Lamp Post Inn

The Lamp Post Inn is under new management and ownership and you can tell. They have updated and renovated 70% of the rooms. We stayed in a renovated room that was clean, open, and comfortable. The complimentary breakfast of coffee, juice, bagles, and cereal was appreciated.
The location was perfect. A $ 7 Über ride gets you downtown for the night, which is always worth it on a game day when parking costs are through the roof and you want to celebrate a Wolverine win at Ashley’s!
If you are looking to stay close to campus and save some money, we had a great experience. Be sure to ask for a renovated room!

We obviously must have had an old room that hasn’t been remodeled. From the dingy popcorn walls and sticky stained carpet to the front door that doesn’t completely close all the way– this hotel leaves a lot to be desired. I understand that $ 65/​night is a budget hotel in Ann Arbor but I expected more. Don’t be worried, the room is not dirty. It just feels unclean by how out dated everything is.

Great location and our room was clean and comfortable, all right for an older place. Breakfast was very skimpy and having the only ice machine in the office that locks up at night sucks. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

It’s not a luxury hotel, but we enjoyed a newly renovated room. The room was large, the beds comfortable, the flooring was clean and nice. Although we were only there to sleep one night, the stove (!), microwave and refrigerator were great features. The spaciousness of the room was nice. Negatives (and these are nit-​picky): TV too small, no blow dryer, and the blinds weren’t quite adequate for room darkening. The temperature control system was good and noisy enough to serve as white noise (in a good way).

This hotel has a convenient location to the campus and stadium. You can walk to the Trader Joes next door. There is also a fantastic drive through coffee hut across the street. The coffee in the room and lobby is not the best. If you like luxury and amenities, this is not the best place to stay. Although some of the rooms are updated, the building is old. The shower is very small. The towels are small. They do not have a DVD player. This is an affordable place to stay with a great location, not a five star hotel.

It is solid, basic lodging, at an unbeatable price. If you just need a place to sleep and a bathroom, not a concierge or luxury amenities, the Lamp Post is a solid choice, often around $ 50/​night, and closer to downtown/​campus than many of the more expensive chains. You can walk to the adjacent strip mall/​Trader Joe’s, Bearclaw Coffee across the street, County Farm Park (hiking trails), or further retail centers to the east. While not the most pedestrian oriented zone, you can meet most of your basic needs on foot. Route 4 bus ($ 1.50) to campus/​downtown stops across the street, and cabs/​Über rides around $ 10 or less if it is too late for the bus to be running.
My only complaint is the wifi was broken the first couple days, but otherwise it is a good value for the price, if unremarkable.

very poor customer service. horrible management team. please dont book this hotel. waste of money and time and leaves you with a bitter experience

There are new owners as of last month, we stayed here a few weeks or so after the new owners took over. We paid about $ 10+ more per night and got one of the remodeled rooms. They only had a couple done when we were there but they were worth the money! It was nicer than my last two or three stays at Hilton in Minneapolis recently and it was about $ 100 less for the room! I am planning on staying here next time, with the location and price you can’t touch it.

The old Lamp Post needs a new light bulb (see what I did there?). Went here with a group of guys for a football weekend. Price was right ($ 149 per night for a popular game) but the old girl needs some TLC. I read something in the lobby that the place was under new management and changes were coming, and that’s good. Room was very basic but pretty clean. Bathroom hadn’t been updated in quite some time. Pillows were paper chip thin. Heating system belched and burped all night (oh, that was me?). Continental breakfast was very basic (bagels, toast, instant oatmeal, cereal, juices) but hey, it was free. I may try it again, but then again…

Not so much… Paid over $ 140 for the room, there was mold coming out of the air conditioner all night so I woke up with a bad headache, the tub was very unappealing and the carpet was frayed and had glue or something hard stuck on it. Had to ask for pillows, rooms only get 2 sets of towels so had to go get more towels, everything I needed I had to go retrieve from the office myself… Couldn’t use WiFi (yep, you have to walk to the office to ask for the code…). It was a lot of money for what we got. Nice staff though.

