We decided to head out of NYC to visit colonial Newport, Rhode Island for a relaxing country weekend. We hit every obstacle along the way to Newport - including massive accidents all over the road, followed by getting completely lost in Rhode Island, the hotel was so helpful. It was around 10pm when we knew we wouldn't be arriving until much later - we called and asked to have dinner waiting in our room. Even though we didn't know the menu the girl (Theresa I believe) was so helpful recommending dishes to have for us.
Then when we were lost for an hour or so, we called again and John talked us through the entire drive to the hotel. When we arrived he said if the food in the room was too cold/didn't look good to let him know and they would remove it from our bill. When we got to the HUGE lovely room, calamari, sliders, caesar salad and grilled cheese was waiting for us.
The room was great, the most comfortable bed EVER! There is a microwave, fridge and coffee machine as well as dishes, silverware, etc. We enjoyed the food and when we called to ask for some more soda it was brought up immediately. We brought our computer and were up on their wireless internet immediately - this was free. There were 2 TVs in the room one facing the bed, one facing the living room.
A minor complaint would be that the bedroom and living room locations should be swapped (you walk into the bedroom and the living room is on the other side of the room. The bathroom was great - very modern and they had L'Occitane products. Also a great hair dryer - not your standard crappy hotel dryer. There is an iron and ironing board in the huge walk in closet along with a safe. They leave you bottled water and creamer in the fridge and when they turn down your bed they leave you a cookie. The room also had a ton of books which came in handy when on Saturday a hurricane hit!
So back to Friday night, we watched some tv and fell asleep. When we woke up on Saturday it was horrible out- since a hurricane was hitting, we were limited in what to do - we walked around town a bit and had lunch at Buskers (it's just on the corner of Thames and Mary) - great Clam Chowder. Then we got some fudge and walked around. The wind was just too much so we came back to the hotel. We hung out in the room a bit - the lobby and the entire hotel is really nice and cozy with seats and books everywhere.
We decided to go swimming - there is a small pool in the basement (4feet deep throughout). It was very nice, a little cooler than I would have liked but so it goes. There was a sauna so we kept jumping in between. Everything was very clean and modern. The pool floor is a bit slippery though. I had wanted a massage but realize that the masseuses are not always at the hotel so by the time they found one and that person would have gotten there I was over it. There is a nice relaxation room in the basement with more books and Scrabble (we love Scrabble). There's also a very nicely equipped exercise room with water and towels. The pool towels are really nice too.
We then headed upstairs and ordered some wine (I had a really good glass of Riesling I think) and I took a luxurious bath. Something to note - the showerhead adjusted to height which I love because I'm short and most hotels don't have this.
For dinner we went to the Black Pearl - reservations are needed and the last seating is 8:15. Also, we ate in the nice room so nice clothing is required (collars for men, most men were in jackets though). The food was fabulous and pricey but we had no complaints - try the lobster bisque!
After that we found an Arcade on Thames and played around for a bit. Then we headed back to the hotel to change.
A note for all of you night owls, bars close at 1am. Coming from NYC where bars close at 4am this was a bit disappointing. We ended up just heading to Buskers since we knew it was close, knew the scene and it was raining again. We finished up the night there. When we got back to the hotel we had some drunk munchies and John was kind enough to order a pizza for us. We went to bed and woke up to a gorgeous day.
We ordered room service for breakfast (eggs, bacon, hash browns, and english muffins) all delicious. Then we had to pack up (note - 12pm check out, we tried to get late checkout but they said the room was booked.) When we checked out we saw we were charged $18 a day parking which I think is a bit steep when you are charging us $269 a night. I understand if non-guests want to use your lot but to charge guests is well, a bit tacky, especially that much, especially when we never used the valet parkers. The girl at the desk told us that I think room 313 or 310 is haunted.
After checking out we did a walking tour of town (I don't know the company name but it was Jim and Cindy and we took Newport 101). Well worth the price (I think less than $20 a person). We walked around town a bit more - headed up to the cliffs to do the cliff walk and see the mansions (a must if you are in this part) and then went home. All in all a great weekend even despite the hurricane!