Travel Tuesday: V2 (Hotel Vandivort) Hotel Review

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been a couple of months since I enjoyed my first stay at Springfield, Missouri’s very own Hotel Vandivort. Since reviewing my experience last year, I’ve been waiting to make a return to this unique property and hopefully check out some of their other offerings. Well, the opportunity to do just that happened to present itself this past weekend as, in celebration of my 35th birthday, I booked a night at Vandivort. However, this time around, I made a point to stay at V2 — the hotel’s second and separate guest tower.

So, how was my stay at V2 and how did our suite compare to those in Hotel Vandivort’s main building? Here’s what I was able to discover during my stay:

About V2

V2 is the second tower of the Hotel Vandivort, located in downtown Springfield, Missouri. The building was added to the boutique hotel in 2019, opening just across from the historic Hotel Vandivort building. In addition to housing 48 guest rooms (bringing the hotel’s total number of rooms to 96 between the two buildings), V2 is also home to Vantage — including its rooftop bar and trendy outdoor “igloos.”

Booking your stay (and how I booked mine)

Unlike my previous Hotel Vandivort stay, which I booked via Expedia, this time around I decided to go directly through the Vandivort website. One advantage to this was that I was able to claim a AAA member rate. Another benefit of using the site is that it will show whether the room type you’ve selected is in the historic Hotel Vandivort building or V2 — although some room types are in both, so you may need to call the hotel to confirm if you have a preference.

My Experience at V2

What I booked

Having stayed in the main Vandivort building last time, I knew I wanted to check out V2 for this visit. Thus, I choose to book the aptly named V2 Suite to ensure that I was indeed in that tower. This room was a bit more than the King Balcony I booked last time, with a base AAA rate of $170 on a Sunday night. That said, I will warn you that Sunday seems to be the cheapest night of the week to book and, again, I did use a AAA member discount, so your stay may come in a bit higher than that. Also, once taxes were added, the stay ended up above $190.

Checking in

Something important to note is that V2 does not have its own check-in desk. Thus, all guests will need to pop into the main building to check-in. However, once you’ve retrieved your keys, V2 is literally steps away.

In my case, check-in was a fairly standard (but friendly) affair, yet got even better once the staffer helping us asked what brought us in. I informed her that it was actually my birthday and that we had decided to celebrate with a special stay. Upon hearing this, she was nice enough to gift us with coupons for two free cocktails. Incidentally, these were the same coupons I had received last time around as a gift for being an Expedia Gold member. This was a very kind and unexpected gesture — but one my wife was excited to take advantage of anyway. And, speaking of “vantage,” the coupons were apparently valid at both The Order and Vantage, although the latter was closed on Sunday evening.

Room design

When entering the V2 Suite, my eye was first caught by the artwork on display in the living room. This collection included a variety of pieces, ranging from original works to recreations of Springfield history. For example, one of the items seems to be a promotional poster for the famed Ozark Jubilee, which aired nationwide for many years. I’ll note that, just outside of our room, the halls of V2 also had several works and photos that paid similar homage to the hotel’s hometown.

Unlike our previous Balcony King Suite at the historic Hotel Vandivort building, which featured a combined living and bedroom area, the V2 Suite offered what I think of when I hear the term suite — meaning that the bedroom had its own door. Within that bedroom was a unique and beautiful wall design, made up of wooden diamond-shaped cutouts. The bedroom also had its own television, for what it’s worth.

Back out in the living room, the V2 Suite also contains a wet bar area. This includes a mini-fridge, microwave, Keurig machine (stocked with tea and coffee selection, and a sink. Elsewhere in the living room, there was plenty of seating between the couch, easy chair, and the two chairs next to a small dining table.

Room features

Not only were the layouts of the V2 Suites fairly different from the suite we stayed at across the way but the tech features were also a bit different. Perhaps most notably, the V2 Suite includes a record player along with a handful of albums guests can enjoy. Knowing about this feature ahead of time, I actually brought along a couple of selections from my collection to listen to during our stay. However, I was a little surprised to find that this turntable was hooked up to a couple of small speakers that sat just below the record player itself instead of piping into a larger sound system. That’s because, if you’ll recall, our King Balcony Suite featured speakers in the ceiling — with sound that could even be toggled on in the bathroom. Alas, these audio features were not found at V2. Luckily, the records still sounded great regardless, but it wasn’t quite as unique an experience as I had been anticipating.

One feature I do wish the V2 Suite would add is simple: more lighting. Although the room did include some fun-looking lamps, there were a couple of spots I felt could use a little bit of brightening. Namely, I was surprised to find that there were no bulbs directly above the wet bar area, making it just a little dim. Other than that, though, I found the suite to be well-equipped for a night in.

Add-on: “Late Night Snack”

Finally, another aspect of booking on the Hotel Vandivort website was the ability to book add-ons for our stay. This mostly included such classically romantic options as sparkling wine, chocolate covered strawberries, and more. However, the one that caught my eye was the “Late Night Snack” selection of cookies and milk.

By default, adding this option will see your snack delivered around 9 p.m., although this could apparently be changed by request. Since 9 p.m. sounded about perfect to us, we left it as-is and our delivery arrived not too long after that hour. In addition to half a dozen chocolate chip cookies, we were also provided with two tall glasses of milk. As you’d hope, the cookies were all warm while the milk remained nice and cold. Also, everything was delicious! While we both finished our milks, we did end up taking two cookies home with us after our stay.

All in all, this was a great treat and a service I would definitely indulge in again. For the record, it was $15 to add this — which is expensive to be sure — but I think it was worth it just for the experience. Meanwhile, if you do prefer other mood-setting menu items, I’d be sure to check out Vandivort’s various add-ons when making your booking.

Final Thoughts on V2

Once again, my wife and I enjoyed a wonderful stay at the Hotel Vandivort — and the V2 Suite specifically. It was also great to see another side of the property as V2 manages to offer a vibe all its own while acting as a perfect complement to Vandivort’s unique aesthetic. While the main building shows its combination of historical and modern industrial through its physical attributes, I’d say V2 does so more with its selections of art and other touches that pay homage to the city’s cultural history. As a result, I continue to love that the Hotel Vandivort and V2 reside in Springfield and look forward to celebrating many more special nights there.

Originally published at Money@30.