Sonesta ES Suites Raleigh Durham Airport Morrisville — Hotel in Cary

My wife and I went to the Raleigh-Durham area the week of 12/6/20-12/11/20 as she had to do training for work. We were originally supposed to stay in another hotel but her employer messed up the reservation and had to book us a new hotel at the last minute. They ended up booking us at this Residence Inn. I had never stayed in one of these before so my expectations were a little off. I had to admit when we 1st pulled up I was a little let down because I was expecting a high-rise hotel but these looked more like apartments. The check-in process was a little awkward but maybe we didn't get clear instructions from her employer. Anyway when we finally got to the check-in desk the employee who helped us was very friendly and helpful and we feel she went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. She was patient with us as we tried to get the reservation confirmed with my wife's employer. She ended up giving us welcome packages with food for the next morning. After check-in we talked on and on about how well this employee did. I'm sorry I don't remember her name. Once we stepped inside the building where our room was I felt like this place was top notch. It did resemble an apartment building from the outside but you could tell it had been professionally renovated at some point. When we 1st entered the room I was ecstatic and overwhelmed at how nice the place was. We had the studio room which had a King bed, bathroom, living area, and full kitchen. I was truly pleased with the kitchen and the pots, pans ,utensils, etc. that were included. This allowed us to do a lot of cooking during the week and save money. The living area was really nice and it had a very big desk that allowed me to set up my 2 monitor work station and work all week. Now let me talk about the bed--this was the most comfortable bed we've slept in apart from our own bed at home. Marriott you get a big thumbs up on picking out this bed. I can sleep anywhere but my wife is a very light sleeper and even she commented that this was the best bed she's slept in away from home. The bathroom and shower areas were very exquisite and nicely decorated. The television was top notch and it had enough channels for us plus it had Netflix, Youtube, Crackle, and some other apps built into it. The tv was a very nice LG model. Oh let me not forget to tell how CLEAN we felt in this Residence Inn. The hallways were clean and smelled great and our room was very clean. I give another thumbs up to housekeeping as they were doing a great job. Overall, this hotel left a great impression with me. The staff was very great, the room was top notch, and we had all amenities. Oh and a final thought, even though my wife's employer paid for our room, the rate for it was very reasonable and the hotel was in a perfect location close to the highway, airport, and several really nice shopping centers. I will definitely look at staying at a Residence Inn again...

Great stay! I stayed here for 3 nights while in town for soccer. This was my 1st experience with Sonesta and Im happy to say I WOULD stay at another without hesitation. |The staff, wow, soooo sooooo friendly, there were 3 ladies that worked the front desk (and I hate to say it, Im horrible with names, butI cant remember any of their names), but they were there literally ALL THE TIME. So I dont think itd be too hard to figure out who they are and give them praise they deserve. They were there so much I felt bad for them, they need more staff to give these women some time off. Anyway, they were amazing, friendly, chatted with me every time I went to the front. I was there I think every night as I needed quarters for the laundry and my daughters key kept de-activating, we think it was from her putting it under her phone case. Well they were amazing, I cant say enough about them!|We had a 2 bedroom unit with full kitchen, all very nice. We needed more pillows, each bed (1 queen and 1 king) only had 2 each, they were only able to provide us 1 more pillow as it was a busy weekend and they didnt have extras. |They had a warm breakfast with all the usual necessities (eggs, potatoes, sausage, cereal, a pancake machine, muffins). All were good and the woman that was stocking all the food did amazing, it was busy! Lobby area was nice with tables and a fireplace. Outside had a working firepit and some seating.|Had a clogged toilet and went to find a plunger (front desk to the rescue as usual!), they sent maintenance up within minutes. I had stopped to grab a few things from the b-fast bar and by the time I got upstairs the guy was already there! |It was a busy weekend there, plenty of parking, hotel was definitely full, and everytime I interacted with someone they were all very friendly. |A few issues: Couldnt find carts to help bring our stuff up. In fact never saw any all weekend in our building or the main building.|We were on the top floor and there were lots of spiderwebs outside the windows, really needed cleaning up. You could tell it had been at least a yr since all the outside stuff had been cleaned. Not a huge deal though.|We had a bug issue in the kitchen which I did alert the front desk to. They were very attentive to it and had called for the bug company. They did issue a room credit for this, which I didnt ask for, so that was nice.|Again though, I would not hesitate to stay here again if Im ever back in the area. The price was reasonable and being able to have 2 rooms to move around (vs a 1 hotel room) was sooo nice, especially with...

I called a few days ahead before booking to make sure their airport van would be able to get me upon arrival to RDU around 3pm. They said it would be operating and shouldn’t be a problem. When I arrived I called to have the van pick me up and was put on hold for 10 minutes just to be told the van will take too long to get me and to please proceed to a taxi. Due to COVID19 the taxi service at the terminal was shutdown. I called back the hotel and was put on hold for another 10 minutes. They called a taxi company to pick me up and advised the name of the company and that they were 5 minutes out. 15 minutes later I get a call from a driver of a completely unrelated taxi company trying to figure out my location. I eventually found him by the regular passenger pickup in a minivan with no company logo or taxi meter.

Upon arriving to the hotel it was clear that they’re under a major renovation in the lobby, but there is no info when booking regarding any work to the hotel. When I walked into my room the a/c was blowing full blast and it was very cold. There’s only one reason a hotel does this and it’s to mask odors. I shut the a/c off and sure enough you could smell that typical faint body odor/cigarette smoke/moldy floors smell. The coffee maker hadn’t been cleaned and was growing mold on top of old coffee grinds in the filter. There were bugs on the floor. A strange black streak across the ceiling from the vent was also present.

The staff are nice and cordial, but there is no way I would stay here again. It was at least 40%-50% more expensive than anything else by the airport which is completely unacceptable for the actual condition of the rooms, problems with van service, and remodeling project. I chose to pay more because I was trying to avoid the very problems I encountered.

I’d have preferred to keep this off google and simply type up a review for Marriott to review internally, but they don’t seem to be surveying stays and properties like they have...