The Stella Hotel, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Bryan

Let's start with the positive.  This hotel really is beautiful.  Unlike modern hotels that lean towards clean  lines but often feel very sterile and cold, this hotel was decorated with warm rich colors, lots of interesting textures and an abundance of beautiful and interesting light fixtures.  There was a wide selection of comfortable seating and well placed decor.  Outdoors, the setting by the little lake was beautifully landscaped and there was plenty of parking.

With regard to the room, it too was well designed.  The decor was interesting and thoughtful. The colors were inviting.  And spot on with the placement of the shower fixtures which didn’t necessitate getting drenched in cold water when trying to turn the shower on.  The bed was very comfortable and the bedding was cozy to sleep in.

In a word, the hotel was splendid.  Our stay, however, was awful.

Let’s start with check in.  Rooms are supposed to be available at 4p.m.  We arrived at 3:45p.m. and we were told our room was not quite ready yet.  Fair, we were early.  So we were asked to wait in the lobby area (along with our luggage - it would have been nice if they had offered to set it aside for us) and they would come find us when the room was ready.  Half an hour later we were still waiting.  I went back to the front desk and asked for the status of the room and was told it was still ‘not quite’ ready. I asked for an ETA but the clerk simply said the room had not ‘been released’.  I asked again for an ETA since it was already after the supposed check in time.  At that point, another employee (turns out he was in a management position) stepped in and said it would be ‘less than 20 minutes’ and I was informed that the prior guests had a 4p.m. check out.  I’m sorry, what??  I asked if that was ‘something that was available’ and was informed that it was for the ‘platinum’ members.  So this is what that statement says to me: you are not a valued guest - in fact, we are willing to make you wait past our promised check in time so that we can cater to someone more important than you.  Got it.

About 10 minutes later the same individual came to find us, give us our room key, let us know that we were being given a 2p.m. check out time and 2 food/drink vouchers for $10 each.  We thanked him and headed up to our room.  You know, the one we had to wait on for housekeeping? Well, we probably should have waited longer because, as my husband put it, the room had been ‘cleaned, but was not clean.’  There was blue residue (toothpaste maybe?) on the side of the bathroom sink, a crusty ring of some dried liquid on the dresser top and a champagne cork was propped up on the picture frame.  The surfaces in general were a bit dusty.

Fast forward to the next morning.  Remember the 2p.m. check out time (a 2 hour bonus beyond the regular NOON check out time) we were promised?  Someone apparently didn’t tell housekeeping because they were knocking on our door at 9a.m. to see if they could come in and flip the room.  We were still in bed.  We decide we are done.  We got up and started to get ready to leave.  Not trusting the cleanliness of the individual coffee maker (based on the cleanliness of the room), my husband went downstairs to the coffee shop to BUY us some coffee.  But the coffee machine at the coffee shop was broken.  Are you kidding me with this???

So this hotel, that held so much hope with its splendor, failed to deliver on service.  Thing is, I’m not putting the cleanliness of the room on housekeeping.  It is unfair of management to put a check out time at the exact minute as the posted check in, and expect housekeeping to be thorough.  It appears management has as little regard for their housekeeping staff as they do for their non-platinum member guests.  Maybe they should consider a hard 3p.m. check out for their platinum members to allow housekeeping time for a thorough cleaning and, just maybe, prevent another future guest from feeling like a ‘second class’ guest.  So...

I really hate to write a bad review, but I feel had I seen a comment like this prior to booking, I could've got more for my money elsewhere.

I booked the executive room for a friend and I who were visiting for a wedding. What made me choose The Stella over the other hotels in the area was the large bathroom the room offered because I knew we would spend a lot of time doing our hair and makeup. The room was $400/night and we stayed two nights, but I thought the price would be worth it to have a really comfortable experience and nice memory to share.

Check in was normal except not very informative. It felt very much that she took my information and deposit and handed me the keys to the room. We didn't get information regarding the property nor what was offered. We had just drove 6 hours and my brain was a little scattered, but I remember being very confused about breakfast and having to ask the same question twice to the receptionist. She also didn't she give us information regarding parking nor a gentle gesture to where the elevators were. We had to come back with these questions and felt the response from the other receptionist to be rude.

