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| - We'd stayed at the SpringHill Suites in Plano, Texas and loved it, so were very much looking forward to staying at another one. Add to the name recognition the fact that they accepted our Marriott points, and were "so close to the {University of Phoenix} Stadium you could throw a rock and hit it", and it sounded like a winner.
Well, almost.
This place was a BITCH to find because (1) the facility is too new to appear on maps and didn't show up on the GPS and (2) we took the staff's statements literally. Not one, not two, but THREE employees had told me on the phone, prior to my booking the reservation, that this place was "right across the parking lot from the Stadium". They said that a car was optional; that the walking distance was very close, and you could see the stadium from the hotel. So, upon locating the Stadium, (it's huge and hard to miss), we drove in circles, trying to spot this elusive hotel.
We called, and told them that we'd been told it was right across from the Stadium parking lot. "Yeah, we're right here." Huh? We kept circling the frickin place, wondering if this SH was invisible. Called again, and were told enough to get us there, but it turned out to be nowhere near the Stadium. The only hotel near the Stadium was the Renaissance, followed by the Hampton.
Obviously we were really ticked off at being misled on the location. WTF is wrong with those people? Can they not judge distance? Are they looking through binoculars? Come on. Yes, technically it's walking distance, but a long one. Not comfortably walkable if you have any health issues, are not in athletic footwear, nor have the energy after many hours in the stadium. Certainly NOT "right across the parking lot." It's not even in the nearest shopping center to the Stadium. Thank goodness we had a rental car and had not depended on walking, which we'd briefly considered based on the information we'd been given!
If this is the line they're supposed to give out-of-towners who are there to go to the Stadium, it's dead wrong and should be changed.
On to the hotel itself...
The building is new, and it shows. Everything's beautiful, especially the courtyard, which is shared with Residence Inn. There's a big fountain which provided great photo ops. Very pretty. The gentleman who checked us in even obliged us some picture-taking so we could get in the shot with our friends. Cool!
The room itself had a wonderful layout. The living/office area was semi-walled off from the sleeping area, so someone could go to bed and not be disturbed by someone staying up. The bathroom was totally decent, with an added feature of a built-in shelf raised off the counter so I could set toiletries and hair/makeup tools out without being cramped. Great idea! The tub was very shallow, and the granite installation was clearly cheap. Would rather have an acrylic surround done properly than look at ugly cracks. But, whatever.
There was a flat TV sitting on the dresser that could be angled to view either from bed or from the desk/chairs -- nice touch.
The pool was an impressive size (but we didn't use it -- too cold at the 7 a.m. hour), as was the hot tub. Unfortunately the hot tub suffered from misfiring jets. All they did was make a mess. I think it's got to be a Marriott affliction, because the Residence we stayed in earlier this year had the same problem to a much worse degree. Get a real contractor to build those things, I know they're out there! No excuse. It was also so over-chlorinated that our eyes stung and noses wrinkled just to get near it. SUCH a waste of time, even though we only spent about a minute in there. We never saw anyone else use the hot tub or pool in three days.
The buffet breakfast was well-stocked and things were cooked well. The only omission? Potatoes. They had cereals, pastries, bread, yogurt, milk, juices, coffee, tea, cocoa, ready-made cheese/egg omelettes, eggs, sausage patties, English muffins, fruit, and an employee on hand to help. We were overall quite satisfied with the breakfast.
The beds were really comfortable, with lots of great pillows. It's nice to stay in a facility that's so new, it hasn't had a chance to get gross yet! The toilet paper was cheap and scratchy, but I'm used to that at Marriotts, so I brought our own. The hair conditioner in the room was half used. When we called for more, it was brought to us no problem.
Can't imagine that we'd stay here again, as we had a pretty singular reason to need to be so close to the Stadium, but we'd recommend it to others with the warning not to believe anyone who says it's right across the parking lot from the Stadium. If you're not parking at the Stadium, be prepared for a walk. Considering how exhausted I was after the show, there's NO WAY I could have handled a walk like that.
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