Lodging Review: Hampton Inn Bellevue/I-40 West

I went home to Nashville for both Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as a weekend in between when a family member was in the hospital. On each occasion I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Bellevue which is right off I-40. It’s a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence winner and it’s easy to see why.

Each time I arrived I was greeted warmly, recognized as a Diamond member and allowed to choose two items from the selection of snacks and water. All the staff members I interacted with were very friendly and were good at their jobs.

Ground Floor

The front desk is immediately on the right when entering via the front door. Across from the desk is this seating area used mostly at breakfast but sometimes in the evenings I’d see families assembled here. The French doors in the back lead to the hotel’s only conference room.

From the front desk it’s a short walk down this hall to the elevators, which are the first left turn here. There’s another outside door in this lobby. It leads both to the pool and to more parking.

The gym and laundry room are the next two doors on the left past the elevators. The gym is tiny and seems to be as large as one guest room. The laundry was likewise as small. Both are open 6 AM to Midnight.

The pool was closed for the season but it does have a lift to assist the mobility-challenged in and out of the water.

Guest Rooms

I selected a king room for myself and in one case was given a corner room at the end of the hall during one stay and in the other two cases was assigned a room in the middle of the hall. The corner room seemed to be ever-so-slightly larger than the ones in the middle of the hall. For what it’s worth the hotel was much busier at Thanksgiving than on a Sunday night in mid-December or over Christmas. As such there was a bit more “people” noise during that stay than during the others. My corner room faced west, toward the soccer fields, and there was definitely less outside traffic noise than on the east side. However, if you’re there during youth soccer games it could be a bit noisy and during the summer I would imagine the room would get quite warm if you don’t keep the curtains closed because it would get the afternoon sun.

I exited the elevator into a small lobby. All rooms are to the left and the ice and vending machines were to the right.

This is not a large hotel and the hallway extends about the same distance in each direction. I love the decor and suspect it’s been fairly recently renovated.

The room had a fairly standard layout: a short entry hall with the bathroom on the right followed by a closet, then opens up into the area with the bed, sofa, desk and TV. The entry area and bathroom are not carpeted while the bedroom area is.

The king bed was very comfortable and came with four pillows. I used the foam pillow stored in the closet as I find those let me sleep cooler at night.

Each side of the bed had a nightstand. On one side the electrical outlets were embedded in the lamp base.

While on the other side there was an outlet on the front of the nightstand. Both nightstands had a pull-out shelf which was a good place to rest a phone or tablet overnight.

Next to the bed was a small sofa with a little table that could be used for dining or as a desk.

Across from the sofa was a desk. The lamp had an outlet in the base. The chair was not comfortable for working for any length of time.

Across from the bed was a large cabinet with the TV sitting on top of it.

Inside the cabinet was the empty mini-fridge and some slide-out drawers for storage. The center section is not behind doors and contained a microwave and the coffee and tea supplies.

To the left of the cabinet was an attached table and underneath were two rolling padded stools.

The closet was behind a full-length mirror and had a number of coat hangers, a luggage rack, the iron and ironing board, an additional blanket and the foam pillow.

In the bathroom, the sink was on the right, against the hallway wall. Lots of counter space and underneath there’s a shelf running the full width of the unit.

Toiletries were by Neutrogena. They had a slightly perfume-y scent but not too much.

The toilet was in the middle of the room with the towel rack behind it. I liked that some compartments were left open and the two hooks on either side up on the wall were handy as well.

On the left was a shower/tub combo. The showerhead was by Water Pik and could be adjusted to provide a number of different spray patterns, which was nice. What wasn’t as nice was that the head itself couldn’t be adjusted much at all. In one of the bathrooms I kept hitting my elbow on the grab bar due to where I had to stand to be under the spray. It would be nice if that could be changed as well.

Breakfast

Breakfast is complimentary at Hampton Inns and is served from 6 to 10 AM. While it’s not a large spread, there was a decent choice. There are hot selections that vary a little each day. In the photo below tortillas are shown but on other days there were good ol’ Southern biscuits. Eggs, potatos and bacon were in the hot tray on this particular day. Oatmeal was a staple too as was French toast. There were a couple types of pressed juice, smoothies, yogurt and fresh fruit. There were three different types of cereal with your choice of skim or 2% milk. Several types of juices are available in the machine. Pastries and toast are on offer as well. And, like any good breakfast at a limited service property, there was a waffle machine.

All the items above were in a small room near the kitchen.  The hot drink station was at the back of the dining area, near the conference room, I assume so it could do double-duty.

Business Center

There was a small business center with a couple of computers right next to the breakfast area.

In the end

This hotel is super-convenient to my family and I’d have no trouble staying here again. The staff is very friendly and for me the location can’t be beat.