Super 8 Hotel Review in Mt. Carmel: A Business Traveler’s Perspective

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.

Fun Hilton Honors Points Explorer Tool

October 20, 2025October 20, 2025 DaninMCI hotel points, hotels, Travel Hilton, hilton honors, hotel points, hotel points search, hotels, search tool, Travel

I’ve been in the points and miles game since the early 1990’s back when hotels would issue paper certificates, so things have changed a lot since then. Most tools and websites that are useful, I already use or at least know about, but somehow I missed the Hilton Honors Points Explorer Tool.

The tool is simple and allows for good sorting and mapping by location and type of stay.

You can enter a location without dates or without “Looking for something specific” and it will show all options within the points range slider limits you chose.

It then allows you to sort by date, distance, and amenities like most hotel sites.

This isn’t rocket science, but many other hotel brands don’t have an “easy” to use feature like this, or their website is very slow. To Hilton’s credit, this site seems to be fast and accurate. You can enter locations by city or country, but it doesn’t seem to allow a broad search like “Asia” or “Europe”.

For my quick United Kingdom search, I found out that the London DoubleTree Kensington was the most expensive by points. 56,000 to 496,000 per night is too expensive for my points wallet! Wow!

The downside to the tool that I have found is that some locations don’t seem to show up without being logged in and dates entered. For example, in my search for “Israel”, it wouldn’t show any locations in the whole country, yet there are at least 2 properties there. The error seems to be linked to hotels that are available or unavailable on points stays without specific dates, is my guess.

Hopefully, this tool can be useful to you as a quick search to see how far your Hilton points can take you.

Troy, IL Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Express Experience

August 22, 2025August 22, 2025 DaninMCI hotel review, hotels, Travel, trip review HIX, holiday inn, holiday inn express, hotel, hotel review, hotel-reviews, hotels, IHG, Travel

I had a quick overnight at the Holiday Inn Express in Troy, Illinois, recently, so I wanted to do a short photo review of the stay.

The hotel is located just South of the I-70 interchange on I-55 in Illinois. This is the far Northeast corner of the St. Louis metro area. It is well located along the interstate and appears to attract many road trippers just coming through. Certainly not a destination property, I assume.

It’s next to several other lesser-quality chain hotels and several restaurants within walking distance. There is a Cracker Barrel, a Taco Bell, and a local BBQ restaurant almost in the parking lot. Many other chain restaurants are within less than a mile as well.

Troy is a fairly safe suburban area, so crime shouldn’t be a major problem, although several lower-scale hotels and truck stops nearby could attract some crime I would guess.

There is also a small indoor pool, but I couldn’t get a photo of it due to fellow travelers using it at the time.

No Bar soap, so that was a fail. One of my biggest pet peeves with hotels trying to be cheap under the thin veil of trying to be green. Speaking of ‘green,’ they include door hangers you can put out each night for 500 points instead of housekeeping, but I’m still fighting for my 500 welcome amenity points for being Platinum with IHG *sigh*…

The room was clean for the most part, but the shower could use a deeper clean. It has some black and pink spots around the edges that shouldn’t be there, considering the condition of the rest of the property.

The hotel also features a non-Tesla brand bank of EV chargers, so that is a nice feature for some travelers. The nearest Tesla superchargers are in Collinsville, about 10 minutes away.

Pros: Great water pressure in the shower! Friendly staff, good breakfast starting at 6am, like it should, not 6:30am, etc.

Cons: The shower could have been cleaner, the TV was a bit small for the room size, and check-in and check-out weren’t great. I’m still fighting for my stupid 500 points, which I’m working WAY too hard for at this point.

I would stay here again if I have work in the area due to the location, but there are some nicer hotels in nearby Edwardsville; however, they aren’t on the interstate.

Why Amex Platinum Fine Hotels and Resorts Benefit is worthless to me.

January 2, 2023 DaninMCI American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts, Amex Platinum Hotel Credit, credit cards, hotel deals, hotel points, hotels, miles, Travel American Express, American Express Platinum, Amex, Amex platinum, credit card benefits, Fine Hotels and Resorts, hotel rates, hotels, travel deals

So I found myself at 7pm on 12-31-22, once again trying to figure out a way to use the American Express Personal Platinum card Fine Hotel and Resorts $200 annual credit. For those living under a rock, this benefit is supposed to be a way to claw back some of the overpriced annual fee. It is basically as useful as most hotel discount rates. I’d compare it to the IHG Ambassador free weekend night benefit but less useful due to the limited locations for the average person.

