MainStay Suites Bismarck

The location worked really well for my business trip. The carpet needs replacing, though. It was so loose that I almost fell.

I was trying to find somewhere nice for a fun weekend with my family, but the manager spent the call arguing with me. I’d read that many rooms had no hot water, so I was just trying to confirm it would be working by the time I arrived. He kept asking what the point of the call was and said he wasn’t going to debate with me. With that attitude, he’s not getting my business. I wish I could give this place a negative star. They’re rude and argue nonstop.

The pool was the only part of our stay that had much going for it, though even there the hot tub, pool edges, and slides had a lot of scum buildup. It was badly overchlorinated, the kids’ sprinkler was out of order and had been for a while, and it took three days for them to put towels out. Some staff seemed annoyed when I asked to have the slides turned on at 3pm, even though the pool opens at 9am. For what this place costs, I’d expect the slides to be running from opening time. The service elsewhere was awful. The desk staff were rude, especially to our visitors. When I asked for a cart for my things, they told me to find one, so I had to search the halls myself. Our room wasn’t cleaned and our towels weren’t replaced until we went downstairs to ask. The bed was extremely hard and hurt my lower back. We bought an air mattress at Walmart, which was a little better. There were other problems in the room: the TV wasn’t a smart TV, so we had to buy a Roku stick for our 3 1/2 year-old to watch her shows through our apps. I know not everyone needs a smart TV, but for the price, I expected one. The chairs were very worn, with the coating peeling off, and the showerhead was nearly falling off the wall. We were afraid to move it in case it broke. The dresser drawers faced the bed in a way that kept them from opening. I’m also not sure the fresh air unit worked properly, and every vent was covered in dust. The ice machine outside our third-floor room had been broken for a while. When I told staff, they just said to use one on another floor. We’ll probably stay at the Comfort Inn or somewhere else next time we visit. We live pretty far south, and this didn’t feel like a home away from home. Stay away from room 321.

For $100, this one-night stay was hardly worth it. The water never got properly hot, even with the handle turned all the way up, and there was no bathroom fan. The staff weren’t especially friendly either. The beds were terribly hard, and the pullout couch was awful. It was a full, but they only had queen sheets, so they didn’t fit. The microfiber linens wouldn’t stay tucked in and kept sliding off the sides. The pillows were awful, and when I called to ask for extras, they had none. If I’d booked for longer, I would have canceled.