Magnolia Dallas Downtown — Hotel in Dallas

The Worst Hotel Stay I’ve Ever Experienced – Magnolia Dallas Should Be Avoided

I don’t usually take the time to write long reviews, but I feel like I have to warn people about this hotel because I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what I just experienced. My stay at the Magnolia of Dallas was an absolute nightmare from start to finish, and I honestly regret ever booking it.

First off, the hotel itself is run-down and outdated. The carpet in the rooms is disgusting—filthy, stained, and looks like it hasn’t been replaced or deep cleaned in decades. I had to move three different times because of how dirty and unacceptable the rooms were. That alone should’ve been my first sign, but unfortunately it didn’t get any better.

Room Conditions: • No bathroom towels were provided in any of the rooms I was given. • The bed was extremely hard and uncomfortable—worse than a cheap motel mattress. • There was no hot water in the bathroom, so showers were miserable. • When I called maintenance, it took them over two hours just to come check the issue. Absolutely unacceptable service. • The TV was laughably small—about the size of a tablet—in a room that’s supposed to be part of a “downtown Dallas hotel.”

Basic Amenities: Getting something as simple as ice is a joke here. The only ice machine is on the 3rd floor. This hotel has 27 floors and over 200 rooms, yet you’re expected to go all the way to one floor for something basic. Totally inconvenient and ridiculous for a place that calls itself a full-service hotel.

Parking: If you bring a car, prepare to get ripped off. Parking costs $48–$52 a day, which is outrageous by itself. But on top of that, valet takes 20 minutes or longer just to bring your car around. By the time they finally bring it, you could’ve walked across half of Dallas. This is supposed to be a service, but instead it’s a huge hassle and waste of money.

Safety & Environment: To make matters worse, the outside of the hotel is not safe or welcoming at all. Homeless people were sleeping right by the doors, and security didn’t seem to care or do anything about it. Walking in and out at night felt unsafe. Inside wasn’t much better—I honestly didn’t even feel comfortable sleeping because I was worried about roaches or worse.

Management & Service: The biggest insult of all is that management clearly doesn’t care. Every time I raised an issue, nothing was handled properly or in a timely manner. There’s no urgency, no accountability, and no effort to actually provide a decent guest experience. It’s just excuse after excuse while guests are left to deal with horrible conditions.

This hotel is a disgrace to downtown Dallas and to the Magnolia name. I’ve stayed in budget hotels that were cleaner and more organized than this place. The fact that they charge what they charge while offering this level of service is nothing short of a scam.

The most disappointing part for me personally is that this was supposed to be a special trip. I booked here to celebrate my birthday, excited to be in downtown Dallas. Instead, it turned into one of the worst travel experiences of my life—something I’ll never forget for all the wrong reasons.

Final Word: If you’re thinking about booking this hotel—don’t. Save yourself the stress, the money, and the disappointment. Downtown Dallas has plenty of other hotels that actually value their guests and take care of their property. The Magnolia Dallas is not one of them. Please learn from my mistake: stay...

If you're looking for a 4-star hotel, look elsewhere (if it wasn't claiming to be a 4-star hotel, it may have gotten a higher rating from me, but it's not worth the value). Myself and a group of 4 others stayed 4 nights. I did reach out to hotel management, who said they'd reach out to me, but never did.

I was placed in a large room that jutted out from the building, which resulted in the internet not working in 90% of the room (only in the room's long hall by the door, where there was nowhere to sit and no light fixture). When reaching out to the front desk, I was told "well we haven't received any complaints" (as if mine alone was not a valid issue). The individual said he would see what he could do... I never heard back, nor did anything change with the wifi.

Later that day, I moved to a room where I could get a wifi signal. The new room was warm despite being turned on to full blast when I entered (a drastic contrast to the previous room which was an icebox). The bathroom was clearly not fully cleaned (makeup stains on the clearly used travel size lotion tube), there weren't hand or floor towels (after calling to ask for these two was sent more full sized bath towels instead). The fridge completely froze everything I stored there, which all had to be tossed (there was no temp control knob, and the fridge in the prior room didn't do this).

