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The proliferation of casino hotels within driving distance of Detroit means you have a choice when deciding where to spend your casino dollar. While Soaring Eagle Resort, approximately a two-hour drive from Detroit, provides a hotel that is truly convenient when gambling at the casino, it falls short of providing the service and options typical of a “world class“ resort.

Pros:

• Large bathroom

• Nice proximity to casino
• Discounted Internet rates available

Cons:

• Extremely rude front desk clerk
• Limited dining options in the hotel proper
• Expensive
• Rooms have very thin walls

Hotel:

The hotel has an impressive entrance. The lobby has a large window overlooking the grounds, a fireplace, marble floors and a waterfall wall running along the outside of the bar/lounge. Valet parking is the norm, and check-in was smooth. The casino is in a different building, however, past a large hall devoted to meeting rooms and a long hallway lined with the children’s arcade and daycare room.

The hotel offers suites and rooms with Jacuzzis, fireplaces and claw-foot tubs. Its standard room, the "first class room," is nicely decorated in warm tones and with floor lamps and a tiled foyer. It is, however, relatively narrow and somewhat average in comparison to a standard hotel chain, especially given its $240 standard price. The most distinctive feature is a large bathroom with gold fixtures. Turn-down service is available, and three pillows per double bed are customary.

The main drawback to the room was its thin walls; you can distinctly hear every word said as people walk by in the hallway. Additionally, the second floor in the back is on level with the roof of the spa and has absolutely no view.

Service:

This is where the resort loses stars as the staff seemed indifferent to the enjoyment and comfort of their hotel patrons. While apparently in the midst of being organized into a union, the staff could have been distracted or anxious, but the attitude seemed more along the lines of “we’re the only game in town.” While most of the staff was at least friendly, one staff member at the front desk was unpardonably rude – and there is no excuse for that.

Children:

Children are apparently welcomed since there is both a large arcade and child-care room along the hallway leading into the casino from the hotel. It is unclear whether the children are accompanying the day gamers or the hotel patrons, however, as the hotel itself offers nothing appropriate in the way of dining for kids.

Dining:

According to the resort's listing on the Internet, there are only two dining options in the hotel part of the complex: the Water Lily, a fine dining restaurant with entrees in the $23-$36 range, and the Water Lily Lounge, a quiet bar/lounge with a bar menu consisting of some sandwiches and appetizers. Aside from the dining options in the casino on the other side of the complex and designed more for the use of the day gamers, there are no more casual dining options outside of room service or leaving the hotel in favor of the casino or offerings in Mount Pleasant. This might be fine for a hotel, but Soaring Eagle bills itself as a resort.

The closest casual-dining option to the hotel is a coffee shop tucked into a hallway corner outside the casino. It has coffee and desserts, but it closes relatively early on the weekends. There is also a fast-food deli, which is actually inside the casino and extremely crowded with very limited seating. A buffet is available at the far end of the casino from the hotel, as are a couple of other restaurants that line a hallway leading from the casino to the parking garage on the far side of the complex.

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