While looking over my offer for the IHG Into the Nights promotion I had a pretty intriguing offer that I had a hard time passing up.

For staying a night at an EVEN hotel (there are only two locations), I could earn 36,000 bonus IHG points. This was one of my four current Into the Nights offers. If I complete three of them, I will earn an additional 19,000 points or 2 Free Nights.

Another offer was simple- Take A Survey for 100 points and the third option I hope to get credited for tied into my stay at EVEN. For 2,000 points I needed to book a Bonus Points Package with Breakfast.

This led me to a stay at the EVEN Hotels Norwalk in Connecticut.

While looking into the hotel, it seemed pretty nice and at only around an hour and 25 minutes from home, it wasn’t a problem getting there. We ended up turning our visit to Norwalk into a quick and fun getaway which I’ll talk a little about in a future post.

Now onto my review of the EVEN Hotels Norwalk.

From the moment we stepped inside I was impressed with EVEN.

The reception area is a very welcoming place. With a not so traditional check-in desk it seems like you are chatting with a friend (in a professional way of course) rather than waiting to conduct a transaction.

We were welcomed to the hotel and checked-in in less than 3 minutes. Right before we walked off I was thanked for being a Platinum IHG member and given 2 complimentary drink coupons for the bar. Very nice so far…

Just across from the reception desk is a water area with four options. There is the usual plain water along with lemon, lime & sugar, cucumber & dill and one other that I can’t recall. I’ve never seen this at any hotel lobby before and it was definitely a nice touch.

When we got off the elevator I was surprised by the design in the hallways. They were bright and the carpet wasn’t the typically hideous hotel style. I even liked the way the room numbers were painted on the wall. (You can kind of see in the photo above how room 450 has a small number 4 with an over-sized 50.)

The first thing I saw when opening the door to our room was the exercise beam and exercise ball. Hanging from the beam  are some different workout resistance bands. The front section of the floor seemed to be made from a nice cork and this could be your in-room workout area.

A view of the room from the window to the front door.

While the room isn’t massive, it is laid out in a very smart way. There is a bunch of different storage cabinets and everything seems to fit well.

The king bed was possibly one of the most comfortable ones that I’ve ever slept in at any hotel. The matress is a pillow top variety and after we left Kim commented that we should find out what kind it is!

Right next to the widow is a comfortable chair and table. It made for a good place for me to do some blogging while Kim and Lucas got some sleep.

The room has a small fridge which came in handy to keep some drinks and snacks cold. The closet on the right was spacious and not needed for our one night stay but it did make for a great place to hide from Lucas!

The orange water bottle on the middle shelf is given as a little gift in each room. The drawer above it and the brown one of the left fold down. The brown fold down makes for a great stand-up work station. There is also a dry-erase marker and eraser inside where you can write on the space above.

The bathroom door is very interesting. It’s on a sliding track which is a very nice look but not ideal for kids. I had to remind Lucas a couple of times to not play with it although I’d agree that it did seem like a fun toy…

The bathroom was a decent size. It isn’t huge but it’s definitely spacious enough.

The shower has a hand-held shower head as well as one attached to the wall.

Once I got the temperature right, the shower felt great. My one complaint would be the switch for going from hand-held to the stationary shower head. The button would not stay in at first when I pushed it and once it did, it was almost impossible to pull back out.

This is a very minor complaint as the hand-held wasn’t really necessary.

The hotel includes four soap bottles in the shower. There is conditioner, shampoo and a choice of two body washes. I wasn’t really a fan of any of these scents but the idea of giving a choice was a nice touch.

Along with the exercise ball, beam and resistance bands is a box with a yoga mat, roller and exercise cube. (Most of these items were available for purchase if you liked them enough.)

While we weren’t at EVEN for a workout, all of us had some fun trying out the items. Yes, even Lucas. The hotel has a variety of channels on TV with different exercises you can follow along with a binder with loads of things to do with the provided equipement. We didn’t try out any of their exercise programs but it was fun messing around with the resistance bands and weighted ball. If you don’t want to exercise alone, there are also group fitness rooms which we didn’t get to visit.

There is also a jogging map card available at the front desk for something like a 2.5 mile route. If we ever visit again without Lucas, I’ll definitely bring my running shoes!

Back downstairs near the bar are a bunch of comfortable sitting areas. The hotel also has some boardgames to borrow. While Kim and I enjoyed our complimentary drinks, we played some Jenga and a couple of other games. This was also a load of fun for Lucas.

As you walk from reception towards the bar and elevators there are a variety of items for sale. Various coffees, drink and snacks all at bareable prices. No purchases were made, I only looked in the name of research.

The breakfast options were all pretty much healthy options. If not for Into the Nights I would never pay for a hotel breakfast (unless it happened to be a known restaurant.)

At $10 for breakfast for 2 it was actually a bargain. Kim had a flatbread (which looked like a pizza) with egg and veggies on it and I had a board with a whole wheat bagel, 2 spreads, turkey bacon and a hard boiled egg. Each person also gets a choice of coffee or fresh squeezed orange juice.

I hate to say it but I’d actually recommend the breakfast option if you stay at EVEN.

Overall, Kim and I were really impressed with EVEN. Our stay was a really enjoyable and memorable one. (And to be honest, I’m not the type where a hotel really matters much.)

I’d definitely recommend staying with EVEN Hotels in the future. Too bad there are only two locations currently. It would be nice to see IHG expand the brand and open more locations around the country!

Find out more about the EVEN Hotels Norwalk here.

Related Posts:

• Hotel Review: Le Meridien St Julians, Malta
• Hotel Review: Astor Crowne Plaza- New Orleans
• Hotel Review: Radisson O’Hare- Chicago
• Hotel Review: Intercontinental Singapore
• Hotel Review: Black Hills Mile Hi Motel- Custer, SD
• Hotel Review: Radisson Valley Forge, PA
• Hotel Review: Pirate’s Inn- Browne’s Gap, Barbados