The Varsity Inn

Great experience and fantastic value! This is a great little place. It's a family-run motel/hotel in a former chain hotel. It is recently updated and absolutely spotless. Room is basic but very, very clean and the beds are comfortable. Staff is super friendly and helpful. I will definitely stay again. We visited in June 2024 for my son to do a college tour at OSU. The coffee shop onsite has great stuff and we got a voucher for free breakfast sandwiches which were excellent. Great deal for the price!! Check this awesome place out!! Jill & Elliott

Gem hotel near the university This is an old time motor inn with doors on the outside instead of an inside corridor. Despite it's age, the owners have spent time and money to update the rooms and make it very nice. The shower was very nice, the bed comfortable and the coffee shop downstairs has phenomenal breakfast sandwiches. Parking is free, WiFi is free and breakfast is included and the price is very reasonable. It is everything I need in a hotel and I would visit again in a heartbeat.

Cute and homey with the best coffee shop! My friend and I stayed for a long weekend for a festival in Columbus. The customer service was fantastic - all of the staff were so kind and accommodating - including when we asked to check in early and had to leave a day early. It feels like a family-owned business in the best way and is clean and well run. We especially loved the built in coffee shop and free breakfast sandwiches every morning!

Terrible customer service. Took our money. Didn't provide lodging. The worst! Some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced with ANY business. And pretty heartless as well. After traveling for hours from St. Louis, and on the fourth stage of a five day road trip, moving my new wife from Tucson, AZ to Queens, NY, we booked the Olentangy Inn because it looked really nice for a pet friendly hotel. We got there just after midnight. So when I walk in to the "lobby", the attendant looks at the reservation and sees that I booked my wife in her own room under her name (but paying under my card details). She tells me that my wife must come in and present her ID. Now, I haven't had to do this at any part of my trip, and we stayed in the La Quinta, Quality Inn and the Best Western. OK. So I call my wife in. She presents her ID. I used my last name on her reservation, even though her name on her ID is her maiden name. We just got married a month ago, and we were so busy preparing for this move that we didn't have the time to get the name changed. Once again...haven't had to do this at any part of this trip. The attendant is stuck on the last name on the reservation, even though my wife IS THERE, and her face matches the picture on the ID. Showed her our wedding pictures. Showed her our rings. I told my wife that if I have to produce our marriage license, we're leaving. And the attendant actually asked to see it!!! Eff that! I'm like "What more do you want from us???" So, bottom line, because of a small discrepancy, we were denied our rooms...but THEY KEPT OUR MONEY. WE WERE DENIED A REFUND. Yes, I booked a non-refundable room. But it's not like we didn't show up, or display any behavior that might say to a hotel that we would not be safe and responsible guests. And Hotels.com was no help and persuading the management of this establishment in providing a refund. All they said was, "We can change your wife's name on the reservation". With the low level of customer service that we had received that at point, considering it was after midnight, we had just driven for HOURS, and could get ANY TYPE of consideration or courtesy...WHY WOULD WE STAY THERE??? MANAGEMENT wouldn't even take the situation under consideration, and denied a refund. So basically, this hotel denied us boarding for the night, yet took our money. Stole it really. Fantastic customer service from these people. Probably decendants of the people who denied Mary & Joseph on the night Jesus was born. DON'T STAY HERE. There are other places in Columbus that will take you. We found one, and my wife didn't need to get out of the car.

Great hotel near OSU We needed a place for our family to stay near OSU and this was awesome! Having the Crimson Cup in the lobby made it even better because in the morning we were able to go and get delicious lattes .. I also was impressed with how close the hotel was to OSU and plenty of other areas near downtown columbus.