Auburn Hills Extended Stay Inn — Hotel in Auburn Hills

My experience was very average. Check-in & staff interaction was below-par, but the property was adequate.

I had reserved & prepaid for a two bedroom suite on Priceline. The suite was supposed to have one queen bed, two twin beds, and one sofa bed. Before booking the hotel through Priceline, I had also checked the hotels booking website. As I was doing this check, it became apparent to me that there was only one suite like this at the property. I wound up booking through Priceline because the rate was better.

When I arrived, the front desk staff had my reservation on file & there were no issues checking in. However, when I went to the room that I was assigned at check-in, I was given a one bedroom suite (i.e. standard room) with only two double beds.

I returned to the front desk to inquire, & I explained to the front desk agent that I had reserved a two bedroom suite. The front desk agent advised that the hotel did not have any such rooms. I then explained the bed arrangement that the two bedroom suite was supposed to have, & the front desk agent advised that the property has only one apartment that meets that criteria. So I advised that was what I had reserved & prepaid for on Priceline.

The front desk agent advised me that the apartment was not supposed to be sold on Priceline, because it is the only one they have on the property & they prefer to keep it available so they can sell it directly at their higher rate. The front desk agent advised that the apartment was available, but it would require an additional $50 if I wanted to "upgrade" to it.

I told the front desk agent that I had written confirmation of my reservation, from Priceline, which clearly showed that I had reserved & prepaid for the apartment. So I advised that if they wanted to charge the additional $50, that would be fine by me because I would just dispute the charge with Priceline. Additionally, I noted that it was 0500 PM on a Wednesday night, I was only staying one night (with others, which is why I had reserved the suite with four beds), & the apartment was still available. So I didn't understand why they were being so difficult - Did they expect somebody a walk-in to come after 0500 PM that evening looking to stay in the apartment that night?

The front desk agent finally conceded to switch me into the apartment, for no additional charge, if I produced written confirmation of my prepaid reservation. I shouldn't have had to do this, as they should have an accurate reservation on file (although it was clear that their record keeping was not very good - The paperwork I had to complete had my address listed as somewhere in Connecticut, but I have never even lived in Connecticut). But I pulled it up anyways, & the front desk agent finally agreed to switch my room to what I had reserved & prepaid for.

The suite was adequate, particularly for the price. It was not the most up-to-date suite, but it served its purpose. I was concerned about room cleanliness given many other (recent) reviews. However, the suite was mostly clean - There was a phone charger that was left in the wall from the last guest, & some errant small pieces of trash (which made it clear they didn't do a thorough job of cleaning the suite).

The location was great - Nearby many small strip malls for food & shopping. The location also felt safe, & there was ample free parking...

Upon checking in we were issued a room number and given our keys. As we made our way up to the 3rd floor I could not help but notice the hallways wreaked of marijuana, the lights in the hallway was very dim and the overall appearance lacked a welcoming vibe. Once we made it to the room number we were given we opened the door to find SOMEONE WAS ALREADY CHECKED IN TO THIS ROOM!. Their personal belongings were all over and you could tell the room had not just been missed by housekeeping, there was someone staying in this room. We went down to the desk and explained what happened. The gentleman working the desk was extremely nice however informed me that they did not have any more rooms available to my needs and if I wanted to get a refund I would have to reach out to Priceline in order to receive one. After talking with the gentleman for a few minutes he explained he may have a King sized suite available if I was interested in that. I was traveling home from a weekend dance competition with my two elementary aged daughters. At that point in time I decided I would take what I could get because all three of us were exhausted and I was not certain we'd be able to find anything else in the area with that shirt notice. We were now given a room on the second floor. As we make our way up the overwhelming smell of marijuana again became present in the dim sketchy hallways. We made it to our room and we're happy to find no other guests were occupying although the room was less than desirable, the floor did not look as if it had been vacuumed, the bathroom sink had some type of residue on the counter top, my youngest daughter found a lighter on the floor under the desk area, later on in the evening found what looked to be a chicken bone under the bed and the romote for the TV had no back on it so the batteries kept falling out. While using the staircase that led to the side exit door I noticed a ton of cigarette butts scattered all over the staircase. Once it was time to go to bed my oldest daughter volunteered to sleep in the recliner because there was obviously one bed available for three people, I discovered the walls were extremely thin, and quite a few guests were out in the hallways talking extremely loud using choice language. We decided to turn the fan up in the heater and were able to drowned out the noises. Although our stay definitely did not meet my expectations we were safe and able to get some sleep. Auburn Hills is a beautiful community and I expected my stay to reflect that. I actually opted to drive about 30 minutes away from where the dance competition was held and not stay in Pontiac to potentially avoid the type of situations we experience. I will say both Rodger the gentleman whom checked me in and Brooke (I think was her name) the lady whom checked us out were...

I think the best way to describe this place is sketchy. Hard to know where to start. From the outside, this looks to be a fine option for anyone looking for a cheap place to stay, but stay 1 week or more and you'll start noticing things:

In the last month of being here, I have noticed that they have almost never asked to see ANY identification if I needed to pick up mail. But to pick up mail would mean that the ONE person working in the whole building after 4 pm would actually have to be at the desk.

If you care about a clean room then keep looking, the rooms are sometimes clean and if you're lucky they won't be falling apart. (in the last month I've had to move rooms due to broken shelves and had to put in to get my sink repaired when it soaked the contents of the cabinet.

wifi. is. a. joke. for $31 a month you can actually do some mild internet tasks, but don't expect to get anything done AT ALL on the free wifi. Wifi is handled by an offsite company and neither the front desk nor the company would tell me what the speeds should be, but ill tell you with the free i was getting 1mbps (sometimes less) and rarely id get up to 3mbps in my room (download). For comparison that's around the average wifi speed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Starbucks will get you about 8-9mbps.

In my experience, I would not recommend anyone stay here unless living on the street is the only other option.

*some other things: Rooms have no ventilation in the bathroom or anywhere else, that means any steam you make from kitchen or bathroom stays with you in the room. The windows do open about 2 inches, but only some have screens to keep bugs out. The coffee and "breakfast" is only sometimes available. If you have to get to work in the morning there's a solid chance they'll be out of coffee and you'll be on your own for your caffeine intake for the day.

There is a positive or two actually: the man in charge of maintenance and upkeep is always working (there's a lot to maintain as mentioned) and I always appreciate how quickly he has de-iced the sidewalks. This location is very close to FCA headquarters, Starbucks, and Oakland University. As long as you don't plan on enjoying your time inside, you'll enjoy its location...