So I sound really negative but here is why. If you look at the entire list of FHR or Hotel Collection locations there are entire states and major cities without a single location. The Proud Money blog has a nice list for example. Sure California, New York, and Florida all do pretty well but 1 location in Indiana and none in Kansas are just a few examples of holes in this program. This doesn’t even mention locations all over the world that either lack any locations or only have a few (which are all super expensive of course).

Ok so I’m mad I couldn’t figure out how to use this again for the 2nd year in a row and 2023 isn’t looking promising. Maybe I’m just bitter so I’ll give you an example of why this program isn’t worth anything to me.

This is a summary from the Amex website that makes this sound awesome. I’ll overlook the fact that it’s now 2023 and Wi-Fi, like Color TV, should be included at all hotels for free anyway. In some odd way, Amex is promising “strong coffee” but I assume that comes at a price.

Amex promises extra benefits on FHR 1-night prepaid stays or Hotel Collection 2-night stays in addition to the $200 rebate. You can book it far in advance and get the benefit once per calendar year so you could book your 2022 benefit into 2023 and then use the 2023 credit as well. This all sounds good but unless you are already planning to pay for a stay at one of these higher-end properties it might not be your best rate, by far.

So one potential location that would have worked for me is an upcoming trip to Israel that I’m considering so I checked Israel. I was in luck as there are several properties there that could work. Let’s compare the rate for one.

A web search finds the IHG Intercontinental Tel Aviv for $314 per night on Google Maps. Now, this isn’t 100% fair since the $314 is a prepaid 3rd party OTA site and doesn’t include taxes most likely but even the IHG website has it for less than about $350 a night for most nights. But let’s look at the Amex website. Keep in mind that as an IHG member with just about any status at all you will earn bonus IHG points., late check-out, etc. so this offsets any Amex 5x benefits except for the food credit which is usually around $100 if you want to eat at the hotel while in Tel Aviv.

$415 seems high compared to the $314 on Google? Weird that this is around a $100 difference, huh… Now I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that not all FHR properties are like this. I have found a few that are about the same but at the end of the day, you still aren’t getting the best rate. No such thing as a free lunch as they say.

For this hotel, I could also use around 60,000 IHG points for a free night which I could likely buy at around .5 cents per point or less so about $300. Since I’m an IHG Ambassador status person I’ll likely skip the Amex benefit but this is just one example of many that I’ve found.

I’ve been able to use the $200 airline credit at less than $200 in value for misc junk like miles and such. I’ve also made good use of the Saks $50 credit but I bought stuff I really didn’t need at a store I don’t love, at prices that are much too high so I don’t value that at $100 per year. I think I’m going to have to downgrade my Platinum card for 2023 back to Gold so I at least get 4x at restaurants.

Bottom line: Are there some deals and value to be found with this benefit? Sure, but not for most people, and certainly not for me. When combined with the higher fees and the new 2023 limits on Centurion Lounge access the Amex Platinum card is no longer worth it to me.

Photo Review Lodge of The Four Seasons (Sounds Fancy)

April 15, 2022 DaninMCI hotel review, hotels, Travel, trip review four seasons, hotel, hotel review, hotels, lake of the ozarks, lake ozark, lake resort, lodge, lodge of the four seasons, missouri resort, missouri travel, ozark, ozarks, resort, resort review, Travel

Recently I had a business conference at Lake of the Ozarks. The group elected to have it at Lodge of the Four Seasons (yeah, not THAT Four Seasons). When having large conferences in Mid-Missouri there are only really two places at Lake of the Ozarks to choose from traditionally. You can pick Tan-Tar-A (Now Margaritaville) or Lodge of the Four Seasons. Both are historic sprawling resorts right on the water. Both are past their prime but are trying hard. Tan-Tar-A was originally a Marriott resort for many years until they ran out of nearby timeshare houses and ran it into the ground. Lodge of the Four Seasons is a bit more historic. The original family still owns it since its opening in 1955 as a Chase Park property. Many movie stars like Frank Sinatra visited at one time or another but those times are gone. It still has some of that old spark but things have become a bit worn out over the years. I have a feeling that Covid hasn’t helped. Tan-Tar-A was recently modeled a couple years ago since Margaritaville bought them out. It has the edge on shopping and entertainment facilities but both have a lot to offer and neither one is owned by the Byrd’s or any drug cartel as far as I know.

1955 Style. Hard to get this photo as everyone at the Lodge seems to love this spot with a wood-burning fire going all day.

HK restaurant (understaffed and slow service during our off-season visit).

We visited this resort on a very cold week in early April so still off-season. Lake of the Ozarks is a major Summer destination for sure. It didn’t impact us much as we spent 95% of the time inside generic large meeting rooms but it was a fun visit. They seemed very understaffed for food service which would be my main complaint. The staff really made this resort shine but they need more staff for the bars and restaurants. It was difficult to impossible to get a beer at 4pm when our meetings ended. The staff at the rooftop and main restaurant bar spent much more time trying to get their computer POS to work than serving customers.

Overall I would stay here again as the rooms are dated but spotless. Next time I hope they provide bars of soap but no other complaints about the room. Think old Marriott hotel. I wish they have some affiliation with a hotel chain for points earning or elite perks but that isn’t too big of a deal in this area as most don’t.

I think a visit in the Summer would be the best idea for this property to take full use of the outdoor pools, lake, boating, and golf course but they do have a Spa and indoor pool (sorry no photos). This hotel could use some remodeling and I hope they do so long term as the buildings are starting to show some wear for sure. It might need a major influx in cash to return it to its historic glory. Here is the non-affiliate link if you want to check it out. https://4seasonsresort.com/

Avid IHG Hotel Review – Madison Wisconsin

January 11, 2020 DaninMCI hotel review, hotels, Travel, trip review Avid hotels, business hotels, holiday inn, holiday inn express, hotel points, hotel review, hotels, IHG, Madison Wisconsin, points and miles, Travel, travel blogger, trip review, Wisconsin

I had a recent business trip that required a stay in Madison Wisconsin. Thankfully the weather was mild and almost warm for January in Madison. I picked one of the new IHG brands that just launched, called Avid. I didn’t bother to read the press releases they have done on this so I’m not sure what they are trying to achieve.

My impression is that it’s a minimalist Euro Budget approach. Something like a cross between an Ibis and Holiday Inn Express. This property opened on December 19th, 2019 so it is only a couple of weeks old. It’s hard not to like a brand new property of any type. I’ll be interested to see what it’s like in say 3 years but I guess that’s on the local management to keep it in good shape.

I liked the free breakfast offering that has self service hot sandwiches that seemed to be really good quality. They also have self service cereals, fruit and a good selection of items that all seem fresh.

I also really like the higher end Bunn self service coffee machines but I think they missed a chance to add a high end self service espresso / cappuccino type unit in this area. It just seems like a natural fit to have a Nespresso or Illy type machine in addition to what they have on offer. Not a big deal though.

This Avid hotel has a 24 hour fitness center with nice new equipment. No swimming pool which is fine for this property. Free parking at this location and they offer a grab and go market store in the lobby that had a lot of soda, bottled waters, snacks, etc. Overall a nice concept. I think adding a small bistro lobby bar sort of like Hyatt Place or some Holiday Inn Expresses in Europe have would be a bonus but not a big deal.

The rooms are nice because they are new and also well arranged. They are small. Not Clubquarters small but about half the size of many USA Holiday Inn Express properties. They offer laminate flooring much like the latest HIX designs from IHG. My room had a shower and no bathtub. I assume all the rooms are shower only which I like.

PRO’s – Nice new fun concept.

Simple brand with good service and clean.

Price point seemed to be lower than other hotels at time of my stay.

Free parking.

24 hour fitness center.

Free breakfast with good food. Great staff.

CON’s – No bar soap. I don’t love it but I “get” the virtue-signaling / cost savings of the bulk shampoo and soap bottles in the shower but bar soap is a must for me. This is a big negative in my world and such a simple thing to make right.

TV was good but didn’t seem easy to stream your own content or watch Netflix, Crackle, etc. Marriott seems to be a leader in this area. Not a big deal.

Rooms a bit noisy with somewhat thin walls and the typical self slamming doors. Not a big deal but could be a killer if around those with lack of an indoor voice or door slamming habits.

Overall I really love this hotel (other than the bar soap issue). I would stay here or at other Avid’s again but I need to remember to pack my own bar soap for some odd reason #brokenrecord. I’m not sure we really need another hotel brand but I could learn to love Avid hotels.

Photo Review of Holiday Inn Elgin Illinois

November 27, 2019 DaninMCI hotel points, hotel review, hotels, Travel, trip review Chicago, Elgin, holiday inn, hotel review, hotels, IHG

This quick photo review of the Holiday Inn hotel Elgin reflects the good clean rooms and a nice hotel.

Pros include updated clean rooms with good staff service. Great location just North of the Interstate.

Cons include lack of evening room service even from the Bennigans on the lobby. They do offer breakfast room service but lack of dinner is bad because there aren’t a lot of restaurants in the area.

How To Easily Search Radisson Award Nights by Category

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019 DaninMCI hotel points, hotels, miles, Travel award bookings, award nights, award search, country inn, hotel points, hotels, radisson, radisson blu

Many times to find an award night for hotel points or certificates you have to find the location then drill into the reservations and then find out the number of points required or the category level for free night certificates, etc.

