Courtyard by Marriott Detroit Downtown — Hotel in Detroit

We booked this hotel so my husband could go to a concert that started at 8pm. We arrived, the parking was not listed as where to go. Our options we to valet, or park in a parking garage. Well our truck has a ladder rack on it and would not fit in the parking garage…. So parking options are to pay $33 for valet or pay $25 to park in the garage… never have I had to pay at a hotel to park We called ahead to ask for an early check in, the front desk said a room would be ready at 3, we did arrive at original check in time which was 4pm. There was no rooms ready! Thecheck in line was huge and continued out the door. It took about 20 minutes just to get to the desk, and we continued to wait in the lobby for another hour! I finally went up to the desk to ask how much longer it would be and mind you, we had a double queen… there was a guy in front of me complaining about the same thing. The lady at the front desk offered him a double queen that was ready.. so pretty much gave our room away! I asked her when it was my turn, if there was any room open since we had been waiting for over an hour, she then told me there was a king open, so we jumped at it just so we could get our 2 kids out of the lobby. While waiting in the lobby we were hungry so we were going to go to Applebee’s. They informed us that they had no staff just a cook so it was only to go food. The food was good. We got up to our room and decided to go to the pool, the pool room was freezing! 61 degrees, no towels, the pool was freezing, the hot tub was drained. I called and asked for more towels, no one showed up, so I went back to our room and got the only 2 towels we had. We left the pool room freezing a soaking wet. We got back to the room, and me and my daughters got in the shower while my husband went to the front desk to ask for a couple of towels for us. The front desk informed him that he could not have any and that someone would have to bring them up… my husband said “well I can take them to help you guys out” again was told no. Needless to say, I dried off with a wet towel from the pool and friend my girls off with a hand towel. Once I was done, I went to the front desk and asked what was going on with the towels… I was then told they were completely out of towels and it would be 15 before they were out of the dryer. An hour later, the towels we finally delivered and my husband also had to dry off with a hand towel. We also asked for sheets and a blanket for the pull...

After my flight and friend and I headed straight to the hotel. We arrived there around 1:00pm hoping for an early check-in option, as We had no where else to go. We were informed that check-in is not until 4:00pm, but we can call back around 2:00pm to see if anything was available. I called back at 2:00pm. At that time I was informed that there was one room available and would be given out based on first come first served bases. Understandable. By the time we arrived back to the Courtyard Marriott it was after 4:30pm (after check-in time) we were informed that there were no rooms available. At this point I am frustrated because I couldn’t get in early, but now I can’t even get in on time. Niem (the name the young man told me) offered to take our bags and store them until a room became available. We gave him our bags and took a seat in the lobby. 15 mins go by, I head back up to the counter. As I’m waiting in line I overhear Niem tell the couple in front of me “we do not have any king beds available, but we do have a double queen” I HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE 1:00pm for a double queen room. If a room was all of a sudden available why wouldn’t it be offered to the client that has been waiting for several hours? By the time I checked- in and made it to my room it was 5:00pm. ROBBERY. 4pm was already late, but I tried to be understanding with COVID, maybe some staffing issues, etc., but this was unacceptable. I was not offered any sort of compensation until I inquired. Niem stated he could not take any money off of the room because I booked through Expedia, but he can waive my valet charges for the duration of my stay. I accepted the offer. The valet service was so terrible it should’ve been free anyway. I had to wait for my car for over 20 min one afternoon. I called the extension from my room as instructed and gave my tag number and headed downstairs. After waiting 20 mins the guy says “I don’t know who you called but it wasn’t us but I’ll go get your car”... I’ve been calling the same extension every time, but this time it wasn’t valet?! On several nights I have to wait 15+ mins to give my car back to valet. One night, after waiting in my car for 23 mins the short front dest employee came out to collect keys and cars from myself and others waiting. She left car tags and an ink pen in my car. Pure chaos from start to finish. I was not pleased...

Ignore the old reviews - this place is now beautifully renovated and is the furthest it could be from the old reviews.

The bedrooms are spacious, modern, and very thoughtfully designed. Massive bathroom and countertop with excellent lighting. Plenty of charging ports throughout the room. A nice desk for light laptop work. And a little cabinet/table next to the desk which I used for my luggage instead of having to stuff it into a dark and narrow closet like many other hotels I've stayed at. It is also extremely clean and actually met my standards despite me being a clean freak. Not a speck of dust or dirt anywhere; bedding and linens were all clean; definitely no bugs. I even felt comfortable walking on the new bedroom carpet in my socks. Nice views of the city and waterfront as well. My photos are from the 17th floor.

Beds were relatively comfortable and were a medium firmness. I slept pretty well for a hotel. Noise isolation was average for a hotel - definitely could hear noise from the hallway or from neighbors if they were speaking loudly, but I never had issues at night and I usually drown out sound with white noise app which worked well. Didn't hear anyone walking around above me either. (I'm pretty sure the entire hotel was booked out due to the Detroit Marathon.)

It is also worth mentioning that the hotel's fitness center was insane. I didn't explicitly use any of the equipment but walked through it. There were at least 3 different rooms for cardio, weights, and an empty studio for yoga or bodyweight workouts. There are also locker rooms. I didn't check out the pool, but at a glance it looked really nice and there were a bunch of people using it.

Staff were all lovely and welcoming. They offered free water bottles too, which I really appreciate since it's one less thing to worry about. And shout-out to housekeeping for doing a fantastic job!

Location was also convenient. 3 min walk to the waterfront, 7-10 min walk further into downtown with a bunch of restaurants. The area felt relatively safe for a city, but just walk the larger roads and use common sense. This was a short 10 minute walk from the convention center, and is located close to the waterfront trail.

Overall - I would 100% come back here next time I stay in Detroit (and can afford the price). I hope to see more hotels with this modern, clean,...