Candlewood Suites Hotels in Merrillville

I was welcomed as an IHG Rewards member but my special request for the floor I requested was not honored. Some of the front desk agents wore their name badges and some did not which lacked consistency and professionalism. I did like that the hotel policies were prominently posted at the front desk and in the rooms, including its Green Policy where towels and bed linens are not replaced every day unless more frequency is requested. Other pluses are the location of the hotel is near every kind of store and restaurant imaginable along Hwy 30 and parking is free. You can check out kitchen cookware including large crockpots, board games and other items usable for an extended stay. There are barbecue grills for guests outside on the backyard patio but the front desk agent on duty didn't know where the grill utensils were. I was annoyed that my request for a third floor room was not honored even though the hotel was not full. When we got to our second floor room, the TV was running which surprised me because the hotel has a green conservation policy that asks guests to turn off all electronics when leaving the room. Our room was pretty clean except for the few pieces of Chex cereal on one of the desk chairs and below on the floor. The bed in our studio suite was not situated in the middle of the wall so one side was almost against one wall. For that reason, I would not recommend a studio suite for two people. Also there was no ”Do Not Disturb” magnet in our room so I had to go down to the front desk to get one and put outside our door. While at the front desk, I mentioned the running TV to the front desk agent who explained that was how housekeeping made sure your TV was working. I think the housekeeper was watching TV while eating Chex cereal for breakfast. The full refrigerator with icemaker was a nice touch until the plumbing that runs the water pipe from the wall to the ice maker has to make some type of loud adjustment every several hours which woke us up at 4 a.m. None of the above hiccups would have kept me from returning to this CS but I will tell you what did. At about 5:20 PM and while we were taking an afternoon nap, we woke up to loud knocks from someone announcing ”Housekeeping”. I got up, looked through the peephole and saw a black woman with red or orange streaked hair or wig in the hotel uniform so I yelled through the door and told her we were not checking out until the next day. She apologized and said the front desk did not tell her that. I found her to be suspicious because: (1) Even if she thought we were checking out that day, it was after 5pm and checkout is at noon. What hotel waits until 5 hours AFTER checkout time to see if a room needs cleaning?; (2) We did not request housekeeping; and (3) The 'Do Not Disturb' placard was clearly posted on our door where she could see it. Her behavior disturbed me because it reminded me of when I was a past victim of a hotel room burglary (not this hotel) where hotel employees would fi