If you are attending a conference at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, this is…read morea conveniently located hotel since it's essentially part of the Ross School and it's within easy walking distance to restaurants and shops.
It is a clean, quiet, modern, and green hotel that is perfect for the business traveler. There is a fitness room and lounge areas, and an awesome market on the first floor that has excellent coffee, friendly staff, and probably the best steel cut oatmeal for only $1.50! I also liked the fact that it had an easy-to-use coffee maker with Green Mountain Coffee, Tea, and Hot Chocolate, and you had free bottled water that was always replenished. The housekeeping staff was excellent.
I'm refraining from giving it five stars for a few reasons.
First of all, the parking was inconvenient. The hotel is next to a parking lot that charges $1.50 per hour and there didn't seem to be a way out of this (in fact, my room overlooked the top level of the parking lot, which was painful considering I couldn't park there!). So, guests were encouraged to park on the streets, but there was no loading/unloading/check-in zone in front of the hotel. The residential area is gorgeous and safe, but the only reason why I found any parking at all (sometimes in excess of two blocks away, which is tough with luggage) was because school wasn't in session yet. Fortunately, I wasn't fighting with students over parking spots.
Second of all, this really is for business travelers. The beds were 3 inches smaller than a normal queen and there were no other size beds--so don't plan on bringing guests if you want a good night sleep! Otherwise, the beds are super comfy.
Thirdly, the rooms were small, but not quite NYC small. It was comfortable enough, as long as you don't expect to spend much time there during the day.
Finally, the fitness room could stand to have more equipment. It was very clean with a fridge full of water in environmentally friendly bottles, but it filled up fast by 6am if the hotel was at capacity.
I expected more for $150/night in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but you do pay for convenience. Also, you can't beat how friendly and helpful the folks are in Michigan!