Here is what a quick stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton Neenah looks like from behind the camera.
I collaborate with hotels and hospitality groups on photo and video work, and this stay was hosted through Shaner Hotels, who operate the property. What follows is my experience and the media that came out of it, not a rated review.
The hotel
The DoubleTree sits on East Wisconsin Avenue in the middle of historic downtown Neenah, a block from Lake Winnebago and a few steps from the Riverwalk along the Fox River. It is a seven-story hotel with 107 rooms, an indoor pool, a 24-hour market off the lobby and the warm cookie at check-in that the brand is known for. Appleton and Oshkosh are both about 15 minutes away, which makes it the sensible base for anyone working the Fox Cities for a few days.
The room
Rooms are clean and contemporary, with a proper desk, a fridge and coffee, and windows over the river or the town depending on which side you land. We shot ours in the morning with the blinds open and again in the evening. It is the kind of room that works for a laptop as well as it does for sleeping, which is the point of this stay.
LevelOne
The hotel's restaurant and lounge, LevelOne, is on the ground floor with a bar built around craft beer and bourbon. It is where the hotel's meeting traffic ends up at the end of the day, and it saves a walk in a Wisconsin winter. We shot the room, the bar and a few plates between the lunch and dinner crowds.
Downtown on foot
Neenah is a small, walkable downtown: brick storefronts, coffee, a couple of good restaurants and the Riverwalk running past the back of the hotel. We took the camera out for an hour and shot the town as we found it, no staging, which is the kind of imagery a hotel can use to show guests what is outside the door.
Worth knowing
- Built for meetings. Eight meeting rooms and ballroom space on site, so a group can work and stay under one roof.
- Good for a co-working stopover. Fast wifi, a desk in the room, and LevelOne when you need to get out of it.
- Ask for a river-facing room for the Riverwalk view.
- Park once. Downtown, the Riverwalk and dinner are all walkable.
If you need a downtown base in the Fox Cities with meeting space, a bar downstairs and the town outside, the DoubleTree Neenah is a good one.
Photography by Blake Wisz for Shaner Hotels. See more travel photography.