Staybridge Suites Wilmington - Brandywine Valley by IHG — Hotel in Concord Township

We're almost through our stay here and very much recommend. We're with our toddler in a 1 BR suite. Nice to have doors/walls to separate living room/kitchen and bedroom.

Highlights- Bed - The bed is actually sleep-able! I've stay at many places including others IHG properties where the bed always has a dip or is just bad. Housekeeping - they'll come daily, but I put Do not disturb sign and they skip the room. I don't change my towels daily at home so why would I here :) I place my trash bags in the hallway daily and they take care of it. I had them come in mid-week to freshen the towels. They were also responsive to my requests for extra sheets and dishes, etc. Customer service - courteous quick check-in. Very friendly and helpful kitchen staff during breakfast. Breakfast/"social hour"- Better then expected breakfast, eggs, meats, fruits, yogurt, breads, cereals, muffins; some items changed daily like the eggs. I appreciated they always helped me find pain oatmeal. Social hour is appetizer kind of set-up. I don't agree with others' assessment that it's lacking, it's not supposed to be your dinner! It's offered Mon, Tues, Wed evenings. There's a calendar on the fridge of the themes. Nice pool and basketball court for the kiddos Free Parking! Free laundry machines! They sell soap pods for $1. 5 min drive to Costco, Target, many other shops Quiet - despite seeing other kids and dogs around, we were not disturbed at all.

The downside Kitchenette - it is not robust and likely not refreshed after each guest. My one pan was burnt. Like not useable. I called three times, nothing. Finally i walked over to housekeeping myself. Not a complete set of anything i.e. spoons. Dishes were cracked as was coffee maker. We made do. Dishwasher was helpful. Full fridge as well. Pool - pool left some kind of residue on us but no harm came of it. We always shower before and after. Maybe it's their type of cleanser. Gym - matts, equipment a bit dated. Two recumbent bikes, a treadmill, elliptical and a cable machine. Scale is nice addition. No USB cable connectors on lamps, desk, etc. All...

I'll preface this review by saying that the rooms themselves were clean, well kept, and very nice. The bedroom (including the bed) and the bathroom spaces were very clean and comfortable to use. The kitchen space itself is convenient enough for simple use.

The biggest issue that I experienced was the front desk staff and the hotel manager. I had blocked off rooms for my wedding at Terrain at Styer's several months in advance. Upon arrival, you could tell the location was busy as the front desk workers were looking quite frantic. The unfortunate truth of the moment was that they had overbooked several other peoples' rooms and were scrambling to accommodate the people who had just arrived. I felt like I had no concerns considering we had blocked rooms several months ago for the wedding and had confirmed bookings for two conference suites (for bride and groom wedding preparation) and three regular suites (guests).

Unfortunately, there were several issues with my rooms. One of the conference suites was occupied by a group that had arrived the evening prior and two of the regular suites had issues with late preparation (perhaps someone checked out late?) and overbooking (had to separate one of my two double bed suites into two single bed suites). The worst part of it all was that the hotel manager had the nerve to tell me that, "overbooking happens all the time in the hotel industry," and that WE had to accommodate to their situation. This was THE worst experience I have ever had at a hotel, and it was unbelievable to me that they were so rude. Needless to say, it took about an hour to entirely sort this situation out and unfortunately we had to accommodate to the hotel's wrongdoings.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to stay in this location. It's sad because the location and the quality of the rooms are decent. However, with issues with management and overbooking, I'd say...

This property could be great based on location and size of rooms/layout, and the staff for the most part was friendly and tried to help. However, we booked a suite with two bedrooms at the end of December to go to Longwood Gardens--a long standing tradition with elderly in-laws and kids. The room was disgusting--there were multiple white stains on the couch cushions (over a dozen) and a couple on the floor in one of the bedrooms. Also stains on one of the chairs, what looked like coffee creamer drips on the side table, and smeared toothpaste (at least, it smelled minty) on on one of the dressers that had not been cleaned off. ||Having arrived late and exhausted after driving for eight hours, we only noticed this the next morning. There was also a small yappy dog that woke us up two nights running, one day barking between 5:30 and 9:45 am (when we left that morning) almost non-stop. To be fair, it is a pet-friendly hotel and we knew this, but still, not ideal. ||Staff offered to move us on the second day to two connected rooms one door down from our original room. However, I asked to take a look at the rooms before agreeing and noticed stained carpet there too. That, combined with not knowing where the yappy dog was and elderly in-laws for whom moving would be a hassle made us stay in the original room. Again, staff was friendly and tried to help but they were largely booked up and the adjoining room was the only other option they told me they had available. Breakfast was great, gotta give credit where credit is due. But the level of cleanliness was just completely unacceptable and the room was gross to sleep in. Front desk knocked a few bucks off the bill, which was close to a grand for three nights; however, I'd rather spend more and stay somewhere where I don't feel I have to keep my shoes on in the room or cover the couch with sheets...