Residence Inn by Marriott of Las Colinas

It’s pretty sad that it has taken me this long to write this review, but I think I have finally decided to cut ties with this property. I wanted to give them every opportunity to get a fair shot, but it is clear, this is not working out. Truth be told, I have really only stayed this long because of the location and convenience, but I’m over that now.
For starters, since June this year, coming and going, I have stayed here probably 60+ nights, as have my colleagues, so we give them a fair amount of business. In case, you’re doing the math, we’ve had more people, but at $ 125 a night times 60 with 3 other colleagues, and usually it’s more, that’s about $ 30,000.00 dollars worth of business in 3 short months. Nothing to scoff at.
Let me also say this… I have spent the last 3 ½ years traveling the country, from coast to coast, living out of a suitcase, hopping on planes and in and out of rental cars. I’m Diamond with Delta and Hilton, Platinum with Marriott, as well as Exec Elite with National, to give you some perspective— all earned the hard way. The grind it out way. Despite all of this, I take nothing for granted. Over this stretch I’ve stayed in 5 star hotels with amazing views and amenities in cities from NYC, MIA, LA, SF, SD, DC etc… but I have also stayed in places that have probably charged by the hour and I didn’t even know it. In short, I say all of this only to convince you that I have a pretty fair idea about the good and bad, when it comes to the travel scene.
That said, this property is about as poorly managed as I have experienced. I have recently discovered that they have bug and pest problems and the walls are super thin. Many of the rooms have un-​level floors, evidenced by the fact that your dresser drawers will open by themselves when you walk around.
The worst part however is the issue with the folks who work the front desk. I am not saying everybody is like this, but for the most part, they all have crappy/​sarcastic attitudes. They act like the towels personally belong to them, when you ask for extra. They are the kind of people who look for reasons to say no, instead of yes, and this I could maybe even live with, if they would only follow through with what they say they will do. I can’t stand being lied to. They tell you what you want to hear to make you go away. Even on simple things, like a request to have the bill emailed to you when you check out. And then you have to call back 2 or 3 times to get them to actually do it. For some reason or another, at check in, they are always trying to stick me in a handicap room, which I suppose i could live with, but the phone doesn’t work and if your like me, when you’ve been on the road traveling, all you want when you check in, is for the process to go smoothly.
So, it’s got me asking myself, if they can do this to the kind of travelers who give them quite a bit of business, who also happen to have status in their own membership program, I can only imagine how they treat every one else.
The only bright spot is the shout out I want to give to both Brenda and Carlos. They are both the kind of folks who should work in the hospitality industry. The kind that go out of their way to make you feel at home, even when they can’t do what you want or give you what you are asking for. If it wasn’t for them, it would be a 1 star instead of a 2. Truthfully, if i could it would be 1.5, not 2. In a city filled with options. We will be taking our business somewhere else, where it is appreciated.

clean, nice breakfast; ok workout/​exercise room. Good value. Easy parking. No elevators

Cockroach. Dead cockroach in our room.
So we moved to another room that is better. I like the kitchen with the full size oven, microwave and fridge.
The mattresses are comfortable.
However, I feel the little things add up a lot. We have a room with 2 queens, so it accommodates 4 people. I got irritated with the 2 towels we were provided! So, our family of four is just sharing the 2 towels. And there are no towel hooks to hang the towels to dry. I saw there had been a hook on the back of the bathroom door, but not replaced.
The carpet and curtains are orange and look dated.
There is a fireplace, but it’s wood burning and no wood provided. Is it just for looks?
We are keeping all of our belongings off of the floor in case of more cockroach intruders.
I hope other Residence Inns are not like this one.

This Residence Inn has the original apartment complex layout! Our room is two levels on the second floor of the 13^th building. It’s nice; modern Marriott everything with a fireplace and great kitchen. They do have free wifi, the man who checked us in was a sweetheart and there is plenty of parking. Free breakfast everyday 630 to 930. Definitely recommend if you are in the area :)

Great service upon check in and I received an upgraded room for my platinum status. The hotel is set up with the apartment layout style as opposed to the central building. So getting to and from your room for breakfast or the gym can be a little trek. If you are seeking the central building style then you might want to seek out the Residence Inn on Valley View (especially if you are here for sim training).