Awkwardness aside, what really bothered me was entering the room at first sight. Upon opening the door, the room smelt like mold and just overall dirty. I was immediately grossed out. As we got our stuff in the room, I noticed a very anxious and large fly buzzing around. We spent a few minute making the room very dark and opening the front door to lure the fly out with the light. We failed. We tried throwing water bottles when it landed on the ceiling and simply couldn't catch the fly. It was super gross to think it'd land on us while sleeping. The black out shades were torn and stained and didn't close all the way. I was rolling my eyes at this because I knew how much I spent. However, it wasn't until we unpacked and I was about to shower that I realized there was no showerhead, hahaha. I've stayed in so many hotels across the globe and have never seen that before.

I was SO annoyed. After a long drive and already being so disappointed by the room, it was the last straw. I went downstairs to tell the receptionists and after I showed them a picture of the missing showerhead, they had to double check to see if the photos on their end looked different from mine. Once confirmed, the receptionist asked for me to go back to my room and she would call maintenance to see if they had a backup and would let me know. WHAT?? I told her I wanted a different room. And rather than her being savvy and realizing the inconvenience at hand, I was given a room of equivalent value -- where in other circumstances, I know an upgrade would be an obvious response. I was too tired to protest (my own fault) and walked up to my room with a knock at the door just 2 minutes later with the valet boy ready for our bags. Unfortunately, we were scrambling to put together our stuff that had just been unpacked.

She gave us a room that was cleaner. No stench. No gross fly. No stains on the curtains. Basically, a room that I originally paid for but was heavily inconvenienced to get.

I'm curious -- do hotel receptionists know the conditions of rooms? I feel like they must have notes on this. They take a deposit and of course if there are any damages, they need to documented. So why were we given the trash room of the hotel, when there was a perfectly normal room available from the beginning? It put a bad taste in my mouth. And I do not recommend this hotel to anyone. For $400 a night, stay at the LaSalle or The George....

Well not sure what to say about my stay. It was like it never got started. This was our & mine Valentines and Birthday weekend away to the number 3 hotel in Texas for 2020. So this is what happened the whole 2 night stay. We get there Friday night and there's no luggage cart, there's only 1?. The place is packed had to park around the side, note this place can host medium size conventions. The check-in was fast and friendly, who doesn't love that, right. So after working all day and a 2 hour drive wife uses the restroom. She comes out and asked me to please look at something and tell her what I thought it was, as her wingman and loving husband,I do so. It was, pretty sure, blood smear next to the toilet handle, small drop on the floor directly underneath the handle and a small smear on the nice cool housecoat they provided. We called the front desk and asked if they could come up. Of all people, the Maintenance Supervisor came, cool right. So after showing him the issue he asked when he could have someone come up to take care of it, we had dinner reservations at Campfire, hotel restaurant at 8pm. So restart #1. Now, to dinner. It's important that I say that we had guest to join us and we all four have been inoculated (2nd shot each) and most know I take food photos but this time I didn't because I was excited to be with friends. My wife had the Tequila Braise Short Rib, I and my friends wife had the Wagyu Flank Steak and he had the Tenderloin Steak. When I and my friends wife complained to our waiter about our Wagyu Flank Steak was served cold and he came back with the manager who calmly and politely info us that was how the meal is severed. Then sent us one desert. Our waiter tried his best but we all 4 felt he didn't live up to the the service should have been for what I paid for. I feel I can that say that because at the start of the dinner I gave him $20 and the at the end $40 so that's almost a 20% tip for a $322 meal. So restart #2. We wake up well rested Saturday morning and in need of food and coffee. No free breakfast, that's fine, walk up the the restaurant host at 7:30 am ask for a table for 2 and was asked if we had reservations, I said reservations for breakfast I said there's four people and a bunch of empty tables and she said yes we are busy today. So back up to the up to put on cold weather gear, for those who didn't know Valentines 2021 in Texas was soooooo cold. So as we pass the front desk we asked why do you have to have reservations for breakfast. The nice man said what no you don't we told him we were told yes you do. He said wait here, he walked all the way into the kitchen then came back and said the manager will seat you and tada table for 2. So, our service was totally awesome matter of fact we were severed by 2 waiters and even the manager pouring us some water. Before heading out for a little running around in Bryan we ordered maid service. We come back to a perfect clean room at first look. We noticed how the mattress didn't match the fram, no coffee cups and they didn't replace the housecoat. Yet another call downstairs and an instant knock at the door. So reset #3 So its 3pm on Saturday and finally a clean room, fully stocked, just a mattress not fitting the frame. So you see it's like we never got to really get to start the get away weekend at the start. It felt like to me more like we started at the end. If I wasn't there and not having the receipts I would have say its just a...