Courtyard by Marriott Paramus

The only real drawback for me was no pool, and traffic merging right in front of the hotel can make turning in difficult. Otherwise, I love staying here. There’s a lovely lounge out back with a fire pit, plenty of chairs and couches, plus tables with umbrellas. The bistro serves breakfast and dinner, and the marketplace has a decent range of snacks and drinks.

Lizka, the Starbucks Barista, is consistently efficient and professional whenever we visit Courtyard. She gives such outstanding service that I’d rate her 10 stars. Next time, we’ll get the names of other hotel staff who’ve shown us the same hospitality so we can recognize them too. We also identified a staff member whose name was posted with a one-star rating. They could benefit from more customer service training and workshops.

The traffic noise carried on through the night and could bother light sleepers. Getting in and out of the parking lot was awkward, too, since you have to pass through the lot of an adjoining vacant building. The bathroom sink had very little water pressure. That said, we were very satisfied. The hotel looks recently renovated, and our room was spacious and clean, with comfortable beds. The lobby felt inviting and the staff were friendly and helpful. For a Courtyard-level hotel, it was excellent, and we’d certainly return.

We were there for a wedding and the hotel seemed lovely at first. When we came back to our room around 1 a.m., we found two roaches, used items left by previous guests, and holes in the blankets and sheets. We were tired, had been drinking, and had our young children with us, so we weren’t in a condition to make the two-hour drive home. The desk staff seemed bothered when we reported it. They did let us switch rooms, but by then we were already upset, and they seemed annoyed when we asked for garbage bags to pack our things. The assistant manager we spoke to in the morning had a Millie name tag, but gave us a card saying Luisa Samples. She was extremely rude. She offered either a poor discount or to file an incident report, have the room inspected, and wait for an outside company to contact us. We were still expected to pay either way. I’ve worked in customer service for a long time, and I was shocked by how this was handled. The risk of bringing roaches home is serious, especially with our two-month-old. The staff treated us like a nuisance throughout. The pests were bad enough, but their attitude about the hotel’s roaches was appalling.