It has been over eight years since my original review of Muncie, Indiana's Courtyard by Marriott at…read moreHorizon Convention Center
Since that time, I've stayed in the hotel any time I return to Muncie and it has become a regular part of my travel routine within Indiana. The hotel is a Marriott franchisee owned by Arc of Indiana, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The hotel is a "teaching" hospital and plays host to the Erskine-Green Training Institute - Indiana's first statewide hospitality training center for individuals with disabilities. The goal is to train folks with disabilities for a competitive wage jobs. The hotel itself is a for profit project that provides an immersive training ground for those interested in hospitality industry jobs.The hotel is contractually obligated to have at least 20% of its employees be persons with disabilities.
While Scott Wise's Thr3e Wisemen Brewery was part of the hotel in the beginning, it has been replaced by a similarly themed 1925 Pubhouse that also serves as a training restaurant for Erskine-Green.
Opened in December 2015, this Courtyard is a six-floor hotel that is attached to Thr3e Wisemen, the Muncie Children's Museum and the Horizon Convention Center. Originally targeted for the old Roberts Hotel, which was snatched up and turned into condos before the project was greenlighted, the hotel ended up being built on land donated by the city of Muncie.
During training, Erskine-Green Training Institute students stay at the hotel, unless they are relatively local and commute, while in their 10-13 week training programs. This also means, of course, that this Courtyard is one of the most accessible hotels you can imagine. Truly. It offers a variety of accessibility options in the majority of its rooms including wheelchair accessibility, roll-in showers, and adaptive equipment for both visual and hearing impairments. Some of the rooms even have automated doors (though, ironically, mine wasn't working during my most recent stay).
The hotel was recently renovated as it nears its 10th anniversary. It offers spacious rooms, contemporary/clean decor, a fair pricing point, an in-house bistro that offers breakfast and dinner, an around-the-clock Starbucks option (not full menu), a nice and wheelchair friendly pool, a fitness center, and even a check-in center that has been made accessible.
You should know, as it's a tad confusing, that the parking in front of the hotel actually belongs to the new condos. Don't park there. They seem a tad moody. Instead, there's a parking garage behind the hotel where guests park for free (It's $1 an hour if you're just visiting).
There's no doubt my affection for Erskine-Green somewhat skews my rating, and I'll acknowledge that while I seldom have any issues on this visit the automatic door didn't work (and it's quite heavy without the automatic feature) and a packed house due to a convention clearly had the staff a bit overwhelmed. Minor quibbles (though having stayed from Friday evening to Sunday, I was a bit bothered that no one bothered to address the automatic door). On the plus side, a previous tip I'd made to lower the bed had actually been implemented. Bravo.
As this is centrally located in downtown, the hotel attracts a variety of traveling guests, businesses, and others. On one visit, I even met the duo from Air Supply in town for a concert (If you don't know Air Supply, move on - I'm old. Get over it).
The meeting rooms were nicely equipped, there were charging stations all over the place and even more since the recent renovation added charging stations at tables. Profits from this hotel go to benefit the Erskine-Green Training Institute and other ARC projects. So, you have a terrific room at a fair price with great service and you're supporting a great organization working to put folks with disabilities in the workforce.
It really doesn't get much better than that.