Hotel in zona The Convocation Center, Athens

This Hotel/Conference Center is perfectly complements the ambience of the gorgeous Ohio University campus. The decor is elegant, with wallpaper murals of the campus, nods to regional history and beautiful color combinations in carpet, walls and furnishings. It has a classic look that does not need to be upgraded to the latest trends of bland, blah colors and metallic furniture! Guest rooms are comfortable and classy. All areas of the property are squeaky clean. The staff is professional and warm, and the location ideal. Cannot say enough good about my experience here.

The room and hotel are very neat and clean. The large windows bring in a lot of light, and the bathroom is spacious with a nice walk-in shower with multiple functions. The only issue is the noise. You can hear your neighbors pulling the blinds up or down and using the bathroom. The hotel is on a busy intersection at the edge of campus, and the noise from the street is non-stop. One of the streets is made of brick, which seems to make it worse. If you're a heavy sleeper, or you can sleep with earplugs or don't mind a sleepless night, it's not a bad choice due to its walking distance to campus.

Think twice about staying at this hotel if you are concerned about COVID. During our stay, we experienced multiple hotel staff not wearing masks in violation of Athens City ordinance and Holiday Inn policy. The details -- We thought hard about whether to take this trip to Athens to visit our daughters' family for Christmas. We decided that airline and hotel precautions made it reasonably safe to travel as we are fully vaccinated and would be with family. Also, Athens has a city ordinance requiring indoor masks in public places. Holiday Inn advertises its COVID safety measures, including compliance with local requirements. We have stayed at the Athens Holiday Inn Express a number of times over the last several years to visit family in the area. Prior to COVID we had no complaints about the hotel. On this trip, we were upset and concerned to find after checking in that many hotel staff, including the manager, food service, and cleaning staff were frequently not wearing masks, even though the hotel had a poster on the front door announcing that the Athens indoor mask ordinance required masks for everyone in the building My daughter called the hotel on our behalf to complain and was told the owner was getting a bit ”lax” but was reassured that staff would start wearing masks. However, over the rest of our stay, we again saw staff not wearing masks, including another a food service person in the breakfast area. One food service staffer without a mask told me hers was ”broken” and ”in the back.” There is no excuse for this hotel and its staff to intentionally disregard standard effective COVID health precautions, local legal requirements, and corporate policy and public representations, all with the result of increasing health risks to hotel guests and their families. We will look at other options for our next trip

Enjoyed one night while in Athens. Hotel is modern and clean with a good location. You can access the beautiful biking/walking trail by going across the street and behind Kroger. Trail goes to campus and then downtown. Breakfast was above average and staff were nice. Gym very small.

This hotel was really good. We were greeted and checked in by a very pleasant employee (sorry I did not catch her name) who recognized us as reward members, gave us 2 bottles of water, told us not only what time breakfast would be offered but even told us what was going to be served, and checked with us after we got to our room to ensure everything was OK. The room was very clean and comfortable. Breakfast was as expected and filled as needed. A very nice representation of the brand.