Having spent a few days in Toronto for Woofstock, Shae and I went our separate ways. She flew back to Virginia for the graduation ceremony of some kids she used to teach, while I made my way towards the 6th state on our 50 state road trip – Wisconsin.
Driving from Toronto to Wisconsin via Buffalo (for her flight) would’ve been way too far for me to drive by myself in one go. Seeing as Shae was due to spend a week in Virginia, I also wasn’t in any hurry to get to Wisconsin. I therefore decided to book a five night stay in South Bend, Indiana.
When doing a search, I came across the Candlewood Suites South Bend Airport. It was reasonably priced, pet-friendly (seeing as I had our dog Truffles with me) and had a kitchen. Even better, with this one stay I’d be able to complete my IHG Q2 Accelerate challenge which would earn me a ton of bonus points.
Here’s a full review of my stay at the Candlewood Suites South Bend Airport in Indiana.
Check-In
I arrived at the hotel at about 7:45pm, so it wasn’t busy at the front desk. Check-in only took a few minutes, with the front desk agent informing me of the pet fee.
With a key to room 310 in my hand, I made my way to the elevator.
Bedroom
As the brand name suggests, Candlewood Suites is an all-suite hotel. Not only are each of the rooms a suite, but they all also contain a kitchen.
When entering the suite, the bathroom was to the left, the kitchen area to the right and the main bedroom area straight ahead.
The king bed was very comfortable, as were the pillows. Despite having enough room for the bed to be placed more centrally along the wall, it was situated closer to the wall on the left and so there was only space for one bedside table on the other side. That didn’t matter for my stay seeing as it was just me, but it might be inconvenient for two people staying in the room.
Opposite the bed was the TV on top of the dresser. Along the wall was a table with a dining chair on one side and an office chair on the other.
Behind the office chair was the kitchen area. It was well-equipped with a full-size fridge-freezer, a double stove top, microwave, dishwasher and coffee maker.
The cupboards and drawers contained pretty much everything you’d be likely to need during the stay. It doesn’t look like I got a photo of it, but one of the cupboards also had some pots and pans.
Something that was a little disappointing was that there was only two of most items – two tumblers, two glasses, two large plates, two small plates, two dishes, etc. Again, it was less of an issue as it was only me staying there, but for two people it’d mean having to run the dishwasher or hand wash the items more frequently.
Opposite the kitchen was a fairly large closet. Inside was a laundry basket, iron and ironing board.
Bathroom
To the right of the closet was the entrance to the bathroom. Straight ahead was the vanity and toilet.
On the countertop was some shampoo and two small bars of soap.
On the left hand side was a bathtub with shower. The shower had good water pressure, but the shower curtain smelled a little mildewy.
Amenities
The Candlewood Suites brand doesn’t offer breakfast – either free or paid – although they do have the Candlewood Cupboard. This does contain some breakfast items, along with other drinks and snacks.
Most of those items you have to pay for, although tea, coffee and hot chocolate is free. There was also a sign saying that packets of oatmeal were free, although I never saw any of them stocked in there.
The Candlewood Cupboard also contains laundry supplies if you need them during your stay. Those can be used in the hotel’s guest laundry area, with washers and dryers that are free to use. There were three washers and three dryers, although two of the washers were out of service during my stay.
The guest laundry section is off to the side of the fitness room which contained a few pieces of equipment and weights.
If you need to use a computer during your stay, there’s a business center containing one computer and a printer.
Candlewood Suites South Bend Airport also has a lending locker. This contains various different items you can borrow during your stay, from DVDs to crock pots to board games and more.
Outside the hotel, there was a gazebo area with a grill and seating. There was a group of guys every single time I went outside during our stay no matter what time of day, so I wasn’t able to get a photo of that.
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi at this Candlewood Suites property was awful. It was usable during the day, but from early afternoon onwards it was virtually unusable.
I’m not sure if people were streaming videos or if the hotel’s internet gets throttled by the ISP, but it was extremely frustrating, especially seeing as I was spending my five days there trying to get work done online.
Pet-Friendliness
As mentioned earlier, the Candlewood Suites South Bend Airport is a pet-friendly hotel with a pet fee of $75 per stay. That’s a little expensive if you’re only staying for a night or two, but is pretty good value if you’re staying for 5+ days.
The hotel has a specially marked pet walking area with plenty of grass. The hotel’s also set at the end of a seemingly safe neighborhood, so I walked Truffles round there a couple of times a day.
Service
There’s not much to mention regarding service. By the nature of the brand, Candlewood Suites has very limited service. I had more interaction with the housekeeping staff than the front desk staff and they were all friendly and personable.
Location
Candlewood Suites South Bend Airport is extremely close to the airport and only about 2-3 miles away from downtown South Bend. It’s easily accessible from I-90, while also being on the edge of a safe neighborhood.
Cost
The nightly rate during my stay was $67.40 including tax; that meant the five nights cost a total of $337, with an additional $75 for the pet fee.
The nice thing about this stay is that it helped me complete 3 out of my 4 IHG Accelerate tasks. (See more about the Q2 2018 Accelerate promotion here.) I only needed to complete three tasks in order to earn the achievement bonus, so the five night stay earned me 30,300 bonus points on top of the 4,982 points from the stay and 2,060 points from paying for the stay on my IHG credit card. That’s more than 37,000 points for a five night stay which is an excellent return.
I also booked the stay having clicked through from Top Cashback. That earned 8% cashback on the base rate, so I’m due to get $24.06 cashback from that.
Final Thoughts
I had a pretty good stay at the Candlewood Suites South Bend Airport in Indiana. The room was comfortable and it was nice to be in a location where I could take Truffles for a walk around a neighborhood, as that’s not always been possible now that we live in hotels and Airbnbs.
My biggest complaint is about the Wi-Fi as it was terrible in the afternoons and evenings. Seeing as I value a good internet connection, it’d make me wary of staying at this property again. Then again, it was a pretty low cost stay, plus it helped me earn a ton of points, so I’d be willing to consider it. If we did stay there again, I’d ask for a room on a lower floor in case they provided a better internet connection.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the Candlewood Suites in South Bend four paws out of four – pawfect! It was a quiet hotel, so she wasn’t woken up by other guests. The pet fee was reasonable for a five night stay, plus she enjoyed being able to walk around the local neighborhood.
Our Rating
Room = 4.4 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 3.9 / 5 (mainly marked down due to the Wi-Fi issues and lack of pool)
Food = N/A
Location = 4.5 / 5
Service = 4.2 / 5
Overall Value = 4.8 / 5
Total = 4.36 / 5
Address
Candlewood Suites, 3916 Lincoln Way W, South Bend, IN 46628
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