Courtyard by Marriott Edmonton West — Hotel in Edmonton

First time staying at this marriott, came up for business and rates were lower than other properties given the number of events going on in Edmonton.

Room was a different set up, but its actually a SMART set up.. Everything was positioned great, I thought the bed being where it was would hear a lot of noise from the hallway but I was wrong. Room was cleaned nicely, due to medical issues I usually bring lysol wipes up to go over the room with.. They were as clean as they came out of the bottle.. No missed spots or anything.. Super impressed! Rooms seem to be well designed, as I couldn't hear anything from rooms on either side of me!

Mini fridge had a bad smell coming out from the back side of it.. Guessing there's no air flow.. Made me nausious a bit, but I left the main door open and it seemed to fix itself.

Bed - Comfortable, except for the pillows.. super soft.. even with 3 of them piled up I had a hard time sleeping..

Desk - Huge! Loved all the easy plug in's.. Only complaint is the chair's pretty hard after sitting in it for awhile.. Had some long online meetings I had to partake in, and felt it after awhile in my hips.

Bathroom - Amazing! Good size, lots of space.. Lots of hot water!

TV - Only complaint is the TV Guide is completely out of whack.. Channels are wrong on many - No listings for good chunk of the channels.. Made it hard to figure out what was on where.. TSN Channels were mostly unavailable due to the hockey games/blackout. Closed captioning worked wonderful!

Check in - I have a note on file that I'm deaf/hard of hearing.. I'm pretty good at reading lips.. But the young guy who checked me in, he was speaking so fast I had no idea of half of what he was saying..

Check out - Agent didn't ask if there were any problems, just took my cards and told me to have a good day.. Would had mentioned the fridge issue to her and the pillows..

Housekeeping - Had to ask when I went out Tuesday at noon, if someone could get my room cleaned up.. I saw the housekeeping lady a room over from mine when I originally went out at 0830, but when I came back at 11 she was down the other end of the hall.

Good location - easy for me to get in and out of the city, and to meetings over at west edmonton mall.. Would be nice if the windows opened a bit more, or if the blinds could open on that end to get some airflow through..

Pool - Unable to use due to some incident the front desk guy said during check in. Weight room was a good size.

If you have a handicap parking tag - be aware there's only 2 stalls available.. Both can be a pain to get out of, as they allow vehicles to park behind...

This is my second time staying at the Courtyard Marriott in Edmonton. The first time was much better. We were greeted by the management with a cold drink for myself and my children, which I very much appreciated after a long drive in a sleet/rain storm. The reservation clerk who was very nice, from Wisconsin she said, gave us early arrival and late departure which we never got. That was very important for us as my toddler takes afternoon naps, so naps didn't happen on arrival or on departure. The bathtub drain was broken, which was inconvenient to have it fixed late in the evening as it was discovered after the children were already in bed. Last visit the breakfast buffet was included, but for some reason it wasn't included this time. When I inquired with the front desk, I was met with quiet but argumentative tone. Eventually they included it, and it was billed to my room, which is what I asked for in the first place. It appeared to me that what was booked didn't actually happen when we got there, and when the discrepancies were pointed out to the front desk people, I was met each time with "well, that was through central booking, not us", or "what was the name of the booking person?", as if it was her fault not their's. The front desk people on arrival made us feel very welcome, but during our stay, their tone changed and I had to really work at getting our needs met. They fell short with my toddler's naps for two days, which I really needed in place for us and it wasn't followed through at the hotel. I would say that the customer service at the front desk could use some consistency with how they treat their clients, and putting yourself in someone else's shoes. ... One more point, the weekend morning buffet last time was in the restaurant area. This time it was set up down the hall away from the restaurant and you had to carry the food back yourself quite a distance. I could not see my young children the entire time I got food for them, and for the three of us there were several trips. This is a family hotel, and I want my eyes on my children at all times but I couldn't do that when getting their breakfasts with this set-up. One was in a high chair. I think your set-up needs to be returned to the side of the restaurant where it was before. I liked your hotel, but I am giving a much lower rating than last time for...

Since my most recent stay included 12 days in the past 8 months, I will touch on the things that stand out the most:

The room: The love the layout of the room; the fact that there is a refrigerator in the room and the free wifi. I did not like the quality of the pillows (should have firm and soft to meet everyone's needs), the fact that when you pull the TV out to face the bed, the satellite reception would go away (a longer cable connection should be considered here); The shower head had no pressure at all. A safe in the room would have made it better for my needs.

The Hotel Restaurant: Keep in mind that I have stayed here for 12 nights in the past year. I have eaten at the restaurant for dinner only 2 or 3 times in that timeframe; and, each expereince was the same: horrible. The service was good; but, the food was horrible each time. From the pizza to the steak. Something has to be done about the restaurant; as, I may consider staying elsewhere for this reason alone.

Parking: You should separate event parking from hotel guest parking; as, when there is an event at the hotel, there is no parking left for hotel guests (another reason to consider staying elsewhere)

Housekeeping: Housekeeping overall is very good. The one excpetion is when the person or people who clean the room move things around. If I am staying in a hotel for a week, I have my things in a certain spot for a reason; and, every effort should be made to respect this. This means that if you move something, put it back (pretty simple, right) A small training issue that happened on one night of my most recent stay; but, I do not rememebr the details right now.

Overall this is a good hotel with a great location for my needs. We all know that it is the small things that keep us repeat customers...