MainStay Suites Cincinnati University - Uptown — Hotel in Cincinnati

DO NOY STAY HERE UNLESS YOU LIKE BUGS IN YOUR ROOM!! DO NOT STAY AT CHOICE HOTELS!! ANY OF THEM!! I went to a MainStays Hotel in Cincinnati only to find BED BUGS!! I brought them to the front desk to show them. I was given another room. When I went back to my room to grab my bags, there was more BED BUGS!! I told the front desk I do not want to stay here and needed a refund. I was told I would get one in 3-5 day….5 days later I finally get ahold of the manager only to be told she can’t give a refund…she said I booked through a 3rd party which I DIDNT! I booked directly through the Choice website. She said only corporate can…WHAT?! I call corporate, only to be hung up on, put on hold, put on hold, put on hold, told that I was a ‘no show’ at the hotel, told corporate couldn’t give a refund the hotel I was at had to, ask to speak with a manager at corporate 3 different times…and STILL haven’t talked to any ‘manager’ at corporate, and STILL keep being put on hold…and I still do NOT have the issue resolved. I am out over $200!! See pictures of some of the bugs in the comments below…UPDATE!!! Got a hold of a ‘manager’ at the hotel again named Kathy who said the front desk lady on Friday (Leslie) said she never said we could get a refund…Kathy put Leslie on the phone who did say she offered a refund to us Friday. Kathy got back on the phone and said she never heard Leslie say she said that. I had submitted an online complaint to corporate and received a response (I have an email to prove it) saying all Choice hotels are privately owned and are in charge of their own financials and corporate cannot issue any refunds….when we told Kathy this is what corporate said she said well that is wrong, corporate is in charge of us. I said so corporate is lying? That doesn’t make sense….who is your boss? She said I don’t have one, corporate is my boss. We went on and on with her on the phone and she did not offer any money back…just kept on lying!! She offered a voucher for another stay at THEIR DIRTY BUG INFESTED HOTEL!!! Why would we want to go back to that nasty place?! Oh and I forgot to mention that Kathy said their head of housekeeping checked out the room and found nothing….and she said she did even though on Friday when this happened we were told she WASNT EVEN THERE! Apparently they ALL need their eyes checked! Oh and did we mention how sticky the floor was and the nastiness all over the room? I wish we would have taken more pictures but here are a few of the bugs we brought down to the front desk. Oh and also the email I got...

Waaay too many things were wrong for a new hotel. The TV wouldn't get any stations. The front desk gal was very helpful, but it still took over an hour and three different remotes for her to be able to corrct the situation so I could watch TV. ||There were no directions for the internet and, despite long effort, I couldn't get that to work either. The same gal worked at it and made it possible for me to get on.||The room thermostat was on 62 degrees when I arrived and it took FOREVER for the room to warm up. I went out for a bit, and when I returned, the thermostat had reset itself to 62. The gal said she didn't know what to do to make it better, she would ask. I never heard back. During the night, it reset itself to 62 again, and I woke up cold and unhappy. Also, without the heater running, the road noise was more prevalent. (I was put in a front room near the most traffic despite asking for a "quiet" room.) I asked the staff in the morning, midday, and late in the evening the next day about the thermostat problem--nobody had a clue what to do. And interestingly, not one staff person offered me an alternate room despite the hotel being almost empty.||Finally, I was awakened in the middle of the night in the very cold room by a loud clicking noise in the area around the microwave. It concerned by greatly because it was annoying and woke me up from a dead sleep, but also because it didn't seem to be coming from any of the appliances and might have been a short in the wall. I called staff to come hear the intermittent noise, and the staff person who promised to come investigate never showed up even though I waited up until after 11:30 pm (over an hour) for his arrival. (Yes, I called down several times when he didn't show, and received repeated promises that he'd by up as soon as he could.) By the time I reached someone from the next shift, he came up and was as helpful as he could be, but the clicking that had lasted for an hour again had stopped. I mentioned it again in the morning to the staff as I checked out--the night guy had not said anything to the incoming staff.||So, a lovely new hotel with massive TV problems (read the other reviewer's comments), internet issues, heat problems, and room noises that distracted sleep. Plus more minor inconvenienes such as en entire living room area without one single plug available to plug in a phone or laptop--crazy! No luggage racks at this hotel--the floor is the only option. A so-so breakfast by Choice standards.||I can't recommend this hotel...

We stayed at the MainStay Suites in Cincinnati for four nights in October 2022 with our six (yes, six!) children. We needed a room with a kitchenette because eating out as a large family is expensive! Overall, it was a good stay, but there were a few things that disappointed.

Pros: very friendly and helpful staff (specifically, Caroline at breakfast and Leslie at front desk), beautiful and clean lobby area, newer building, good continental breakfast with many options, room was mostly clean (will elaborate in cons), budget-friendly, cute & friendly cats hanging out in the parking lot

Cons: floors in room were dirty and sticky from using too much soap (our feet were black just from a couple hours of walking around the first night, and we have a crawling baby, so gross! - we ended up buying our own mop and bucket so I could clean them properly, since we were staying for 4 nights - I figured it'd be more efficient to just do it myself rather than ask, because if they didn't do it right the first time they probably wouldn't the second time either), sofa was disgusting (tons of spots all over, didn't want my kids to even touch it, but thankfully we were just using the pull out bed so they didn't really have to touch the dirty parts), kitchenette lacking in cooking equipment/dishes (we had two pots and no pans, flimsy spatula, and there were only enough dishes/utensils to serve 2 people when our room had enough beds to sleep at least 3, but up to 6 - two queens plus a sofa bed), sketchy neighborhood, almost always a skunky (IYKYK) smell in the elevator and lobby, thin walls/floors, no fan in bathroom, loudest dishwasher I've ever heard, no housekeeping unless you request it (annoying if you're busy and rushing in and out quickly like we were)

Overall, it is basically what I expected for the price we paid. I would not stay here again unless we were really on a tight budget. Next time, we will probably do an AirBnB so we have a full kitchen and so our loud kids don't disturb...