Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel Madison - Madison

This hotel needs a major up date!!!!!

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Was decent motel for the money. staff was helpful and considerate. The pool was nice and warm for an indoor pool. The buffet was enjoyable with good variety. Only issue was the hot tub had so much chlorine it burned my eyes. rooms in the 200"s were a bit harder to find. I would stya there again. nice clean room with the ammenities.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

great hotel, nice that the price is competitive - lower would be appreciated, would like a mini fridge, very nice staff, cleanliness, great pool, will return! :)

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

I thought by the online pictures and the lobby the place would be nice. I had to ask for another room because the mattress in the first room was as hard as a brick. when we went to get in the pool there were at least 30 people who were taking swim lessons which meant we could only use half the pool. the hallway walls and floor are so dirty you should […] not dare to touch them. The hot tub area is gross and dirty. To top it off, I found people in my room and cleaning it before I could get all my stuff . I had not checked out and the Do Not Disturb sign was on the door. The breakfast was good. However, I will never stay at this hotel again. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

My two day stay with my wife was marvelous. Thanks to excellent customer service by Michael at the breakfast. He made sure everybody was served by providing almost everything we needed and we were all happy. I will always come back.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

So accommodating..our wi-fi didn't work so they let us switch rooms! Airport/ breakfast guy was awesome! All staff was exceptional!!!! Hotel is in a sketchy area but we would stay again because of the staff!! Thank you!!! Breakfast was good,pool and hit tub awesome our kids had a blast! We were on our way home from Iowa and stayed at new hotel and it […] was awful! So this was so refreshing! Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

It was an average hotel. Needs some updating. Staff was okay. Nice to have free shuttle to arirport,

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

For the price, it was acceptable. However, there were some problems: most of the time no one was at the front desk. We had to wait for something behind the door to come out every time we were at the front desk. There was vomit right out side the door's entrance. The hallways smelled like vomit as well. Mattresses were old. Room TVs were old. The rooms […] themselves were clean. Not super happy, but eh, for the price and location, it is probably one of the better deals. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

It was good for the price. Breakfast was wonderful. Pool is quite large. Staff was very nice and helpful.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Unimpressed. I liked the location and the fact that there was free wifi, but I had to move to three different rooms before I finally got a room that I could connect. Then, I couldn't get into my room the second day. They had rekeyed my room. Finally, I walked all over the hotel to find an ice machine that worked and I finally found one.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Overall, a good stay. It wasnt the fanciest place, but it was a great value for the money. Proximity to the airport was great. Shuttle to the airport was on demand - we scheduled it the night before and departed promptly on time. Overall, I was very satisfied.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

The front desk person was unprofessional and not very personable. When we got into our room it was freezing cold. We needed to keep the heat on high for hours until it was warm enough. Once it was warm, it got hot in the room and we couldn’t get a consistent temperature out of the heating unit. If the heating unit was set too low it blew cold air. When […] I would turn it up slightly, the temperature became hot. Needless to say I didn’t sleep very well. The room also had an outdated TV and in room coffee maker. The mattress was like a trampoline. It may have a good location, but that’s about all it has going for it. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Service was good but room was awful. Matresses were very old and stained with something that looked like dried blood. TV was about 20 years and picture was so dark that I could not see it. Towels were old and dingy, I went out and brought my own towels because I did not feel comfortable using theirs. Very good breakfast and pool was nice and clean.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

The staff was gracious, and helpful. The breakfast buffet manager was very friendly and the maintenance was quick to replace the blow-dryer that didn't work. The room was dirty with cigarette burns on the toilet seat and the sink. The box spring was stained--very nasty, and the mattress was spongy and old. The pillows were inadequate--bring your own! […] Our hall smelled constantly of incense, I'm guessing from other guests who may light up. Having a grocery store right next door was a bonus! Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

My first assigned room looked as though some swat team had "tossed" it. I asked the front desk for another room and inquired if they had more modern up-dated rooms. She said they were all of the same quality. My replacement room was only different in that it was not tossed. Hotel in all is worn, dated and shabby. The pool was not usable because it was […] rented out for children's swim lessons. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

They have a large swimming pool. I which I had brought my suit. Great breakfast included: sausage, eggs, potatoes. Staff was nice. Large shopping center close by. Only 10 minutes from the Monona Terrace conference center downtown in Madison WI. A very easy drive downtown and leaving town.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

We stayed here while visiting friends in the Madison area, the hotel room was very clean and we have no complaints. The remainder of the hotel was okay but needs updating, the hallways were very cold while walking through. The location is great to get into downtown Madison.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

The hotel was very clean, has the largest indoor pool in Madison, a large arcade for kids and a very adequate buffet breakfast. When I checked into my King room, I turned the heater on high and after an hour and a half it was still cold in the room. I called housekeeping and asked for an extra blanket. When the executive housekeeper, Tonia, brought […] up my blanket, she noticed the chill in the room and promptly moved me to another room which warmed up immediately. The next morning, it was also Tonia who gave me excellent directions! As for all the choices of hotels in Madison, this is somewhere I will stay again. Thanks, Tonia!! Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Nice people, nice and clean room, very nice breakfast, kids love the swimming pool, if needed will defiantly come back

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Very basic hotel. Clean. Easy to get to the airport.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

the carpets throughout the hotel were stained. the walls inside the jacuzzi/pool area were cracked and warped.

Genuine Expedia guest review

Nice stay for the money! Pool was nice. Hot tub refreshing. Good enough for overnight. Bed was comfy!

