Comfort Inn & Suites Phoenix North / Deer Valley

We arrived around 5 p.m. and were told they were overbooked, so the room we’d requested wasn’t available. It was Thursday and the parking lot didn’t have many cars, so we don’t know why. The desk agent was apathetic and unapologetic. Every outside door was standing wide open, letting anyone into the hotel. The room was disgusting, with nearly everything broken, scratched, or filthy. We had to leave for a rehearsal dinner right away, but didn’t feel safe leaving our bags there, so we took them with us. The night desk agent was much better than the day agent and refunded the room after we showed him photos of the room and the broken outside locks and gates. We moved to another hotel. As we left, about 30 people were gathered on the street corner just outside, exchanging “something” and hanging around. We’ve stayed at many hotels, and this was by far the worst. We’ve never been more disappointed, and we won’t trust Choice Hotels to provide a safe, clean stay again.

After three days on the road, we arrived to find they’d charged us for the previous night, saying that was our check-in date, then canceled the remaining four days. There was no confirmation email or phone call. I work hotel front desk in Ohio, and it was completely inappropriate to assume we weren’t coming without emailing us about the check-in date mix-up. Luckily, we chose to keep driving and found a room at the first hotel we reached. Clearly the better choice.

The rooms were clean, the staff were all nice, and breakfast was decent. But I chose this hotel because of my spinal issues and its promises of comfortable beds and a good night's sleep, and I won’t make that mistake again. I booked three nights. In the first room, the chair was broken, there was no microwave, the air conditioning barely worked, and the bed was lopsided. I asked to move. The second room had no shampoo or conditioner in the shower, a slow drain, no solid curtains, and a spotlight shining through the window. Its bed was lopsided too, and there were only sheets, no blankets. I had to go downstairs for blankets, then return at 9 p.m. to pick them up because they still needed washing due to blood on them. They use solid bed bases and apparently don’t inspect or replace them.

The staff were kind and professional, and breakfast was plentiful and pretty good. The beds were clean, though uncomfortable, and the pull-out bed left you aching. We stayed five days without hot water, and the door handle was broken, so we had to wiggle it to get in. The small bathroom had broken shower tiles and an extremely slippery shower floor with nothing to hold onto. The laundry facilities were out of order the whole time, and the grounds were dirty and badly needed power washing. The ice machine also needs a good cleaning, so use caution. The area had many unhoused people and people using drugs, and you couldn’t go out at night without someone accompanying you.