Sonesta Select Durham Research Triangle Park

Reviewed January 2026. This place is Durham's Overlook Hotel from The Shining. I hope they'll make serious changes, based on the other reviews. I don't get how the rating is so high. My coworker and I were booked for a longer stay, six days and five nights. Check-in was easy, and the lobby looked nice at first, with lots of seating, a fireplace, and what seemed to be a small restaurant area. An ultrasonic diffuser sent out essential oil mist to cover the odd smells we kept running into around the hotel. We checked the first room before settling in. There was lots of hair and crumbs in the beds, a used towel behind the couch with very questionable stains, and trash under the bed skirt. It smelled of old cigarettes and something else. The room phone couldn't reach either the front desk or housekeeping, since both numbers were out of service. We went back to the desk and were moved next door. The second room was much cleaner, with an unstained couch and less odor. It had a balcony over the pool, but also looked onto a homeless encampment in the woods, where we could see people and a dog roaming. The wall thermostat didn't work, so we had to use the unit controls. Getting a comfortable temperature was difficult, either freezing or stuffy. Not every room has a fridge and microwave; there's one in the lobby. The fitness center was locked, and our key wouldn't open it, so we had to go to the front desk each time we wanted to work out. The TV had audio but no picture. There were two treadmills, one making a strange noise, plus a stationary bike and an elliptical. The dumbbell rack was decent and there was an adjustable weight bench. You can't control the room temperature, and I think they should add a security camera. The lobby bathrooms across from the fitness center were both closed. If you're working out, you have to return to your room to use the bathroom, then go back to the desk to be let in and finish. Employees were usually around to let you back in, but sometimes stepped away. Despite what looks like a great kitchen, there's no breakfast or other food served here, just coffee in the morning. No breakfast isn't the end of the world, but a screen in the lobby seemed to promote the hotel restaurant. Our employers booked the stay, so I don't know which third-party site they used, and I hope it didn't list breakfast. Other guests made us feel unsafe. A man a few doors down paced the halls and lingered near our door, sometimes popping out when he seemed to hear us or the elevator. Another man kept staring out his window toward the parking lot whenever we were at our vehicle. We weren't the only ones concerned. When we went to reactivate our keys after both suddenly stopped working in our first few hours, another woman was telling the desk that security needed to be called about the man in the hall. The desk's video camera showed him. There were plenty of security cameras. We considered ourselves lucky after reading reviews about spider infestations and bed bugs. We saw what looked like little black ladybugs and a very active stink bug. Smells ranged from old cigarettes and weed to urine and the essential oil diffuser. Walking through the hotel was a smell adventure.