Aloft by Marriott Florence

The rooms are nice, though the cleaning didn’t quite meet Marriott standards. I spent three nights being woken by what sounded like a bowling alley overhead, including a midnight crash on the third night that sounded like a hippo falling through the roof. If you’re on the bottom floor, you can hear everything from the lobby and bar. The staff let the noise continue all night.

At checkout the next morning, we found out other guests had also been put in dirty rooms, and the night clerk hadn’t updated the system. They didn’t know which rooms were occupied or who was in them, which could’ve been dangerous if someone entered a room they thought was vacant. We arrived late, and the check-in clerk barely spoke. Our first room had a sticky floor, trash under the table, and hair all over the bathroom. The front desk moved us, but the clerk wasn’t apologetic. The replacement room looked clean, as far as I could tell.

After a six-hour drive, I was assigned a room that clearly hadn’t been cleaned. The bed looked slept in, the toilet hadn’t been flushed, and the shower drain was lying in the shower. There were bad odors and smudges on the TVs and furniture. Loud teenagers were nearby in the adjoining room. When I called reception, the woman sounded bothered and offered to clean the toilet, brushing off my other complaints. After I went to the front desk, she finally acknowledged them and moved me to a room that was only a little better. I tried to find another hotel, but everything was booked. This fell short of the Marriott standard I’m used to, and I’m very disappointed. I won’t book here again.

I’ve often stayed at The Loft on trips up and down the East Coast because I like the youthful, modern feel, the games, the cleanliness, and the professional staff. Most locations have what you need and then some, and a few even have electric car chargers. This one had nearly everything advertised, but the cleanliness was a letdown. The beds looked so poorly made that I wondered if the sheets had been changed. The little carpet seemed dirty, the paint looked worn, and there was a mark by the mirror that looked like blood, though it was probably dried nail polish and should’ve been easy to clean. There was also a slight body odor from the previous guest when I walked in. This location doesn’t reflect the others I’ve stayed at.