Columbus · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds
Yuna Park Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong
These are my five favourites in Columbus, out of the 9 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.9 down to 4.5.
All five are within 3.0 km of Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds.
Highest rated of the five
The Lincoln Short North Bed, Breakfast, & Boutique Accommodations
★★★★★4.9 from 364 reviews
The Lincoln Short North Bed, Breakfast, & Boutique Accommodations comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.9 from 364 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $246 a night on the dates we checked.
9 hotels in Columbus qualified for this list and five made it. The Blackwell Inn & Pfahl Conference Center is the one I would book if the first is full.
All five, ranked
-
The Lincoln Short North Bed, Breakfast, & Boutique Accommodations
★★★★★4.9 from 364 reviews
2.8 km from Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds
-
The Blackwell Inn & Pfahl Conference Center
★★★★★4.6 from 1,251 reviews
2.4 km from Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds
-
Le Méridien Columbus, The Joseph
★★★★★4.5 from 792 reviews
3.0 km from Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds
-
The Wayfaring Buckeye Hostel
★★★★★4.6 from 285 reviews
1.7 km from Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds, about a 21 minute walk
-
Graduate by Hilton Columbus
★★★★★4.5 from 680 reviews
2.8 km from Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds
How this list was put together
9 Columbus hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Ohio Expo Center & State Fairgrounds second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Yuna Park Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong
Negotiated a fully remote contract and works a month at a time from a different city on home-office hours. Eleven cities in two years. Likes the routine in new places more than sightseeing.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.




