Eccentric. Unique. Fun. If I had to choose three words to describe this hotel-that would be it. I stayed at the hotel in March on my Alpha Phi Omega trip. I remember looking up the hotel on Google and thinking “wow, this is different!” I was super excited to go to this hotel because I was so used to going to Hilton’s or Marriott’s.

Me and my friend Liza checked into our room and were immediately in awe by how different it was from other hotels we stayed at. I remember her words, “this is crazy!” On the bathroom wallpaper was a black man who looked like he was from the 70’s with an afro. My key card which was of Nipsey Russell (they are keepsakes). Other things were the furniture (all geometrical), an old telephone from the era of the 50’s or so, a picture of a monkey aiming a toy gun at a cowboy, etc.

I wanted to walk around real bad…so I did. We found many different things such as a car, distinctive decor, and saw the restaurant and bar. The lobby was especially unique with all eclectic furniture and a wall that looked like a mural. I honestly felt like a kid in a candy store wanting to see and grab or sit in everything.

Basic Info on the hotel: It’s fun because it’s in college town. It is near the nursing section of the University of Cincinnati. They have two options: ‘Fiona’s’ (named after the hippo at the Cincy Zoo) and Poindexter Coffee (where I went) and are both located right near the entrance. They have a gym and complimentary bike rentals (as they should). Also, the hotel is located 10 minutes away from downtown (which I tried to walk to at 10pm but that’s a whole different story lol). The hotel is also huge!

There were many many conference rooms. All of which could sit around 15-20.

Poindexter Coffee was good-rather average. But I was on 5 hours of sleep so I wasn’t really paying attention. What I had was a cappuccino, salmon avocado toast, and breakfast burrito. The cappuccino was ‘meh,’ the salmon avo toast was decent with the EVOO and lemon juice drizzled over it, and the breakfast burrito was ‘okay, nothing special.’ But, then again, this is hotel food so my expectations weren’t high.

The photo above is of the main bathroom. Liza came out saying we (our APO group) had to see it. One by one we went in and stood looking at the uniqueness of the restroom. Lol, sorry I know that’s weird but c’est la vie.

You might be asking: Bella, what did you do for fun outside of the hotel?

Well, let me answer. We went to Piada’s (about a 10 minute walk) and looked at all of the campus buildings. I don’t remember what exactly they were but I’m positive they had something to do with psych. I, at night, walked around some part of the campus. Charming campus. Lot’s of windows. When I tried to walk the hour’s walk to downtown I turned around 20 minutes in because Siri had me going through alleyways and I was like “nope” and turned around. I had to go through some neighborhoods. Let’s just say not the greatest. If you are desperate to be downtown-walk in the day or drive. Do not walk alone at night. We also went to the Cincy zoo on a whim. The zoo is large and full of an array of animals (no shit, Bella). It took us 5 hours to walk through it all.

What more could you say about a hotel? It was spacious, had amusing decor, in a great area, etc. This was a fun experience and I enjoyed being there. I did experience some interesting people next door who had wild sex then argued both in the day and at 3 AM! Did they have a better experience in 3-7 minutes than I did in a day in a half? Maybe? Haha.

Overall, this hotel mixed old-timey college feel with the modernity of now and somehow it all blended well together. Because of the environment of the hotel interior and the exterior location I truly felt like a Bearcat myself.

https://www.graduatehotels.com/cincinnati/hotel/