It doesn’t look like much from the street, and I’m not a big fan of Super 8 for various reasons, but I thought I would add a recent review of my hotel stay in Mt. Carmel, Illinois.

I had an overnight business trip in this area, and it’s common knowledge that there aren’t many decent hotels in rural East Central Illinois. Most business travelers in this area go across the state line and stay in nearby Princeton, Indiana, which has a Hampton Inn and a Holiday Inn Express. My plans had been a bit up in the area before this stay, and I put off making reservations. In addition, the hotels on this night, in this area, seemed to be much higher than usual. I assume there was some local event driving prices up.

I started to make a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express as I needed some IHG nights and had a decent promo for extra points, but the reviews seemed really bad for that location.

The Hampton seemed much better, although the current Hilton promo is bad, and I don’t value Hilton points as much. For the night I needed the price was nearly $200 a night! Very high for this area, so I put it off. Big mistake. When I was ready to book the day before my trip, the Hampton was sold out, leaving a bad HIX or….A Super 8, the horror… I’ve stayed in a few Super 8’s over many years, and none were good. Usually built like cracker jack boxes, noisy, trucks idling all night outside the window, full of drunk construction workers, etc., etc. Many also came off as dirty, bugs, mold, smelling of pot, you name it.

So in desperation, I looked again at the Super 8 in Mt. Carmel, and the reviews on Google showed 4.0, not bad, but sometimes reviews are relevant to the client base. It’s one thing for a person who stays at a lot of Super 8 hotels to give it a good review over someone who is used to staying at nicer level hotels, for example. I’m not a fancy person, but the other reason I don’t stay at Wyndham hotels is that I don’t collect or value their points. So I checked out TripAdvisor and again good reviews and good photos. I then went to American Airlines Hotels and booked it so I could earn 1,600 AA miles.

I knew I would arrive about 5pm and would leave early the next day, so it wasn’t like I needed a pool or spa experience, just a clean place to sleep. Arrival was underwhelming, but I “toughed it out” 🙂

I should have captured more pictures of the many rules and signs. Warning about not driving trucks under the front canopy or how to clean your shoes before entering. All a result of some past experience. One sign suggested a “$1,500 fine for hitting canopy”.

The hotel was quiet with only a few cars when I arrived on a random Wednesday night. A good sign that it might be quiet. My stay was quiet, but I wouldn’t guarantee that for every experience, of course.

I started to pick up the “Pink Phone,” but soon a desk clerk came out of the private “office” area / Living quarters to check me in. He was very nice and asked about my trip. I was exhausted after a VERY long day and was thankful to have my keys so I could head to my room. I’m always disappointed when a hotel starts breakfast at 7am, as he informed me, but he said coffee would be available 24/7, so I would survive, as I had to get up at 4am the next morning.

When you enter the room, it has a vanity, refrigerator, and microwave to greet you. Not a fan of having carpet near a vanity, so laminate flooring would be a better choice for this hotel, but the carpet looked new and was spotless.

Bar soap is provided, which is my main request of hotels. It’s a personal preference, but I don’t use body wash and washcloths. I need bar soap, so I appreciated this minor feature that most hotels have gotten rid of in the name of saving the planet from soap waste or something dumb.

You could tell this was an older building by the setup of the bathroom and the small toilet set low to the ground, but it was spotless. I was impressed. I like to complain, so I don’t say this lightly. The shower turned out to be fine. The shower head was decent, however, I would have moved to shampoo and bodywash dispenser to the far wall as it was right next to your arms when you try to shower. By the way, is there a major difference between “Body Wash” and “Shampoo”? I’m sure there is, but if they want to save money and the planet, why not just combine it all into one gross dispenser 🙂

A small work table and a decent-sized TV with a good selection of cable TV channels were available. I didn’t take a photo of them, but each wall light also had USB and USB-C plugs AND electrical outlets. Very nice indeed.

The beds were clean, the pillows good, and the mattresses seemed new and nice. Everything was fresh. It was a pleasant surprise. 5 Stars! I really didn’t love the metal bedframes, and they sat a bit too far from the wall without a headboard to sit against while watching TV or working on my laptop, but a minor complaint. I had a decent night’s sleep and got up early to enjoy several cups of coffee before my early morning meeting was moved later, so I would have a chance to grab the 7am breakfast after all.

The breakfast was much better than I’ve had at Super 8’s in the past. It offered oatmeal, apples, cold cereal, a few Danish items, toast, and even a waffle machine. No sausage, bacon, or eggs like you might get at the “Fancy” HIX, Fairfield, or Hampton level hotel, but it was fine. I didn’t find any juice or bananas that would make it a bit better for me.

Overall, I would rate this Super 8 a 4+ stars for a quick business overnight. There is no pool, fitness room, or other such frills, but I don’t usually use those anyway.

Pros: Clean, location that was convenient for my needs, friendly staff, and 24-hour free low-quality coffee. Good TV.

Cons: A little lacking on breakfast items, and the price I paid was $133, which is about $40 more than I would expect to pay at any Super 8 in the Midwest for a rural location. Then again, it’s the only hotel in town that most people would stay at. That night, the hotels in nearby Princeton, Indiana, were nearly $200, and I couldn’t even find an available Airbnb.

The other Con is that it’s a Wyndham hotel, which I don’t really participate with, but many wouldn’t mind that. I did end up with 1,600 American Airlines miles out of it, so I’d value that much as I would 3,000 or more IHG or Hilton points.