There’s a story that Mark Twain, on one particularly lamentable visit to Cincinnati, stayed in a hotel with such pitiful room service that the author remarked he hoped to be staying in that same establishment when the world ended, “because there, everything arrives 10 years late.” Yes, Twain later modified the barb to refer to the entire city rather than a single lodging house, but the damage to our town’s inn-keeping reputation was already done.
Whether this tale is apocryphal or not, Twain’s century-old critique shouldn’t reflect badly on today’s terrific accommodations. Cincinnati, like many places, has seen an explosion of hotel and motel development in the past decade. Nearly three dozen new hotels have opened in the region, primarily in Northern Kentucky (thanks to the Newport Aquarium, the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, and the racetrack that opened in nearby Gallatin County). In all, the area has 20,000-plus hotel rooms. In this chapter, we present a range of options, with amenities and rates to suit most travelers’ needs.
Among the all-around best places to stay in town are two historic downtown hotels—the Cincinnatian and the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland—plus the more modern downtown Westin and the Embassy Suites at the Covington RiverCenter. Two historic inns—the Best Western Mariemont Inn and the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon—are among a handful of country-style inns that offer a nice break from the routine. And for pure hedonistic enjoyment, it’s hard to beat the Wildwood Inn Tropical Dome and Theme Suites in Florence. The spate of modern suite hotels that have sprung up in the past decade, mainly in the suburbs, also offers numerous cozy homes away from home.
Northern Kentucky hospitality gets short shrift from major national travel guides although it has 6,000 rooms all its own. Not only are most Northern Kentucky lodgings not included with Cincinnati listings, they don’t even appear in the same book because regional lines are drawn at the Ohio River. But hotels in Covington and Newport are extremely convenient to downtown and boast the best views of the Cincinnati skyline and Ohio River. Most offer transportation across the bridges, although you can certainly make the 10-minute walk on a nice day. One of the newest Kentucky shoreline hotels is the luxurious Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter, which opened in 1999.
Know too that these waterside hotels book up early and fast for such major Ohio River events as the Riverfest fireworks and the Tall Stacks steamboat celebration. Reserving a room a year in advance is not unheard of; adding to the crunch are the Newport on the Levee, the Newport Aquarium, and the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.
The majority of attractive Greater Cincinnati hotels and motels are clustered in four areas: downtown and just across the river in Covington and Newport, the northeastern Interstate 71 corridor near Kings Island, the North Central area intersected by Interstates 75 and 275, and the Florence area near the airport in Northern Kentucky. The east and west suburbs of Cincinnati have only a handful of hotels and motels, though that may change eventually on the West Side due to the advent of casino gambling in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
If you want an authentic Cincinnati experience, your best bet is to stay downtown or across the river in Covington or Newport. If you eschew urban congestion and would rather stay at a quiet hotel with a lot to see within walking distance, head to the Best Western Mariemont Inn, a grand Tudor structure along Mariemont’s delightful town square. You can catch an art film and munch on Graeter’s ice cream all within a few steps of the hotel.
Whatever you do, don’t book a hotel near Kings Island amusement park on the northeast side of town, unless of course, all you plan to do during your stay in Cincinnati is ride roller coasters. During the summer, you end up paying a premium for the convenience of easy access to the theme park (not to mention the Tennis Masters Series), a pointless cost if Kings Island or pro tennis tournaments aren’t your primary tourist destinations.
Transplants looking for an easy answer to “Where do I live during my first month in Cincinnati?” can turn to the many “extended-stay” properties, which include downtown’s Grofton Lofts, Greenwich on the Park, and, in the surburbs, the posh Arbors of Anderson, Arbors of Montgomery, and Harper’s Point. Call (513) 771-4643.
The listings below don’t cover every hotel, motel, and inn. They’re meant to cover a choice of the best-quality and best-value hotels in each area. You can expect that the newer suburban hotels offer great accommodations and plenty of free parking. But they generally are in areas that are hard to distinguish from most other suburban commercial districts around the country. We include descriptions of room interiors for the unique hotels; expect the chain motels to offer four walls and a bed unless otherwise noted. Most hotels do not allow pets, but we’ll let you know of those that do. All hotels and motels listed here accept major credit cards unless otherwise noted.
Price Code
The pricing guides are for weekday rates, double occupancy. You can undoubtedly find better deals through group bookings, travel discounts, or other special packages.
Bed-and-breakfast inns in Greater Cincinnati provide a relaxing change of pace for travelers. Though they often don’t have such modern amenities as swimming pools, exercise rooms, or in-room dataports, they more than make up for it in homespun charm and atmosphere. And as you can gather from the name, breakfast comes with the deal. Here are some of the better bed-and-breakfast accommodations in the region, though some of the area’s well-kept secrets no doubt eluded our writers’ net.
This chapter lists more than a dozen bed-and-breakfast operations in Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana alone. Why so many B&Bs in a throng of tiny burgs on both sides of the Ohio River? The opening of riverboat casinos in Lawrenceburg, Rising Sun, and other Indiana riverside communities certainly had a lot to do with their emergence. Not to mention the lure of skiing at Perfect North Slopes near Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and the opening of the Kentucky Speedway in Gallatin County, Kentucky. Whatever the reason, once deserted shorefront villages are now bustling.
Before you visit a bed-and-breakfast, here are some words of advice: Don’t plan on just dropping in. Reservations are required at all these inns. Keep in mind that phones and TVs in the rooms are the exception rather than the rule. And if you prefer the nameless/faceless treatment, bed-and-breakfasts are a bad choice. Chances are you’ll spend some time socializing with the owners and guests in the cozy common areas—and maybe make some new friends.
Travelers would do well to contact the two bed-and-breakfast associations serving the region before they book a bedroom. The Ohio Bed & Breakfast Association, (614) 868-5567, can provide a list of its Cincinnati members, all of whom are inspected regularly and must meet certain standards. The Bed & Breakfast Association of Kentucky, (859) 689-5096, doesn’t actively inspect its members but does require them to provide proof of a state operator’s license as well as valid health permits.
Assume that the inns listed here do not allow pets or smoking unless we’ve noted otherwise. Some inns do not accept credit cards—we let you know which ones—although all accept checks. In some cases, children are not allowed—again, we’ll indicate when this is the case. We’ve gone out of our way to list toll-free phone numbers whenever available, though not just for the reason you might expect. Yes, toll-free numbers save you phone charges. But beyond that, we’ve found that busy bed-and-breakfast proprietors are much more likely to pick up the ringing 800/888 line than their own home phone!