My kids have traveled as writers in eight states and four countries, logging more miles before the age of 10 than many adults… one thing we know is a good hotel, and this place is the cat’s pajamas.
The comfort and appointments are easy to describe. They’re basically the best. The Hampton Inn is a Hilton Hotels brand property, and like all it’s siblings (Embassy Suites, Hilton Gardens, Hilton and Hampton Inn) they’re just top notch.
The staff are incredibly helpful, the rooms are immaculate, stylish and comfortable, and the list of complementary services is long. I’ll stake my name to Hampton Inns or Embassy Suites any day.
Hiltons are nice, I suppose, if you’re 70 and want to pay $20 bucks a day for your wifi. I’m not sure who Hiltons cater to, exactly, but Hamptons give you the same quality for about half the net price.
The downtown Boise Hampton Inn has 186 rooms throughout its eleven floors. The building itself was only build in 2007, so it’s perfectly modern and fresh.
It’s in the heart of the revitalized downtown corridor so there’s tons to do within walking distance. Two movie theaters within a block, maybe ten restaurants. Very lively, but no thumping night clubs to keep you awake.
Like every Hampton I’ve been to, it has hot breakfast from 6:00 to 10:00 each morning, and it’s the biggest spread you’re likely to find. Waffles, fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereal, hot items that rotate each day, juice, coffee and you name it. Right there you’re saving time and money by not having to stop and buy breakfast.
There’s an indoor pool on the fifth floor which is both kid accessible (shallow, partitioned area with water play features,) and accessible to person with physical difficulty getting in or out of the pool (chair lift of sorts.)
The fitness room is as big as I’ve seen in a hotel, and the 24-hour business center has basically everything you need to print, staple, highlight, 3-hole punch or otherwise polish your paperwork.
There’s also 3,200 square feet of meeting space, all divisible into event-appropriate sizes.
This property even offers the 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if something goes wrong, you don’t pay. People upstairs keep you up all night? They agree that you shouldn’t be on the hook for your room. They’re that committed to excellence that they just want you to come back.
But it’s the extra-mile service that really impresses me. The business center doesn’t have cardstock, which I wanted. Didn’t need it, but wanted it. They went behind the counter and rustled up the four sheets for me, no problem.
The onsite parking is in the four-story garage, which is a city owned lot. The parking is only $10/day, which is fair to good for any downtown. The Four Seasons charges more than that for parking, and so does every Hilton I’ve ever seen. They could either let you pay it yourself or roll it into the cost of the room. It’s fairer this way since not everyone has a car, so they shouldn’t need to pay more for their rooms.
If you’re traveling with little ones, the free breakfast, fresh cookies in the evening and swimming pool are all huge pluses, but the biggest one we got was that instead of taking a double-queen, we got a double-queen suite. Two beds plus a fold-out couch. So nice for a group larger than four.
It’s priced a step above Super 8, but it’s not even remotely in the same class.
Hampton Inn & Suites Boise – Downtown is located at 495 S. Capitol Boulevard, Boise, Idaho.
EDIT: We had many, many more photos, but due to the loss of our camera mid-trip to the tech gods, we only had our massive panorama from the Double Queen Suite, so all photos come from that single shot. Our deepest apologies.