Genuine Expedia guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Well as soon as we entered our room we could tell that the heat was off. It was probably 60 degrees in the room and the temperature outside was 5 degrees. We turned the heat and it took over several hours to warm it up. If you have guest coming than make sure the heat it on! Not a comfortable night. No extra rooms either.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

To start with we were visiting for our father's funeral and asked that the four brothers have rooms near each other. We ended up in rooms 127, 142, 162, and 211 covering all four wings and two floors. The internet only worked in the room above the lobby. When we called we were told that it really only worked well in the lobby. One night a large group […] of people monopolized the pool and trashed the game room, no one from the hotel seemed to have any control at all. The next day the pool table in the game room tilted to one side and the air hockey table had a number of marks on the surface and one of the goals was so loose the puck kept getting stuck. The continental breakfast was very good and the cook was quite bubbly and really made it a fun experience. Most of the ice machines were not working. Generally the hallways were in poor shape with wallpaper falling off and smelling like smoke even in non smoking areas. With a little effort this could be a nice place, the bar was nice, when open (closed for Sunday football!), with good food, bartender, and pool table (once we located a cue ball). Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

This was the first time we took our dog with us for an overnight hotel stay, and it all went well. I was a little concerned at first, because I could hear a small dog barking periodically from within a room a few doors down the hallway and thought it might upset our dog, but the blower on the wonderfully warm heater had a nice, soft white sound that […] overrode any noise outside of our room's walls. The warm heater was soooo nice and appreciated, because the night that we stayed, the temperature outside was around 0 degrees F. The breakfast was yummy, and the staff member who attends the buffet was extremely friendly and helpful. There is a Hyvee grocery store next door, and we enjoyed a delicious hot meal from their buffet/deli/kitchen for a very reasonable price. We spent a little time in the hot tub and pool. The hot tub temperature was on the high side of being comfortable, but the pool was clean and is actually quite large. Bed was comfy, wi-fi service fine too. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Very good, overall. Check-in clerk spoke poor English. Driveway was very icy, bumpy, & poorly snowplowed./

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

If you are looking for a cheap hotel, and do not care about the quality of your stay, than this place is okay. Some of the bad aspects are that the towels smell like bleach with fragrance added, and if you turn the heat on, you better have good earplugs, as it is very loud. Also, to get to some of the rooms you have to go down a few stairs, which is […] not easy if you have heavy luggage. The good thing is that it is near the Madison airport. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Items left in room from past guests. Towels and bedding were stained, There were towels which were ripped and shredding. I do not expect these types of cleanliness issues at a hotel. If the item is stained after it's washed they should be replacing the items.

Genuine Expedia guest review

The staff were very accommodating and helpful amidst Winter Storm Draco and the havoc it caused for travelers just before Xmas. The pool is spacious and there is an arcade for kids, too. There was a strange odor (sort of sewer-ish) in the hallway off of the reception area. Also, we had the room closest to the entrance to the rooms on the first floor. […] Kind of noisy because everytime it opened we could hear it and it was squeaky. Again, the staff were super and allowed us to keep our luggage at the hotel while we went to run a few errands. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

I stayed in this hotel during the recent snow storm. The hotel was affordable and offered amenities that much higher priced hotels offer. The facilities were in good shape but slightly dated. The service was exceptional. The breakfast attendant was the happiest person who I ever met and the bar tender was great too. There were no restaurants or pizza […] places open so he was super busy but very friendly. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

close to highway, good breakfast, nice staff.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

hotel in dire need to cleaning and updating

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

nice breakfast should have people at the front desk when you walk in

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

It's a decent place, nothing special but plenty adequate for an overnight visit. Friendly staff, generous breakfast, decent location, good price. Honestly, reading some of these reviews it seems like there are a lot of people checking into budget hotels in Madison expecting an experience on par with staying at the Pfister or the Four Seasons.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Great stay - will stay again. This is an older hotel - older carpet, older furnishings, all could use an update. But if you are looking for an inexpensive place to stay in Madison, great location, with nice staff and a good hot breakfast in the morning - this is the place to stay. Swimming pool is indoors and large, our kids had fun! The cook even sang […] for guests - made for an entertaining breakfast! Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

The hotel left something to be desired, but the rooms were nice and clean and a good size. It was hard to control the temperature in our room so it was either really hot or really cold. (November) But overall, I would go back. It was in a nice, safe location.

Genuine Expedia guest review

I have almost nothing but good things to say about this place. Free breakfast in the morning, huge stiff beds (I like a firm mattress), tremendous triple windows, and heaters like industrial blast furnaces for those bitter cold Wisconsin winters. In particular, I want to thank Mike (hello~, if you can see this!) for making me feel welcome there, after […] having come out all alone with my entire life in a suitcase :) And Kyle, for helping me with the problem discussed below. My one complaint is that the wifi, and indeed the network setup in total, is not well-managed. Everything's unencrypted, not even WEP, and the routers have the default username and password on them. More worrying, though, is that the signal doesn't reach most of the rooms, due to the staff cheaping out and using bottom-of-the-barrel N150-class routers. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

I had a tax exempt issue that I tried to talk to the staff about, they sent me to Hotels.com and then when I was working with Hotels.com to resolve the issue, Howard Johnsons was unwilling to work with us.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Just stayed the other day. My fiance, me and a friend stayed just for a night. It was quite clean and comfortable. The staff was great. Everything was great especially the price.

Genuine Expedia guest review

rooms really rundown and the hallways need some big improvement but your people were very nice other than that nothin to write home about sorry

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

The pool, breakfast, and gaming room was excellent. Rooms were OK, rather on the older side, but well maintained.

Genuine Expedia guest review

The room was clean and comfortable; staff was very friendly; the buffet breakfast was very good. The condition of the hotel seems in need of upkeep in some areas; hall carpets are very stained; the door key system is definetly in need of some upkeep; the key cards would have to be tried multiple times to get the lock to open.

Genuine Expedia guest review