Embarking on a cross country move, we chose this Residence Inn as the best option for a longer term stay with a pet and three people.
Starting with the good: the pool is nicely maintained (if a little cold in early June), the hot tub is comfortable, and there are usually towels pool side. The day team at the front desk was kind and responsive, usually quick to say good morning. Parking was ample, and there's a water station near the lounge area that offered regular water or carbonated water for no fee. The main area bed (King) was comfortable, and the bath gel/shampoo/conditioner was good quality with a mild fragrance. The windows actually open a bit, allowing some fresh air in. The refreshed interior design is pleasant (you can still smell the new carpet) and the use of wall length prints is fun and a nice change after a decade of greige paint schemes. The refrigerator makes ice cubes, which was a nice bonus.
Housekeeping was great about emptying our trash/recycling containers daily, as we left them outside our room (we didn't want our pet disturbed).
The frustrating: this hotel is undergoing "renovation" and appears to have been doing so for months. The main impacts we encountered were water being shut off for a few hours during mid-day; when we went to shower later, we had no hot water. We ran the water for about 5 minutes and still had no hot water. When we inquired with the early evening team, they just told us to "run it longer". After running it for 20 minutes, we STILL had no hot water. We all ended up taking cold showers that evening; we waited for the morning shift change and told the day staff we had no hot water. The day staff took our comment seriously, and had maintenance look into it--behold, it was NOT an issue running the water for 20 minutes was going to fix, so we were somewhat frustrated our earlier complaint was so casually ignored.
The other issue with renovation is that this hotel evidently has no freight elevator, so contractors are using the (two) guest elevators to come and go. This was not much of an issue our first week; however, week 2, the hotel took one of the guest elevators offline to use for the contractors--when they had two sets of (large) group reservations in the hotel. This would result in waiting anywhere from 10-20 minutes for the single operating elevator to make it down to the lobby. Housekeeping would end up waiting on almost every floor, hoping for an empty elevator so they could continue their rounds--this is likely why we couldn't check in until well after our 4pm check-in time the first day of our stay. Housekeeping was unable to turn rooms based on the elevator situation.
We would take the stairs down when we could; unfortunately, taking the stairs up was not an option as management locked the ground floor stairwell--despite the sign on the elevator directing you to use the stairs. Perhaps this was a safety/access issue, but if so, then don't direct your customers to use an inaccessible door.
"Food"
This location also advertises a continental breakfast each morning, and...there was food of sorts there. The prep kitchen was right next to the breakfast area, so it was very clear everything served came out of a box/was just warmed. The options were usually the same every day with minor variations: some sort of egg (scrambled or "omelet"), some sort of protein in gray-brown disc form (turkey or pork "sausage" patty), potatoes, two flavors of Dannon yogurt that never altered, and some Oikos Greek yogurt, a vat of instant oatmeal with some mix-in options, some "fresh" fruit that had I doubt had ever seen the sun. After being there almost two weeks, it was a pretty sorry selection.
Room
As a "residence" inn, there is a small kitchenette. By small, you should understand only one person is going to be in this area at any given time. Whoever designed the space has apparently never cooked or worked in an operational kitchen; the two burners on the stove are so close together, you can barely have a pot and a pan in use at the same time. The shelving/cabinets are situated so that unless you're over 5' 5", you cannot reach then (four) plates, glasses, or bowls. You are given one strainer, two pyrex bowls, one measuring cup, a vegetable peeler, a small assortment of teaspoons, and... that's about it. All the silverware in our room looked like it had been down the garbage disposal multiple times, with chewed edges on the utensils.
It is very clear whoever designed this space either doesn't cook, or expects patrons to microwave everything. The other two shelves that would have been accessible were "accessorized" with decorations you couldn't move--they were literally screwed in place, making the shelving useless.
One night we tried to cook pasta, and the stove surface is so underpowered, it took over 20 minutes on the highest setting to bowl water.
We were given no dish soap to handwash dishes, and one packet of dishwasher detergent--presumably you could ask for more at the front desk, but the friction of having to do so is a little ridiculous. And Marriott--for a room that sleeps four people, why do you continue to insist on only supplying three towels?
Overall, these are small irritations that would be fine over the course of a few days; over a few weeks, they become much larger. If you're looking at staying here, don't unless the renovations are complete. Management needs to do a better job of considering their room block needs against the contractor schedule and not making guests and housekeeping staff miserable.
KR
IL