Courtyard by Marriott Buffalo Amherst/University

The pool was closed for maintenance, which I understand, and people near our door were loud after we’d had a long day. The doors were thin enough that we could hear them, even though they weren’t extremely loud. The room itself was pretty clean and typical, with standard beds, but the towels seemed clean yet left out for a while. There was no bathroom fan, so it got very steamy, and the shower controls were backwards or upside down. Neither outlet on the nightstand between the beds worked, which made it awkward for three of us to charge phones and plug in one guest’s CPAP. It’s an okay place for a night or two if you just need to sleep, but it felt mediocre overall.

I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. The rooms were deplorable, the management dishonest, and the behavior allowed at the hotel was disturbing. I’m stunned this property can use the Marriott name. The stay was unacceptable from beginning to end. The first room had a mattress with a blood stain nearly three feet long, plus crumbs and cooked ramen in the kitchen area and refrigerator. We were moved to another room that was somehow worse: pubic hair on the shower walls and ceiling, and peeling bathroom wallpaper that exposed extensive black mold. It seemed there wasn’t a single acceptable room. Another guest said he was already on his third room without getting one that was clean or up to standard. The front desk receptionist let her husband, who wasn’t a hotel worker or guest, hang around the lobby during her shift. She allegedly told him to photograph children staying there so they could catch them doing something wrong and kick them out. He was secretly taking pictures of minor boys on his personal phone. That was deeply alarming. When we needed clean towels, we were told to bring the dirty, wet ones down to the desk to exchange them, with no exceptions. At 10 PM on a Thursday, we were also told the lobby computers were only for “business people,” in case one might need them. At checkout, I was told I didn’t need to speak with anyone, and that our organization’s director had handled everything, including refunds. That wasn’t true. I had to check out myself and request confirmation and a paper trail for the refund. Later I found I’d been charged nearly $60 more than I should have, without explanation or accountability. The staff were rude and incompetent, and the hotel was filthy and unsafe.

Nothing fancy, just a normal hotel. Our room was clean and the staff seemed friendly enough. The shower controls were backwards, and the alarm clock didn’t work. That was the third broken alarm clock on this trip. It’s not a huge deal since we have phones, but it’s strange to provide clocks that don’t work. The free parking and indoor pool looked good. There was a microwave in the room, too. Sounds basic, but our nicer Courtyard in Canada didn’t have one, so we had to burn popcorn in the lobby. The toilet paper here was good, unlike the industrial stuff at another hotel we stayed at for a similar price. I don’t go on vacation to cut my butt.

The rooms were clean and the mattresses were all new. Our room’s heating system wouldn’t reset properly, so the staff moved us to another room where the heat worked and gave us a thick quilt to use if we needed it. The staff were kind and caring.