Radisson makes this much easier than some hotel chains:

First, click on “Benefits & Rewards” along the top banner. It might be helpful to be logged in as well.

Then Click on “Redeem” on right middle of the page.

Then click on “Award Night Stays”

Then it will open up a page that shows award category levels and how many points are needed for a standard or premium room. Basic award chart. But what makes this award chart extra nice is that if you click the hidden link at the top of each column it will open up the list of hotels by category worldwide.

So, for example, click on “Category 1” and will give you a page that shows the hotels by region for that point and Cat level as shown here:

There you go. Sure for points veterans, this is simple stuff and 101 level but as somewhat of a Radisson fan I really like this feature for booking hotel awards on my upcoming travels. I’m a very visual reference learner and enjoy this feature a lot as it’s so simple.

IHG 2nd Quarter Accelerate Promo Now Live but….

May 2, 2019 DaninMCI Contest, hotels, miles, Travel business travel, holiday inn, holiday inn express, hotel, hotel points, hotels, IHG, promo, Travel

In case you’re not familiar IHG Hotels has for many years run a quarterly bonus point earning promo called Accelerate. It has been decent for many years however it is targeted and seems to track how often you stay at IHG. So in other words, if you don’t stay at IHG hotels (Holiday Inn’s, etc.) often then you tend to get really good offers. Like “Stay 1 Night and earn 4,000 bonus points” or whatever. If you stay at a lot of IHG hotels the offers tend to get harder to achieve but also may offer greater rewards. For example “Stay 26 nights this quarter and get 20,000 bonus points” or whatever.

IHG says:

Complete your customized offers now and get your points. With offers designed for the way you like to travel, Accelerate helps you experience more of life. Earn bonus points, get rewards, and make every stay count more.

How does it work?

1. Book and stay at any IHG® hotel around the world from now until August 31.
2. Earn bonus points to use for great rewards and moments that matter.

So we get to:

Have: Customized offers, great (See above)

Offers that are designed for “the way you like to travel”, Apparently not the way others like to travel for me to travel the way I do or something.

“Experience more of life”. Apparently by staying at IHG hotels “life” is more of an “Experience”

And we get to “make every stay count more”.

All sounds great unless you get a crappy offer like my wife did this year.

Here is her offer:

OK let’s say you aren’t familiar with this promo and think this is a great offer. That would be good if you didn’t know that my wife usually has an Accelerate promo worth like 50,000 points but can be hard to reach. She stays about 100 nights a year in hotels so targeting 24 nights’ish in a quarter to get some bonus works for her and IHG. This promo is so low AND requires her to stay for leisure to obtain it. Since she is a business traveler she doesn’t usually stay over on Saturday night. She doesn’t usually book for points & cash and uses a business credit card. Kind of disappointed.

Before you accuse me of kicking the gift horse that IHG Accelerate usually provides I will point out the offer I got below. Why is mine better? Because IHG had done the same to me in early 2018 and I moved all my stays over to Marriott in early 2018 to try and reset the clock with IHG. Good plan right? Sure except I found out that I REALLY like Marriott. In the marketing world, I would consider that a failure. So by IHG having targeted promo’s that punish loyal customers (11,600 versus 60,100) it can backfire I think.

I won’t bring up the registration process issues on this latest promo. Mine worked fine and my wife’s didn’t load until after May 1st. Not sure why. I assume IT issues and not that they more closely reviewed her’s for extra crappy-ness.

Anyway. I urge you to register if you even think you’ll stay at an IHG hotel soon.

How does it work?

1. Sign up for Accelerate.
2. Book and stay at any of your favorite IHG® hotels from May 1, 2019, and August 31, 2019.
3. Earn bonus points to use for great rewards.

You can sign up for the latest promotion by June 18, 2019, and each offer must be completed between 5/1/18 and May 1, 2019, and August 31, 2019.

Photo Review of Marriott Town Place Suites McKinney Texas

November 29, 2018 DaninMCI hotel review, hotels, Travel, trip review hotel, hotel review, hotels, marriott, marriott Rewards, McKinney Texas, texas, townplace suites, travel review

Nothing too surprising to report at this typical Townplace Suites. I enjoy this Marriott brand as the hotels are laid out nice and fit my travel needs well. I wish they could redesign the weird closets at these hotels but I “get” the purpose for extended stay folks. This location has somewhat small TVs and lacks the Netflix internet TV option. Other than that the service was great and spotlessly clean. This hotel is well located for runners with good sidewalks and trails not far away. Also near shopping and restaurants. I’d stay here again for sure.