Very clean and the staff are friendly and helpful. Updated compare to other residence inn places.

I am going to be moving to this area soon, but in the meantime I have been here several times on business and have stayed here. I chose this hotel because it is an extended-​stay hotel (I’ve been there for 1 or 2 weeks at a time) and because it is right in the area that I will be living in when I move down there. This is a great place to stay, with a few minor quirks (to be noted below). The big plusses are that:
+ it’s QUIET — even though you’re off a pretty busy road, I enjoyed the quiet in my room. I live on a noisy main street now and I hate it. I can tell you this: I never sleep past 6 or 7 AM anymore — maybe 8 but that’s late — but when I stayed here — I slept until 11 AM Sunday! That was awesome. Granted I had a late night the night before but hey — it speaks well of the place.
+ Free Food. They do a good job of providing snacks/​dinner for residents in the main hall Mon-​thurs.
+ Wired and wireless internet. I had an issue with this and I’ll go into detail below. But once it worked it was nice to have.
+ Good cleaning. The maids/​cleaners that come in every day do a great job.
+ Nice TVs. Big flat screen TV. You only get like 40 channels but I had fun finding stuff to watch.
+ Dry cleaning — you can drop off stuff at the front desk and the next day they’ll have it dry cleaned for you. That was awesome.
—–
Minor issues:
— My coffee maker didn’t work great. The top of the carafe wasn’t attached correctly, so the first time I made coffee, it backed up in the brewer part and spilled all over the counter. That was annoying.
— My bathroom sink — the drain — wow — it REALLY smelled bad. It needed to be snaked out or something. Room 1421, people!!!
— Someone here mentioned the AC being loud, and it kind of is. It’s not loud when it’s running, it’s loud when it turns on — it will be quiet and suddenly there’s a CHUNK and the AC comes on. I kept thinking someone was knocking on the door. You do get your own thermostat, and I wear earplugs at night anyway so it didn’t bother me.
— Internet had issues! I had a huge problem getting this set up. They have instructions in the room and on their website but they are WRONG!!! THIS is how you get the internet to work: If it’s wired, just plug the cord in, if wireless, look for the ResidenceLobby or ResidenceGuest Wifi spots. Use whichever is stronger. When you load up the internet on your iphone, kindle, or laptop, it will re-​direct you to some Marriot site. On the right is a long list of terms. At the top it says to click on «Accept Terms» at the bottom but THIS DOES NOT EXIST!!! If you look on the left — there is a button to LOG IN — CLICK ON THIS!!! It will go to another screen, which you can ignore, and you may now use the internet like normal. YOU’RE WELCOME!!! The front desk didn’t even know this. I had to figure it out on my own.
— Gym. Their gym is so tiny it’s laughable. BUT I liked it and used it. At least it’s clean and usually no one is in there anyway. The «gym» is 2 treadmills, an eliptical machine, and a freeweights bench (some weights are missing — did someone steal the 35 pound weights??). There’s also TVs on the treadmills but they don’t work: they’re fuzzy. There is a big TV in here though. I usually use my kindle or iphone and log into the internet and look at netflix or amazon videos anyway.
— — —
Well that’s it. So despite some minor issues, I still really liked the place. The people working here are nice and I had a good time. I’m coming back in a couple weeks and will be staying here.

Pros:
+Clean rooms
+Kitchen, good for long term stays
+Free beer, Hot dogs and such for happy hour every day
+Decent looking but small pool
+Helpful staff
+Decent rates
+Close to a lot of restaurants, 20 min to Dallas (no traffic)
Cons:
–Air conditioner and fridge were extremely loud. Both kept waking me up.
–No wifi in rooms… just plug-​in access