We had one guest arrive 2 days later than our group. The front desk wasn't able to find her reservation because it seems they cancelled it when she didn't check in on the original arrival date. They finally found her reservation, but proceeded to scold her for not informing the hotel (granted, I did mention this to the front desk staff when arriving). The gentleman continued to scold her throughout the whole check-in process for "not informing the hotel."

During our stay, we needed a couple suitcases held at the front desk for a couple hours (we travel with equipment, and this is something that's very common practice). The person at the front desk said I would have to speak with the valet, but when I asked the valet, he looked at me dumbfounded, and questioned why I didn't want to just put the bags in my room (probably pushing to provide a service for a tip, similarly to the valet who loaded all of our luggage onto carts upon arrival while we were checking in without asking if we needed any assistance).

One guest called the front desk early morning of check out to ask for help bringing down her luggage (she had two suitcases and a carry-on roller bag), and the person at the desk answered her with "Uh, nope," and proceeded to tell her that there was no valet there, so she'd have to figure it out on her own. We travel internationally and domestically on a monthly basis and never has she received such a dismissive response from a hotel employee.

The staff needs additional service training to work in the hospitality industry, because this is not it (and I've worked in hospitality). Not to mention that half the time, there was simply no one at the front desk at all, even midday. They were either absent altogether, or just sitting in the back room. They gave the vibe of college kids at their first job (kind, at times, but sorely lacking in professionalism).

Again, I reached out to management, but they didn't...

Arrived at the location and used the valet parking for $40 per day. Definitely not the cheapest but did it anyway. No issues there. Went to the front desk and checked in without issue. Staff was lukewarm at best. Still doing ok.

Got to the room on the 19th floor and opened the door, so far so good. The room looked nice on initial inspection but was very warm. Kitchen and living room area was nice. The bathroom was decent but definitely not the cleanest I have seen. Bedroom was sufficient with large screen tv, good closet area and bed was decently comfortable. You will find the thermostat in the bedroom, which I quickly turned down to cool off the room.

After unpacking, and resting for a few hours the room was not cooling off at all. Called down to inquire about the temperature of the room. Was told they would send someone up to look at it. After another hour no one had come so I called again. I was told that I could keep waiting for someone or switch rooms. I asked to switch rooms. I had to pack everything back up and go down to the lobby to switch room keys. That was a little annoying and the attitude of the front desk didn’t help. Acted very unconcerned. Went to my new room on the 17th floor and unloaded again. This room was hot when I walked in also. But I went immediately and turned the thermostat down. The room never cooled down to the temp set but maybe about 75-80 degrees. I left that morning and arrived back around 530pm to a little cooler room but still warm. So I was hopeful after dinner it would be better. Arrived back from dinner and the room was still warm. The room was about 75 degrees at best with the thermostat being on 65. Hey it’s Texas. That night I went down to get some snacks at the front desk. Restaurant was not open. The lady at the desk was again lukewarm and didn’t act very enthusiastic about me bothering her for snacks. For some reason she scanned my credit card behind the monitor even though there were card readers on the desk. The next day when I bought a drink they used the card scanner. Strange. Call me paranoid.

Left the next morning and arrived back at the room around 530. Room was starting to cool. Roughly about 70 degrees. Any improvement was appreciated. The room finally got to temperature set on the 4th day. The day I was leaving. Maybe I should have changed rooms again but after speaking with other guest I determined it was every room that had this issue.

The hotel is great in the outside and the lobby. The rooms are ok but definitely could improve. The staff are indifferent at best. Not impressed with their attitude and demeano and would never let them work for me. The bedroom had cracks in the plaster, the bathroom floor was not clean not to mention the AC was non existent for the majority of my stay. I have stayed at better but the location was great and was the main reason for the stay.

The value for the price is definitely concerning and I would never consider this a 4 star hotel. Summary: overpriced for what you get. If you are someone who likes to be cool when it’s hot outside don’t stay here. If your someone that is cold all the time even when it’s 100 degrees outside you will love the rooms here. The hotel needs major work and...