a daily budget of $100, so having a paid rate of double that is far too expensive for us. 25,000 points is reasonable, but we try to maximize our Marriott points by only booking category 1 and 2 properties, so 25,000 is a little too much for our tastes as well.
If you have the budget for the Element Hanover-Lebanon though, it’s a great hotel and one I’d highly recommend.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! While she’d have liked a little more grass and places to walk, it was great that there was no pet fee. Our room was also very quiet – especially because of it being a one bedroom suite – so she didn’t get disturbed by any other guests.
Our Rating
Room = 4.8 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.8 / 5
Food = 4.7 / 5
Location = 4.3 / 5
Service = 4.7 / 5
Overall Value = 4.3 / 5
Total = 4.6 / 5
Address
Element, 25 Foothill St, Lebanon, NH 03766
[…] situation is a brand standard for Element properties as we had the same situation when staying at an Element in New Hampshire. It’s surprising that the Element brand has chosen this setup though as it’s an […]