Description: The name of the hotel is pronounced "Ath-en-nay-um," and they will correct you any time you pronounce it "Ath-en-nee-um."
Our rooms were amazing. We had non-smoking rooms on the sixth floor--and not just smoking-covered-up-with-air-freshener non-smoking, but never-been-smoked-in non-smoking. Each room is a suite, with a living room/desk area and a bathroom on the "first floor," and then a bedroom a few steps below. My room was equipped with two queen beds, two TVs (one for each level), and a minibar (very pricy, as all minibars are--$2.50 for a soda, $2.50 for a candy bar, etc.) The beds were comfy enough, however, the pillows started out really fluffy, but turned flat once you laid down on them.
The staff was also exceptional. The bellman opened the doors for you, the front desk called with the nicest wake-up calls, and the shuttle-bus drivers were great conversationalists. One even drove me to the CVS and waited for me to run in and get some NyQuil for my Detroit-inspired cold. They also went way out of their way to drive us to the Motown Museum, which was, alas, closed for renovations.
The Atheneum is located in Greektown, downtown Detroit. It has an adjacent casino--the Greektown Casino--and a restaurant--Fishbone's Rhythm Kitchen Cafe. It was pretty convenient to the Cobo Center, where the Detroit Auto Show was in full swing, but other than that, I can't imagine what else would compel someone to stay in that location--except for business reasons.
I did have a few beefs with the place. First, the lobby had a bar which wasn't closed off, so the lobby and hallways were very smoky. Second, we had requested the hotel specifically because it boasted high-speed Internet access--invaluable for the job we were doing. That high-speed connection consisted of one connection to one lobby computer that we could never get to work.
The rooms were about $190 a night. Room service was a bit pricey (a $7 slice of cheesecake?) but what room service isn't?
I'd give the rooms themselves an 8 out of 10, the staff a 9 out of 10, convenience (for business purposes) a 7, convenience (for anything else) a 5, and finally, Internet-access a 1.
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