Extended Stay America Select Suites - Austin - Northwest — Hotel in Austin

There is a serious problem with Adam Lopez, the property general manager at 13689 Research Blvd in Austin. As a guest over the last seven weeks I’ve observed a pattern of flagrant indifference and dishonesty, toward myself as well as other guests. Adam appears to gain a personal satisfaction in making things difficult for your guests.|||| This is not a typical complaint letter sent in frustration over an isolated incident. Adam’s attitude and behavior are genuinely disturbing for the position he’s in as manager at a Woodspring and Choice Hotels affiliated franchise.||||Upon check-in I provided a valid, state-issued temporary ID. The woman who checked me in called Adam to determine if I could stay, which he initially refused, but eventually relented when I put up a strenuous argument about the validity of state-issued temporary ID’s. Weeks later I was headed to the office to ask about the monthly rate (I paid weekly at the time) and passed Adam in the hall. I said I was just coming down to see what the cost of a monthly stay is, and without slowing down or offering to meet me at the office to provide details, he ballparked it hastily (“gonna be about two thousand dollars”) and continued walking. I was dumbfounded at his lack of interest in accommodating me with precise info and securing my extended business.||||I dropped by the office again at some point that day to get the exact amount, and stood waiting at the counter for at least 10-15 minutes. An Amazon delivery was brought in and left on the counter, and Adam immediately came from his seat just out of view of the window where he’d been sitting the whole time. Literally five feet away, just out of view of the front window. He 100% heard me and saw me come in on camera and inexplicably and spitefully kept me waiting for no reason as he sat and did nothing out of view. Furthermore, after getting the details I was seeking, I returned to the office moments later to clarify something, and saw him giving a young lady in need of check-in a hard time about her temporary ID. I immediately interceded and called him out for knowing they are valid, at which point he said to her “Okay... I’ll allow it this time.”This is your GENERAL MANAGER. He's got some inexplicable chip on his shoulder that gives him genuine relief in spreading his misery to the company's paying customers. ||||Lastly, and most importantly, he recently attempted to BLOCK me from receiving a tax-refunded credit I was owed by law after completing a one month stay. I came to the office a week prior to see how much credit I would receive when the month was up. Adam told me they had no record of my intent to stay (although I booked for a month and declared my intention to gain the credit at check-in), and he gave me an 'intent to stay' form to fill out. He said it would be sent to corporate. When I was finally eligible, I came to pay my next week’s rate and receive the credit, he told me he didn’t have any record of the credit on file, he asked me to fill out an “intent to stay” form AGAIN (which makes no sense anyway to fill out 'intent' at the end of the month) and he would mail it to the office. I told him I reserved the room for an entire month and met all the payment requirements, he told me to come back later in the afternoon. He was blatantly stalling to keep me from saving money on a payment in any way possible. The guy is outrageous. I first agreed to come back that afternoon but quickly decided not to put up with his BS and returned to the office. This time there were other guests present when I spoke to him, I demanded he clarify exactly what the hold up in the “process” was because his story wasn’t adding up, and he looked at the computer screen and said “Ok, I just got an email back, I can apply the credit.” It was an absurd and blatant lie. He knew he was gonna be busted in front of other guests and gave up the charade. At this point I decided to ask him exactly what his problem was and why he is always so intent on making things difficult, and he then told me I would need to check out at the end of this week. My “confrontation” was completely benign and more than justified as a paying guest of over a month, yet Adam simply takes satisfaction in forcing me to head somewhere else and start paying 70+ dollars in weekly tax for the next month.||||The guy is an absolute disgrace to the hospitality field and the Woodspring/Choice Hotels brand. His spite and misery is the worst kept secret on the property. Guests and employees know it, and I see past guests have experienced it as well. I'll be very wary of Woodspring/Choice in the future if they continue to employ such egregious characters...

Despite the high ratings for the room quality and the location, I had to revise my review a second time to lower my rating to one star. The TL;DR version is that the manager and her corporate backers feel they're not bound by the terms of paid-for reservations.

