Thunderbird Inn — Hotel in Savannah

Reserve your parking spot! It’s only $15 day!

Okay first of all, excellent customer service. Sean is a gem of a human being and was so friendly and knowledgeable! Thank you for your excellent help! 11/10

Pet Friendliness: This motel is pet friendly. Loved that this hotel is dog friendly. You will have to walk your dogs a little way down Oglethorpe toward downtown to get to a good patch of grass, but in my opinion, it’s not far. And there is supposedly an astroturf potty station behind the lobby if you don’t want to walk that far. We did not bring the doggos this time but we will definitely keep this place in mind for future dogcations. No other perks that I could tell in terms of pets but do be careful if you walk in with your dog as there are chocolate Moon Pies left out on the pillow. 8/10

Cleanliness: Not gross but not hospital clean. Motel clean. We stayed in 223, right above the office, so this may not reflect the state of all rooms. There was a blob of conditioner on the adorable Thunderbird-branded Disney-style refillable shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, the conditioner was not refilled, and the room smelled like mildew. I found the source the next day— the plywood panel under the window is water damaged and the paint is peeling, exposing the wood and mildew. This could be a big issue for folks like me sensitive to mold, but I brought an air purifier. Sadly the windows don’t open but it was fine. (My lungs were a little angry when I woke up, but that’s on brand for me!) The baseboards are dirty, and the walls are scuffed and stained. For example, there was a clear hand print on the wall beside the TV. The shower curtain situation needs sorted. Water everywhere no matter what I did! I feel bad for the staff! But the WATER PRESSURE! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The soaps were nothing special but the branded bottles were adorable, functional, and definitely added to the vibe. No Towels were nice and clean and fluffy and they gave us plenty of them. To mop up all the water with. 5/10.

No bathroom wastebasket, which, this is strange. Yes, one could move the large trash can into the tiny bathroom, but there is only one trash can and one recycling bin, and both are large enough to be cumbersome! Many people menstruate and blow their noses, etc. (and maybe don’t want to flush hygiene products out of courtesy for the plumbing system!) so a small wastebasket or even a wall unit disposal system would be so courteous!

Connectivity: Wi-Fi is free, acceptable, but slow. The cable was extremely spotty. We got to watch half a movie because it kept cutting in and out. That was no big deal for us as we had plenty of fun things planned downtown, but on a rainy night this would be a bit of a bummer.

Amenities: Moon Pies on the pillow when you walk in! Adorable! RC Colas next to the vintage telephone! Yay! Decent soaps are included but no liquid hand soap, which, during Covid Spring, it’s a bummer to have to cart around our own every where we go. Big missed opportunity with the complimentary lotion but no antibacterial liquid hand soap. Especially for the health of guests and cleaning staff, replacing the cute lotion with antibacterial soap would be SO incredibly kind!!! As most hotels do, they included a bar of soap on the sink instead, and that’s fine, but it’s not antibacterial, and this one change would be so thoughtful! The fridge was spacious but needed defrosting or replacing. Didn’t seem to get very cold. We only used it for drinks and it was fine.

Decor: Excellent retro vibes/ great location. The layout is so functional and I really loved it, despite the moisture issues. You can hear the trains, the boats, and yes, the busses, but with the A/C and our air purifier going, it just added to the vibes in my opinion! You can hear dogs barking and doors slamming, but this is a 1960s hotel in the city; it’s to be expected. Cute photo ops all around, the sign is museum-worthy, neon, and very cool. Plenty of seating and storage in the room. Beds were comfortable and clean. Great sleep! 172/10

The room was as...

We recently stayed here for an event in town. I chose this hotel in order to save a little money as it was a much better deal than the Westin or an AirBNB for the weekend that we were in town. I have some positive and negative feedback. First of all, the accessibility to the downtown area is great. We were able to quickly and easily walk to all the historic sites, restaurants and shops on Broughton, River Street, Bay St, Liberty, etc. The throwback to mid-century America theme was also pretty cute as far as the motel goes. As a designer, I see so much more potential but in general it was a cute concept. The support of local businesses (donuts and coffee) and historically southern founded brands (RC Cola and moonpies) was a nice touch.

The staff was very friendly, responsive and helpful at check in and during the stay.

Some improvements that I think are needed: the bathroom - was lackluster. The bathroom fan stayed on constantly and there was no way to turn it off, so it made for some additional white noise all the time. I guess it was that way because the room never really dried out. There is a stand up shower (no tub) with a shower curtain that did not cover the water spray from the shower (typically you would see a glass enclosure to keep water in the shower pan), so the floor stayed wet the entire time we were there and portions of the bathroom wall near the floor were deteriorating from excessive moisture over the years. The water pressure in that shower was also too high. My daughter complained of it hurting when she used it. Also, no trashcan in the bathroom.

If you are a light sleeper or have trouble sleeping or are easily waken from sleep, I would not recommend this place to stay (or at least bring some earplugs). It is directly on Oglethorpe which is a pretty busy road 24/7. It is a direct exit onto and off of the interstate into the city, so there is always noise from the road. The rooms also face that road, so there is no buffer for the road noise. It's not something that the motel can fix, obviously, but just be prepared. If you sleep well with alot of white noise, you'll be fine.

All of this is just my detailed observation...I am probably the worst person to ask for a review because I pay attention to all the details.

I will say that we weren't in the room very much all weekend, we were busy seeing the sights and it was easy to access the city and all it offers. Savannah is such a...

Spent one night here on our road trip back home from Florida. We wanted to be close to the historical district so we could spend some time the next day.

What a relief it was to have a clean and safe feeling room that didn’t break the bank. After several horrible rooms on our trip, we were very happy to check in, have a clean shower, spacious room, comfortable beds, and a working television. It’s getting harder and harder to find “park outside your room” hotels that are decent.

Their branding is very fun, and the upkeep details are seen everywhere. I even noticed the paint touch up marks on the exterior to keep it looking bright and clean. This was impressive to me as a small business owner. These are the type of things that often get overlooked, and a business could look run down quickly without these details.

The soap, lotion, shampoo were all branded and fun. But a hint, if you have very long hair like I do, use your own hair products. The provided ones are a great touch, but won’t get the job done if you have a lot of hair.

The RC Cola and Moonpies were a unique touch (hint… warm up those moonpies in the provided microwave in your room. You’re welcome), and I was able to introduce my young adult son to the nostalgic RC flavor. The glass cups, and real coffee mugs were my biggest LOVE. Reminded me of family vacations when I was young.

All in all… a stand up job of hospitality that is affordable in a tourist area. We loved the text message with details like WiFi password, etc. So do leave your phone number for them if you reserve online. It will get you needed info without having to search for that piece of paper we always lose between the lobby and the room.

We paid an extra $15 to make sure we had parking on site. It looked like they had about 30 parking spaces, and two EV spaces. I didn’t exactly count the number of rooms, but it seemed to be about 40? So if it’s full up, you may want to secure a parking spot for the extra $15.

In a nutshell: Fridge, microwave, coffee maker, hair dryer, shower with soap and shampoo pump bottles, real glasses, ice machine. Clean, comfortable, and welcoming. Plenty of DoorDash and Uber Eats options if you’re road tired and just...