TownePlace Suites by Marriott Grand Rapids Airport

The room layout felt cramped, with barely enough space to walk around because of the wall-mounted tables, large sofa, ottoman, and big cupboards. The bathroom takes up about three-quarters of the bedroom, though guests probably don’t spend much time there. Its shower has only one glass panel, so water gets on the floor, and the door opens toward the bed, sending hot steam into the room. The two-door refrigerator seemed far too large for such a small space. A smaller one would make more sense since guests probably don’t store much food, and a mostly empty fridge wastes energy. The TV is wall-mounted with a viewing angle of about 45 degrees. There aren’t extra outlets nearby, so using a streaming device means unplugging the TV box. The pool water was cold, and a filtered water station for refilling bottles would be helpful. Breakfast during my weeklong stay was disappointing. Soy milk was available for only two days, and items that ran out weren’t replaced. They had two kinds of cup yogurt, but once those were gone, that was it. By the last few days there was no milk or yogurt at all, making the place seem almost like it was going out of business. It felt like they no longer cared about guests’ experience. Other three-star hotels usually have apples, oranges, or bananas out all day, while this one only had red apples. I hadn’t planned to write a review, but after a bad stay at the other TownePlace Suites in the same city, I wanted to share my experience here. Some problems may be common to the brand, since its hotels have similar designs. From outside, while I was staying at the Holiday Inn Express next door, this hotel looked nice and fancy, so I booked a few days. It didn’t meet my expectations once I checked in. The Holiday Inn was cleaner and cheaper, and its breakfast was better, with milk and yogurt always available. They didn’t pay me to say that. Overall, this was below what I’d expect from a three-star hotel.

The hotel was clean, the front desk staff were pleasant, and breakfast was good. The main problem during our weekend was the noise from a large hockey team group of kids. They ran up and down the halls and knocked on doors all day and night. My husband was there for business and had early morning calls, so I finally asked the desk to stop it. I don’t know if they tried, but the noise never let up. Otherwise, we liked the hotel and would return, as long as there weren’t loud, unsupervised kids.

I was able to make dinner in my suite most nights because it came with dishes and glassware. It was also close to the airport and other restaurants. This turned out to be a surprisingly good hotel, and everything else was great apart from breakfast. On the morning I was there, they’d run out of things like milk and yogurt. Cereal is hard to eat when the only milk left is chocolate, unless you’re six years old and willing to try it.

The location was the only real plus. At first glance the hotel seemed nice, and the manager was very friendly when checking us in. But the room was incredibly humid, with damp carpet, furniture, and sheets. The bathroom fan didn’t work, which might have added to the moisture. The pool was always out of towels when we swam, so I had to ask the front desk. Once, all they could give me was one bath towel and four hand towels because nothing else was clean. The pool bathroom and both lobby bathrooms were out of order. Staff were often outside smoking, and the main floor smelled like smoke. Breakfast was below par. The elevators weren’t clean, and a floss pick sat in one of them the entire three days we were there. At night, car alarms and people fighting outside kept waking us. One morning, someone walked through the parking lot in their underwear. We felt dirty and cut our stay short. The place needs deep cleaning and updates.