Do not stay here! The rooms are very run down … Not a little as noted in other reviews. The refrigerator in our room did not work and had a towel stuffed in it to soak up the water. The towels are literally the size of the average hand towel and the soap was half the size of cheap hotel soap. There was pubic hair in the shower when we arrived and the shower temperature fluctuated dramatically every time another room used the water. The manager, Miranda Money, was completely unresponsive when I politely expressed my displeasure and clearly stated there would not be any adjustment made and that she did not care how I reviewed them on any site. Not the value I expected for 91.00 a night (we only endured one). They require me to give at least one star to post this but this place did not deserve one.

It’s definitely a no-​frills kind of place, but is also inexpensive. The rooms are a little run down and obviously haven’t been updated in quite awhile (probably at least 15 years), but if you’re just looking for a place to sleep, it will do! The continental breakfast was very simple with some toast, tiny bagels and instant oatmeal.
The staff was very friendly. If you’re going on vacation and plan on spending a lot of down-​time relaxing in your room, this probably isn’t the place for you, but if you’re just looking for a cheap, safe place to stay, this will do the trick.
It’s also conveniently located next door to a Trader Joe’s and most units have a little kitchenette, so you can save some money by making your own food.

This is not the nicest place ever, but it’s a reliable and safe place to stay in Ann Arbor. It’s not directly on campus, but is not that far either. If pressed, you could walk.
The staff was very polite and nice, and the rooms were clean. I would stay here again in a heartbeat.

The LP is unabashedly «an affordable place to stay.» Having visited five times now for a total of something like twelve nights, I’m upgrading my rating to a 4-​star. If repeat traffic doesn’t qualify as «I’m a fan,» then I don’t know what does. For those of you who are worried the LP might be testing the lower limits of your cheap motel endurance, keep in mind the following.
PROS
*Good location in SE A2, next door to Trader Joe’s, a short drive to Whole Foods, and five to ten minutes from stadium (west), campus (northwest), and highway (east). Easy entry and exit.
*The people at check-​in are good communicators and efficient with paperwork. Sometimes, you’ll even see the owner.
*Mattresses are good; we had no problem sleeping.
*Maid service is good. On recent visits, they didn’t actually get to the room until about 2:00 PM, good for late sleepers, but not so good if you’re looking for an early afternoon nap, though you can always hang the «do not disturb» sign out.
*In each of the rooms we occupied, there was a good showerhead, with plenty of free flowing water. Recently, room 222 had reversed piping on the one-​lever handle, meaning setting it to «hot» produced «cold,» and vice-​versa. An unusual quirk, and I suppose slightly dangerous.
*Free Wi-​Fi and TV both work fine.
*We were pleasantly surprised how quiet things were for a relatively full motel, but can’t personally testify to noise level for game weekends.
CONS
*The rooms really show their age. Lots of glumpy caulk holding tile together in bath area. Still, it was relatively clean glumpy caulk.
*The towels and sheets are not particularly high quality, but are clean and replaced regularly, unless you ask otherwise.
*The breakfast isn’t much more than carbohydrates and coffee — but remember Trader Joe’s is next door, like 50 yards across a parking lot, and there’s a drive-​through coffee shop across the street (no crosswalk, so I don’t recommend making a mad dash).
*Rooms are non-​smoking, but some smokers congregate on walks and stairs, meaning that you’ll occasionally smell smoke outside, and there’s some ashes lying on walks and stairs.
As I’ve said before, the LP really isn’t so bad. It’s sort of like going to Grandma’s house, but at least Grandma is a pretty good housekeeper. And she knows you love your iPhone, laptop, cable tv, etc., and has made provision for you to use those things.

I spent two nights in town – one at the Comfort Inn on at 2455 Carpenter Road and one at the Lamp Post Inn. How do they compare? In general, I’m loathe to criticize budget motels. I don’t expect much when I pay $ 70 bucks a night, therefore I am not disappointed. But the Comfort Inn cost me only $ 26 dollars more than the Lamp Post and it was MUCH nicer. Our room at the Lamp Post Inn had a strange odor, it was dark, and the beds were lumpy. Our room at the Comfort Inn was larger, it had better furniture, it was newer, the linens were nicer. It was nicer in every way, in fact.
If you are looking for a place to stay, I’d say cough up the additional $ 26 and stay at the Comfort Inn.

