Home Inn Staycation: Meet the Explore Pass!
Home Inn & Suites Saskatoon South is a familiar place to my family: its pool, renowned to be the warmest in town, led us to choosing it for my daughter’s swimming lessons and, an even closer tie, we drive by it every day on the way to anywhere. Yes, Home Inn is literally steps from our house… and yet this weekend’s staycation at the nearby hotel proved that getting away from it all and exploring the city like a tourist is not based on proximity to home. Here’s a peek at our time “away” alongside an introduction to the Explore Pass, a one-ticket wonder you’ll definitely want the goods on.
Let’s start at check-in and something I had NO idea existed at Home Inn & Suites. Yes, that’s a theme room! A Western Development Museum theme room, that is. From the full-wall map of 1914 Saskatoon, the throwback downtown mural wall, and train-themed Master space to the John Deer kids’ room, this is the kind of decor that both wows and is so tasteful you imagine calling up a contractor and getting a quote on setting up your basement just like so. (Okay, I’m projecting. That was my thought.)
The kids were hopeful for bunk beds and a movie. Wishes granted! There are in fact, 3 televisions in the room and one of them has a Playstation.
Now for the Explore Pass, a new initiative d3h Hotels has launched to get their guests out to support local! ! The deal is that an Explore Pass, which you just buy at the front desk for $27 flat, can be used for great deals on local attractions or restaurants. More local businesses are being added to the program all the time, but the selection is pretty sweet right now: UNA, Nutrien Wonderhub, Apex Trampoline, Pizza Hut, Paddock Wood, Sticks & Doodles, Luna Healing, Remai Modern, and Rock Creek Tap and Grill are all on the menu. So after getting settled into our room and letting the kids go wild with excitement for a bit, we headed over to Rock Creek Grill with an Explore Pass in hand. It acts like a $50 gift card there so that’s a great deal!
The service at Rock Creek Tap and Grill is truly excellent and their menu is the kind where everyone can order their jam. I did the Buddha Bowl, the kids did various sides, and my husband Ty got the fish tacos n fries. Oh and may I recommend the Black Spiced Mojito? So good, it inspired me to plant mint in my garden box.
Next up was swimming. Right now, Home Inn is booking 30 minute sessions and although you can have more than one, we just took one 7:30 slot because the kids were equally excited to spend some Q.T. with a movie and chips in their tractor room. Word of warning: the waterslide is WILD. It’s fully enclosed and swirly with glowing coloured stripes as you go down. It’s also very fast and ends in an unassuming pool of water that splashes higher than you expect. I loved it. I took Paris on my lap once and he wouldn’t do it again, ha! I saw another family there later in our stay, with kids about 8 and 9 and they were laughing and drenched, clearly having been on the waterslide the whole time. Luckily, there’s a pool with varying deepness and a hot tub, both of which my kids enjoyed.
Movie night was so adorable with the kids both snuggled on the top bunk, special because it was just the two of them. Because there were so many screen options, we put Superman on all three and Tyler and I hung out in the living space with a bottle of wine. The kiddos came in for cuddles or chip refills when needed. Pretty cute.
After only 3.5 years of co-sleeping, Paris was sure he would sleep alone in the top bunk. Here’s how that went, ha!
Breakfast is included in the stay and right now, you order the night before and it’s ready for pick-up or dine-in the next morning. We had egg n cheese sammies and hashbrowns while the kids had yogurt, fruit, and granola bars.
We had another Explore Pass burning a hole in our pocket so after brekkie, my family headed to Remai Modern to have a look at the exhibits and fulfill Petra’s dream of making art in the Creator’s Space. THAT GIRL WOULD LIVE THERE. I like how Remai always themes their suggested projects around the collections showing. This time, they also had a shadow puppet project where you can make your own and take it to the lighting set up in the Cameco Play area to test it out. There were even brads so the puppets could be made moveable. This was a hit.
And that brings us to the end of another awesome family staycation in Saskatoon! I hope you’re able to enjoy a stay at a d3h Hotel with your own family soon, and that when you do, you nab an Explore Pass. (But you can also buy them at the front desk, no stay required. Hot little tip.) Thanks to d3h Hotels and Home Inn and Suites Saskatoon for working with me to bring this experience to life for my kids, and for readers like you. Visit their linktree for more info on corporate rates, group rates, the Explore Pass, and to discover their social channels.
xo Maygen