I booked a room online for one month. A bit over two weeks before check-out, I went to the front desk to inquire about the cost of extending my stay for one month. After multiple instances where the manager mangled my words (i.e., getting my room number wrong, giving unrelated answers to my direct questions), she said that she could not give me an estimate.

Roughly 20 minutes later, she called my room and provided a price quote that was slightly under $1,200.

Today, I went to the front desk to request an extension of my stay for an additional month. She told me that the rate changed, so the price was now a bit shy of $1,500.

It gets worse.

The manager said that, due to the rate change, I'd have to leave a day early. She blamed me "for changing the reservation." I never changed the reservation. I tried to determine the cost of extending my stay. I did not request for any changes, I did not consent to any changes, and I did not make any additional bookings prior to my attempt to extend today.

I called corporate, who essentially told me that, reservations and receipts be damned, what the manager says goes.

No combination of quality and convenience compensates for a manager who makes no effort to communicate effectively and who unilaterally decides that her whims override the terms of a completed purchase.

UPDATE: 2025-06-13

After checking out, the terrible customer interactions continued.

I just received a phone call from the general manager, informing me that the clerk who checked me out issued a full refund, which the general manager claims will be withdrawn directly from my account.

I double-checked with my financial institution, which shows no sign of the alleged refund. Fortunately, I do not have overdraft on my account, so attempting to recharge me should fail outright.

I'm unsure whether the "refund error" was genuine or if this is a ploy to withdraw roughly $1,200 from my account. Either way, I've blocked the number for ESA Austin and will be checking my account several times a day for any unusual activity.

The incompetence and malice that the manager and staff have shown are outright cartoonish.

UPDATE: 2025-06-14

...are they serious about "regaining trust?" They had several opportunities to gain my trust: addressing the dripping sound from the bathroom ceiling, providing direct answers to direct questions, offering accurate quotes about stays and extensions, and not playing games with customers' financial accounts. Instead, they chose to engage in deliberate miscommunication and flimsy rationales for their antics.

They don't care about "regaining my trust." They're trying...

My husband and I made a reservation in October online through Booking.com now when I book online I look for things like SMOKING AND NON SMOKING. Well as per the reservation made I was booked for a smoking queen room. So under the impression I was allowed to smoke and it was starting to get cold at night we mainly smoked inside. NO issues, NO Non smoking sign visible, NO warning anywhere, and Lady at front desk told us NOTHING at check in. On our 2nd day there we wake up around 9am and smoke a cigarette like any other morning. No sooner then were done we get a knock at the door followed by a voice saying "Its management, you need to open up NOW!!" When my husband answered they guy asked if we had been smoking we both told him "yes" that we were in a smoking room. The manager guy became very rude saying that the hotel is a non smoking hotel and that we needed to leave right then. as we tried to tell him that we booked a smoking room and even tried to show him the reservation that was sent for his hotel saying that it was in fact smoking. He refused to look at it and then told my husband and I that if we didnt leave right then that he was going to call the police. We even tried explaining how it was simply a misunderstanding on the hotel and and booking.coms end not ours. Now we had all of our belongings to move abruptly and we had no car. Even after trying to explain that he still refused understanding the situation and made us leave. needless to say we ended up outside with all of our personal belongings, waiting for a ride. After all of that I reached out to booking.com about a refund for the remainder of our stay. Sadly though since I chose to pay later, booking.com wasn't liable to have to refund me. Although they were very nice and called the hotel personally explaining the misunderstanding and the reasons why the hotel owed us a refund. In the end the Hotel REFUSED to refund us our $285 that was left after taking off for the 2 days we stayed. Thanks to booking.com for taking the professional and morally correct road and kindly refunding us themselves. we ended up receiving a $75 off coupon and around $200. I will never stay here again and dont recommend staying here to anyone who doesnt want there money taken in return for rude service...