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| - I stayed here with my mom and my brother for MLB All-Star weekend in July 2011. We stayed 3 nights, checking in on Saturday and out on Tuesday. The hotel doesn't look overly impressive from the outside, but the inside and amenities and value completely won us over. This is a great place to stay on a budget if you can't afford the Hyatt right downtown. :-P
The rooms really are newly-remodeled and look great inside -- new tile in the bathroom for the floor and shower, granite countertop for the sink area, new furniture in the room, large flat-screen tv, memory foam mattresses for the beds, etc. Our only complaint was that the bathroom door didn't quite shut all the way, but that was room-specific to our room. There's a mini fridge (no freezer in it) and a microwave, too. The a/c was fairly loud, especially while trying to sleep, but being in Phoenix (especially in summer) you're just grateful that it's working. :)
Parking is free. Wifi is free (password was included on a card in the room). Continental breakfast was free, and although very basic was still nice to have. There were packaged muffins and pastries and granola bars, a bowl of fruit, and yogurt available in a little fridge in the lobby. They also had coffee, a pitcher of OJ, juice boxes, and bottles of water (definitely awesome). There's a McDonald's 1 block away if you want more easy breakfast options.
The best part about this hotel is the value -- it's not the biggest, nicest, fanciest hotel around, but you will pay far less than anything else nearby and within walking distance of downtown. The first night of our stay was $69 and the second two nights were $89 each (jacked up due to the All-Star game, but still cheap comparatively). It's difficult to find anything less than mid-$100's elsewhere nearby.
We walked into downtown every day, all the way to Chase Field from the hotel (just over a mile). It was fairly brutal in the July 100+ degree heat, but it's do-able and worth it to not have to pay for (and deal with) parking downtown. There's also a light rail station 4 blocks away from the hotel, so it's definitely an option to just walk to the light rail station and then take that anywhere else (Chase Field is 2 stops down from the closest one to the hotel -- $1.75 for a one-way ride, or $3.50 for an all-day pass). The convention center is even closer to the hotel than Chase Field, so getting there was an easier walk. Walking around in the winter would certainly be very pleasant, anyway. :)
The hotel is kind of on the sketchy edge of town, but just barely on the border. It's not even sketchy, but just more run-down than the main downtown area. We never felt unsafe, even walking back to the hotel after 10pm sometimes.
The staff was also quite friendly and nice -- the lobby where you check in (and get breakfast off the counter) is extremely tiny, but the guys checking you in were very nice. They even held onto a case of beer for us for the day we checked out while we went into town for the game, and we didn't want to leave the beer in the hot car all day long. They were nice about storing it in the back for us, and they didn't even drink any of it while watching it for us all day long. :-P It was an extra nicety that they did just because, not that they had to watch our stuff for us even after we checked out.
All in all, it's a great value for your money, so if you can't afford the mid- to high-hundreds of dollars to stay somewhere fancy downtown, this is the place to be. You can still walk to everything, your room will be nice and new, and you can get free wifi and basic breakfast. A great deal!!!
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