Entering the lobby of the Cambria Hotel Traverse City, I was met with a surprising sight – a room full of people laughing, drinking and dining. Many hotel bars or lobbies are as lively as a waiting room at the DMV but this one was hopping.
We learned Reflect Bistro is popular with locals and we had arrived in the middle of its daily happy hour. We threw our bags in our spacious suite, abandoned our dinner plans and headed back downstairs.
We passed the dining room, also full of chattering guests, and took a seat at a high-top table in the bar where we enjoyed a few items from the happy hour menu that included tenderloin sliders, potstickers, Mediterranean flat bread, cheese curds and shrimp ceviche.
In addition to a festive happy hour, Reflect Bistro serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s also a grab and go marketplace for something quick to eat.
After dinner we took a short walk down to East Bay Park on Lake Michigan where we saw families playing on the beach and swimmers taking advantage of the warm weather during a long late-summer day.
Accommodations and amenities at Cambria Hotel Traverse City
Because this was a return visit to Traverse City for one night before our flight out the next day, we opted for a room at this 92-room all-suite hotel. Our suite was spacious with a separate seating area with a sofa, desk, microwave, mini fridge, coffeemaker and two TVs. If you’re not a fan of in-room coffeemakers, you can also get coffee in the lobby in the morning.
A rainy morning scrapped my plans to walk around downtown Traverse City again and perhaps sample more of those addictive chocolate-covered cherries at Cherry Republic, so I headed to the fitness center to work out. The hotel also has a heated indoor pool and hot tub.
The airport was just about 10 minutes away and the hotel operates a free shuttle there as well as into downtown Traverse City, about 3 miles away. Apparently, it’s the hotel of choice for some airline crew who I spotted waiting for a ride in the lobby.
Several restaurants are also within walking distance of the hotel. With its large suites, fantastic restaurant and convenient location, it was a good choice for our last night.
– Jan Schroder, Editor-in-chief