Hotel recommendation in Columbia, SC?

[newsjunkie]

My brother was pulled back into the Army as part of the Individual Ready Reserves and arrived at Fort Jackson on Sunday. He just found out he will definitely be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in about 5 or 6 weeks when he is finished with retraining. Our family lives in Massachusetts but I live in Atlanta and my fiance and I plan to drive out there (about 4 hours according to MapQuest) on Saturday as he will definitely have Sunday off and possibly Saturday, too. We are going to take him to the zoo on Sunday to get him off base and have a little fun! :)

Neither my fiance nor I have ever been to Columbia and my brother has only been there for a few days and hasn't been off base at all. Can anyone recommend a decent to nice hotel in a nice area of Columbia? Near Fort Jackson is good but not required. (I am assuming that Columbia isn't THAT big and that no matter where you stay you will be nearish Fort Jackson.)

Even just telling us a nice section of Columbia to look in would be helpful. I have seen some hotels in the historic district- is that good?

Also, any restaurant recommendations would be great. Not necessarily upscale/dressy places but somewhere you can get a great meal like lobster or prime rib or something. I love my brother so much and plan to spoil him as much as I possibly can!

Hope someone sees this and can respond soon as we plan to book it tomorrow! Thank you so much in advance!

[Scoutesina]

Not that I'm a Columbia expert or anything, but I've stayed at The Whitney (http://www.whitneyhotel.com/)for business travel and it is very nice. It's near USC.

My mom sometimes stays at the Embassy Suites (http://www.embassysuites.com/en/es/hotels/services.jhtml;jsessionid=MDSO0FH05UGBMCSGBI1MVCQK IYFC5UUC?ctyhocn=CAEGSES) there, and she likes it a lot. It has an indoor pool and is very close to the zoo. Adjacent to the Embassy Suites there is an Extended Stay (http://www.extendedstayamerica.com/)where DH and I have stayed (there also seems to be one right near Fort Jackson, but I've never been to that one). Definitely more of a budget option, and some of the people staying there were a bit on the creepy side, but we like that chain in general bc all the rooms have kitchens so DH can avoid weird restaurant food.

I haven't spent much time in Columbia for a couple years, so my restaurant recommendations would be out of date. The Whitney is more in the center of things and closer to more non-chain restaurants while the Embassy Suites and Extended Stay are near the zoo but feel more isolated--they're just off the interstate. Hope that helps a little until someone with more Columbia expertise drops by!