This is a nicer MOTEL. My first impressions weren't great as I tried to email 'reservations@coolspringsinn.com' as stated in their website but it came back undeliverable. I was in Canada at the time and couldn't call, so this was very discouraging, almost gave up. As soon as I crossed the border back into the US, I called and no one answered. The 2nd time I called I got an answering machine and asked them to call me back, 2 hours went by with no call so i called again and got a hold of the proprietor. Made my reservation for that evening with no problem, but had to pay $5 more because it was not an 'online' reservation, not too happy about that. Then had to pay cash to save $2 more... Really?
Anyway, the place was very easy to find, right on the main highway. The location is really good, just about a 10 minute drive from all the Michigan City activities. The proprietor was very friendly and let me delay payment so I could get settled and go to the cash station in town. The room was simple and clean, but had a bit of a weird smell, but not unbearable (and I'm SUPER sensitive to bad smells). There was an air freshener in the room, so clearly this must be known and opening the window and plugging in the plug-in made it better.
The room was 2nd to the front and I asked the manager if there would be a problem with road noise at night since I'm a very light sleeper, he assured me the windows/walls were well insulated and that basically after 9 or 10 o'clock there was little to no traffic. Well, not so much. There were quite a few trucks passing by after 10pm and even when I closed the window, I could still hear the traffic. I used my earplugs and fell asleep. So if you are a light sleeper, ask for a room at the back of the building, I'm sure it would be much quieter there.
The room itself was decorated nicely, seems mostly new. The bathroom was very cute and clean! I didn't take a morning shower because the water smelled really badly like sulfur (rotten eggs), it was hard even to brush teeth but not willing to fore go that ritual! :)
Another oddity was that the lampshade in the room was still covered with the plastic wrap that it comes with when purchased. There was a sticker that tells you to remove it before using that seemed like someone tried to scrape it off. I hope upon hopes that they weren't leaving these on in hopes of using them to 'protect' their lampshades as this is a TOTAL fire hazard. Those things are very flammable. I took mine off, but not everyone would necessarily do that. If you are reading this 'owners' please remove those before something bad happens!!!!
The beds were hard like rocks. My son got the one with the pillow top, so his was a bit softer. But mine was hard and my pillows were overly fluffy so it was a hard nights sleep, but I slept.
There was a VERY nice flat screen TV with The Dish cable to it which made my 8 yr old very happy. There was a mini-fridge in the room that worked well to freeze my ice packs for my cooler and keep my drinks cold!
Overall it was a decent room for the price, so if you're on a limited budget, this is a good choice!