The Amway Grand Plaza: Grand Rapids, MI

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I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of you are immediately turned off as soon as you hear the word Amway. This "Multi Level Marketing" (it's a pyramid people) company was founded in 1959 by Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel just outside of Grand Rapids, MI.

Over the years, the company became quite successful for the founders and as a result, they received the distinct pleasure of having some buildings named after them in the great city of Grand Rapids, MI. There is the Van Andel Arena where I have seen my fair share of concerts including the likes of Sir Elton John, Greenday, Blink 182, and Darius Rucker to name a few.

There is also the DeVos Conference Center and Auditorium that I will be covering a little bit in a future post, and finally, The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

You might not know this, but the Hilton brand of properties covers a wide range of hotels. Besides the traditional Hilton hotels, they also own Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, Hilton Grand Vacations, Double Tree, and many more. You can check out their brands here.

Another one of those brand is the "Curio Collection" which the Amway Grand happens to be a part of. Hotels in the Curio Collection are hand picked for their "distinct character". Basically, they are a destination unto themselves when you are visiting a city that has one.

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It's kind of hard to describe the Amway Grand, but I will try. It consists of two very different parts. The older section which you see in the photo above has some very opulent decor with large chandeliers and wood trim. You kind of feel like you are in an old Victorian Inn when you stay on that side. I have only ever stayed in one of those rooms once. I actually prefer the tower side.

If you look at the opening photo, you can see the tower portion of the hotel sitting just behind the brown facade of the older section.

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The older section is connected to the more modern tower section by a small conference are on the second level and the reception and bar area on the ground floor. The ground floor also has a small mall area with high end retailers that I don't even bother going in the stores because I can't afford their stuff.

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The bar on the ground floor offers a nice transition between the more extravagant decor of the older section and the clean modern look of the new one. Grand Rapids is known for it's skybridges. These are walkways that connected different parts of the city. You can actually walk from the DeVos Performing Arts Hall all the way to the Van Andel Arena without ever going outside.

The walk takes you through several hotels in the downtown area including the Amway Grand. Needless to say, this place gets its fair share of foot traffic.

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I promised @livinguktaiwan that I would share some photos of the inside of this place, so here you go. They were actually putting down new carpet on the main floor during my visit, so it was a bit chaotic. If you look really closely in the second photo above, you can see my reflection in the mirror on the other side of this promenade area.

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It's almost like the Amway Grand was built for conferences and special occasions. Between the two sections of the hotel, they have four individual ballrooms and 30 technology enhanced meeting spaces. The photo above was taken in one of the ballrooms where I was able to participate in a full service luncheon that again I will be covering in another post.

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The artistic detail in this room is just amazing though, from the rich wood embellishments to the grand staircases that you will see in the next photo.

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I can imagine a fair number of receptions have been held in this ballroom with the bride and groom walking down the staircase in grand fashion. If you ever get the chance to attend a conference at the Amway Grand, I highly recommend it.

Even if you just stay here and never enter one of the ballrooms, it is still worth it. I remember @mrsbozz and I bringing my nieces here to stay for a concert in town and they felt like they were in a fairytale.

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This is a photo of the pickleball courts they recently added on the rooftop of that center section that joins the two areas of the hotel. I snapped this shot as I was riding down the elevator one day. You can see the older section of the hotel in the background.

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As I said before, I prefer the newer portion of the hotel, and this is the main reason why. At 27 stories high, there are some amazing views to be seen from the tower section. I was lucky enough to be on the 25th floor during my recent stay and though the elevator ride can be a bit tedious, they have four of them so it's usually not too bad.

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You can either pick a river view room or a city view room when you stay in the tower, but I usually always pick the river view. It's a little more expensive, but in this case I wasn't paying for it, so I didn't mind. What I didn't expect was to get a corner room.

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This gives you an idea of just how big the windows are. You can actually almost look right down the side of the building and it can give you a bit of vertigo if you aren't prepared for it!

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The night time views don't disappoint either. The only thing I didn't like about the corner room was the fact that if you looked too far to the right or left, you could see other rooms. If it was dark and they had their lights on, or you had your lights on, you could see right into each others rooms.

It's not like I was walking around naked, but it was still a bit unnerving. They should have added some extra tint to the windows or something so that things like that could be avoided. I ended up having my curtains closed most of the way the entire time so that people couldn't see in my room or they didn't think I was some creep looking into theirs.

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On my last morning at the Amway, I snapped this photo as I was heading down the elevator to breakfast of the sun coming up over the city. I actually wasn't fast enough and I should have taken the photo when I was higher up, the effect was quite dramatic.

I should also mention, the Amway Grand has several restaurants inside of in including a Starbucks, two spaces from celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, several bars, and a Spanish restaurant called MDRD.

Oh yeah, they also have a special balcony bar that is only available to their exclusive guests via a special code. If you know me, you know I am not high class at all, which is probably why I am just learning about it now!

As I said before, if you get the chance to visit the Amway Grand, even if you are just strolling through it on your way from point A to point B, it's totally worth it!

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Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced