Residence Inn by Marriott Savannah Downtown/Historic District

Staff members we met were all super friendly and helpful. We liked the hotel’s exterior location across from the field where the Battle of Savannah took place in 1779. The Savannah Visitor Center is also walkable, as are The Savannah History Museum and The Railroad Museum, which includes an amazing interactive Children’s’ Museum. Parker’s Gas Station is next door. We waited there for the free city-provided Downtowner car service once, then switched to Lyft because a lot of seedy characters hang around and cut through the gas station parking lot. The hotel is right at the edge of the historic district, despite what many YouTube videos and other ads say. There’s project housing on the next block. Valet parking for $35 a night felt secure. There are two other lots, but the attendant can’t see them, so I wouldn’t leave a car there. The public spaces are nice, but our room felt outdated and the bathroom tile and grout needed a deep clean. It had a tub and shower with a curtain, which seemed gross compared with the more modern setups at other Residence Inn’s. You can tell if a room was properly cleaned after the last guest, and our little dog spent most of the time sniffing around. We ate breakfast out each morning because what the hotel offered didn’t work for us. I’d recommend staying here for the history nearby, but next time we’d choose somewhere more central in the historic district.

My dog was acting unlike herself as soon as we entered the room, and then I saw the filthy kitchen. After eight hours of driving, I started cleaning with the only things I had, a smiley sponge and Palmolive dish soap. The counters had oily smears and crumbs, and when I dropped something, the carpet smelled strongly of urine. The kitchen floor was just as dirty, and the carpet didn’t look vacuumed. The tub had a dirt stain, the shower curtain was a wrinkled mess, and there was bulging caulk around the tub and floors. How many times can tile be caulked? The dog area outside our door needs freshening up too. I washed everything before using it. We’d found this Residence Inn two years ago on our annual Thanksgiving drive from New Jersey to Tampa Bay, and loved our room in the Cottages enough to book again. I have a highly trained Service Dog, and these rooms had worked for us. This time, with all the scents in the room, I worried that she might not alert me when I needed her to. She is a dog, after all. We’ve been Marriott Members and timeshare holders for more than 20 years, and this room was unacceptable, disgusting, unsanitary, and far below Marriott Standards. The one star is for the staff and white bath towels. We always clean up after ourselves and leave a nice tip for housekeeping, but this was the first time we didn’t. I’ve seen other complaints about room cleanliness and management responses that seem meant to pacify people publicly. They need to act. We’ll bypass Savannah next year and stay somewhere else.

During the snowstorm at the end of January, when travel was difficult, Tashina at the front desk arranged two nearby rooms and had them ready for our arrival. She was extremely helpful throughout our two-day stay.

The comfortable, clean bed and good location were about the only things I liked. The room wasn’t clean when I arrived, apart from the bed, and needs refurbishing. There were stray hairs on the bathroom counter and by the tub. Around the AC vent in the corner of studio room 223, what looked like mold or mildew was both under and on top of the poorly maintained paint. Dust had collected on the vents too. The tub caulk was discolored in several places, with pink water stains and discoloration around the shower soap dispensers. The pillows were very thick, though the towels and linens were fine. Shower temperature and pressure were nothing special. The gas station in front had a cast of characters hanging around later in the evening, but that isn’t the hotel’s fault.