After spending a week in Green Bay on our 50 state road trip, our next stop was La Crosse. Hotel prices seemed pretty expensive, so we decided to use points to stay at the Candlewood Suites La Crosse.
The hotel’s pet-friendly (we’re traveling with our dog Truffles), it’s close to everything in the city and all the rooms have a kitchen, so it seemed to be a good option for what we needed.
Here’s a complete review of our six night stay at the Candlewood Suites La Crosse.
Check-In
We were checked in by Shannon who was very friendly and helpful. After mentioning that we had a dog, she tried to find us a room on the first floor but there wasn’t one available.
In the end, the best room she could give us was on the fourth floor (the hotel has four floors). She did put us in a room by a stairwell though which made it a little easier taking Truffles out. It did mean having to walk down and up three flights of stairs when taking her out, but I need the exercise so it ended up being a good thing.
Room
We’d been assigned room 400 which was at the far end of one side of the hotel. When entering the room, the kitchen area was to the left, the closet and bathroom were to the right and the main bedroom area ahead and to the right.
Kitchen
The kitchen had everything you need for an extended stay – a fridge-freezer, microwave, stove top, coffee maker, dishwasher, etc.
In the cupboards and drawers were pots and pans, silverware, cooking utensils, plates, dishes, glasses, etc.
An interesting feature of the kitchen area was that you have to use a switch to use the stove top. This works on a timer, so after an hour it automatically shuts off. That’s a useful safety feature to have given that it’s unlikely to affect anyone’s meal prep but helps ensure you don’t leave the stove top on by accident.
A feature I didn’t like about the kitchen though is that they only provide you with two of everything – dishes, plates, forks, knives, etc. After one meal for two people, that means you’ve potentially used most of it, but it might only fill quarter of the dishwasher. You therefore have to either hand wash everything or run the dishwasher while it’s virtually empty.
Other extended stay brands like Residence Inn and Home2 Suites have at least four of everything in their kitchens, so you don’t have to run a load after every meal. It’d therefore be nice if the Candlewood Suites brand followed suit.
Bedroom
We’d booked a room with a king bed which was very comfortable. There were bedside tables on both sides, with outlets also available on both sides for charging our phones overnight.
To one side of the bed was a reclining armchair. I never got around to using it, but Shae said it was very comfortable to sit in.
On the other side of the room was a table with an office chair on one side and a dining chair on the other. There was also a set of drawers with a TV on top, along with a DVD player. Our TV didn’t work properly (more about that later), so it was replaced with one about twice the size after a couple of days.
To the right of the door when entering the room was a fairly good sized closet. Inside was a laundry basket, ironing board and iron.
The view from our room was OK – it looked out to the west, so it provided some good sunset views in the evenings.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a single sink, with the toilet and bathtub with shower to the right of that.
The water pressure of the shower was good, but the shower curtain smelled a little mildewy. I noticed the same thing when staying at the Candlewood Suites South Bend, so it might be a widespread issue with the material used for their shower curtains.
In terms of toiletries, they provided a couple of small bottles of shampoo & conditioner and a couple of bars of soap. You don’t get daily housekeeping service at Candlewood Suites properties, so toiletries, toilet paper, dishwasher tablets, etc. aren’t replenished every day. If you need more during your stay, you just swing by the front desk and they’ll give you more.
Overall, the room was very comfortable. It was somewhat spacious and we appreciated having a kitchen, albeit one which didn’t have as much kitchenware as we’d like.
Amenities
The Candlewood Suites La Crosse has several amenities aimed at people staying there for a longer period of time. There’s the Lending Locker which contains board games, other kitchen equipment, etc. If you’d like to watch a DVD, there’s a selection of 100+ DVDs behind the front desk.
If you get hungry, there’s the Candlewood Cupboard. This has a large selection of microwave meals, snacks, beverages, toiletries, etc. It works on the honor system, so there’s a card you fill out with the value of what you’ve taken which can then be charged back to your room.
Breakfast isn’t provided at any Candlewood Suites hotels, so it can be handy having this as an option in case you don’t have a chance to get to the grocery store.
All Candlewood Suites properties offer free guest laundry services which I appreciate as it saves us a few dollars on laundry whenever we stay at one.
The washers and dryers are in a side area off the fitness room, so you can easily do laundry while working out.
If you need access to the internet or a printer during your stay, there’s a business center with a couple of computers you can use.
At the back of the hotel, there’s a covered seating area with a grill for cooking out.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi was free during our stay and was speedy enough. We were provided with a password to access the internet when checking in, but weren’t ever prompted to use it.
Pet-Friendliness
As I mentioned earlier, we’re traveling with our dog Truffles. The Candlewood Suites La Crosse is pet-friendly and has a reasonable pet fee. It’s $50 for 1-6 nights and $150 for 7+ nights.
There’s a good-sized grassy area at the back of the hotel which is designated as the pet area. There are also plenty of parks near the hotel in and around La Crosse that you can take your dog to.
Service
Service was mixed during our stay. Shannon was excellent when checking in, but the person working the next day wasn’t.
Shae had gone downstairs to take Truffles out and walked by the front desk. She said hello to the person working, but she was oblivious to it as she was standing further back behind the front desk with earphones in both ears.
After Shae came back upstairs, she tried calling down to report that our TV wasn’t working. Her calls went unanswered, presumably because the front desk agent had her earphones in. Because no one answered at the front desk, Shae’s call was routed through to the main reservations line who tried calling the front desk. They tried a couple of times and were unsuccessful, so they weren’t at all impressed that the only person working didn’t seem to be paying attention to guests.
In the end, Shae went downstairs to let her know about the TV issues – at that point the front desk agent had taken her earphones out. There wasn’t a maintenance person around as it was Father’s Day, so we had to wait until the following day for a new TV to be installed.
As an apology for the issues we’d had, the hotel offered to waive the $50 pet fee and said we’d get a bunch of points on top of that. We hadn’t asked for – nor expected – anything, but were happy to save money on our stay. The $50 fee was indeed waived, but no points were ever awarded. I’ve not bothered following up as there wasn’t any need for us to be awarded the points in the first place.
Location
The Candlewood Suites La Crosse is in an excellent location, being within a few miles of pretty much everything in La Crosse. For ideas of stuff to do there, check out our posts 10 Free Things To Do In La Crosse and Visiting Dahl Auto Museum.
The hotel’s also within walking distance of a couple of restaurants and the grocery store Festival Foods.
Cost
I’d booked us in at the Candlewood Suites La Crosse as it only cost 15,000 points per night. I also have the older version of the IHG credit card which offers a 10% point rebate when redeeming points. Our six night stay therefore cost 90,000 points up front, but we’ll get 9,000 back. I also got 500 points as a welcome amenity, so the net cost of our stay was 80,500 points.
By comparison, the nightly rate including tax was $150.77. That means we got 1.12cpp (cents per point) of value from our points which is good value for IHG points.
Final Thoughts
Despite the service issues on our second day, we had a good stay at the Candlewood Suites La Crosse. Our room was comfortable, it was nice having a kitchen and it was in a good location for everything in and around the city.
It was a good option for 15,000 points per night, although I don’t think I’d pay ~$150 per night to stay there.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! They have a reasonable pet fee, plenty of grassy areas and it’s near lots of different parks.
Our Rating
Room = 4.4 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.6 / 5
Food = N/A
Location = 4.7 / 5
Service = 3.9 / 5
Overall Value = 4.1 / 5
Total = 4.34 / 5
Address
Candlewood Suites, 56 Copeland Ave, La Crosse, WI 54603
Leave a Reply