We stayed at the Lamp Post for 7 nights over Christmas because it is conveniently close to my in-​laws. We got the weekly rate. If your staying more than one night it is definitely worth it to pay a little more for the king-​sized rooms on the second floor.
Ground Floor:
On our first night we were in one of the ground floor rooms with two queen beds. The room was clean, but the beds were only okay and the bathroom was really cold (being all tile on an exterior wall with a window). There was a full length window with vertical blinds next to the front door, which diminished the sense of privacy and let in light and noise from the parking lot. I’m an incredibly picky sleeper and I didn’t have a good night.
2^nd Floor:
The next morning I asked the manager if any other rooms were available. He let me look at one of the rooms with a king-​size bed on the second floor (which didn’t have a stove but still typically costs a little bit more). The second room fixed all of my concerns: it was dark with the shades drawn, the bathroom was nice and warm, and the bed had a noticeably more supportive mattress. It also had better overall lighting, was much quieter, and even had a view of the hillside.
When I went to exchange keys I asked how much the difference would be and the GM gave us the same rate, saying «Merry Christmas.»
5 stars for great service and holiday spirit (4 for the 2^nd floor room, absent of context).

I found the Lamp Post Inn on
, and with it’s proximity to the center of Ann Arbor and reasonable prices I made my reservation for labor day weekend.
It has an older feel to it for sure. It also seems like much hasn’t changed over the years. The room itself was a good size with a nice sized bed. The bathroom was rather cramped though and the AC unit looked like it has been there for longer than most current UM students have been alive.
As noted by other reviewers, the walls are on the thinner side. I could hear the TV in the room next to me fairly easy. That wasn’t really so bad, but what was weird was that my door would react to the next door being opened as it would rattle a bit.
Still, I liked the lamp post inn and would come here again the next time I’m in town. I just need a place to crash usually and don’t need tons of amenities. So, it works perfectly for me.

For the rates, I think this is a fine place to stay at. The previous reviews discussing the thin walls are on point, but I didn’t expect much else for such low rates. The thin walls didn’t bother me at all. I slept well, was comfortable, and woke up refreshed for my interview. The workers at the front of house are really nice. They were really friendly in giving me directions, suggestions for eateries (that of course Unilocal couldn’t help with!) and any other questions I had.
Since my checkout time was before the time my interview ended, they also offered to securely store my belongings while I was at my interview. They put it in the backroom where only employees could enter.
The complementary breakfast was nice. Nothing special by any means, but it was nice to have since I wouldn’t have had time to run around looking for a good breakfast before my interview. They had plenty of options – cereal, biscuits, bagels, oatmeal, etc. There was water, OJ, and coffee for beverages.

There’s a fine line to tread when it comes to booking rooms, weighing location versus price versus quality of accommodations. Most of the hotels we found seemed to be on the outskirts of Ann Arbor and we wanted to stay central, closer to all the action. The Lamp Post Inn certainly isn’t the fanciest of lodgings, but it fit the bill.
I think the Lamp Post Inn could serve as a training exercise in positive descriptions for a realtor. While some might say the building is «old,» a good seller would call it «historic.» The décor is «out-​of-​date?» No, it’s «vintage.» The towels feel «like sandpaper?» No, they’re… well, ok. You’ve got me there. But it was an ideal spot for 4 guys in town for a football game who didn’t plan on spending much time at the hotel anyway — and it seemed like a lot of the other guests had the same idea.
Conveniently located, good price, friendly owners, serviceable continental breakfast in the main lobby — these are the positives. How do you plot them on a graph against the negatives? I think 3 stars says it: the Lamp Post Inn is A-​OK.

This Inn is a little run down, but it is clean and neat. I was a little worried because the reviews complained of it being dirty/​smelly. I have a serious aversion to smells and have left hotels with no refund because of smells, but this place has no offensive odors. The ac works, the water pressure/​heat is just fine, bed is comfy and the free wifi is nice :) I was able to check in early and the staff/​owner is quite friendly and helpful.
For the price it’s just right :)