Residence Inn by Marriott Gainesville I-75 — Hotel in Gainesville

What a TERRIBLE STAY at an otherwise nice hotel. My family booked this hotel due to the large room size for our family and were left disappointed solely due to EXTREMELY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!! Let me tell you the story....in detail.

Our first night arriving, we check in and unpack in our room on the 4th floor which is fine. We needed to set up our pull out couch in our room for one of the kids and realized it needed a fitted sheet and blanket. Well that is apparently asking for too much from this POORLY RUN HOTEL. We contacted the front desk and asked for 1 fitted sheet and 1 blanket and were told they don’t have any more. I said that cant be right please look again since I have kids and she magically found a blanket and sheet. I said perfect, can you have someone bring it up?

This is where it gets good, she informs me that she was the only one there and I had to come down to get it. This was the beginning to a bizarre stay. I go down to get the fitted sheet and blanket for her to hand me a regular sheet. I said I needed a fitted sheet for the bed and a blanket and she said this is all she has....a regular sheet. So apparently, either the staff is completely inept or this hotel cant even have regular amounts of linens for guest. Luckily I had blankets in the car from our 6 hour drive to this hotel that my kids used to get us through the night until a new day...or so I thought.

The next day, I requested housekeeping and they never showed. Well we stayed for a total of 4 days and you guessed it, we requested housekeeping everyday and they never came. We had 5 of us in a suite for 4 days and housekeeping never came.

Now before you say maybe we didn't communicate right or maybe we didn't request it correctly....let me introduce our hotel representative Kendall. So she tells us they don't have enough staff to clean properly or enough staff to bring items to guests rooms. So we are on night 2 going into day 3 and we are running low on towels. You guessed it...they don't have any clean ones for us. We say this is ridiculous and magically clean towels are found. Remember we are on the 4th floor so I am tired of going up and down to get basic necessities and ask for someone, anyone who works in the hotel to bring them up to us. Well of course Kendall is the only one working apparently and says if we want the towels to come get them ourselves.

Well my kids and I need towels that are being held hostage from a single employee working hotel so I make my journey to Kendall. I must have entered a different reality because as I am making my trek from my towel lacking hotel room, I walk right by another hotel employee who is cleaning another room. Would you look at that!! I mention to Kendall as I get said towels that there was a cleaning person as I walked by and can you please have them clean our room just once during the 4 days. Yes I was reassured I would have a clean room but alas, that was hoping for too much at this hotel.

The most Ludacris thing occurred on our final day. Remember, we are on the 4th floor and a family of 5. As we are checking out, I requested a hotel dolly to bring down my stuff. Of course there are none to be found so I go to the front desk and was told that another guest was almost done with theirs and the staff would hold it for me. Well I waited, yep right there with the staff that said it would be for me, for about 15 min with my kids in the lobby while said guest finished using the dolly. Well instead of the dolly making it to me, the guest hands it right over to another guest outside who takes it to their car. I go to the employee and say where are your other dolly's and like deer in headlights they say maybe in other guests rooms or stolen we have no idea.

Listen, I could run this hotel with a group of elementary kids better than the poorly run staff there. Please head my story and warning to stay away from this hotel and Godspeed if you book a stay here. Make sure you bring patience, towels and blankets because you will need all three...

Stayed here again for the second time. The first time we stayed, the experience was not as nice, but for this review I am only commenting on this most recent stay, end of June through early August.

The good: The 2-bed suite room was spacious and clean. There was a TV in the bedroom and one in the lounge space. The couch had a pullout bed...(SEE THE NOT GREAT SECTION BELOW) The beds were plush and soft The desk area was a great addition to the space, enjoyed having it as a bench vs a table in the room. -The bathroom vanity area was nice, and the shower was UNREAL. If you want that skin-peeling heat, this is your shower. If you want enough water pressure so that you can pretend you've had a massage, this is for you. (Don't worry, the water can be warm instead of boiling for kids or people with more sensitive skin) Kitchen was stocked enough for our needs, and I appreciated having a dishwasher. A 4th fork would've been great, but we made do well enough. Full sized fridge and freezer had an in-built ice machine. No need to wander down the hall to a communal ice machine. Curtains made the room dark enough to sleep comfortably Breakfast was reliably consistent: 2-3 hot options, typically an egg dish and a meat (bacon, turkey sausage, crustless quiche/egg bite things, one day they had a SEC biscuit, one day they had a BEC croissant, etc). The rest of breakfast was standard continental fare: oatmeal with many topping options, 2 DIY waffle makers, 3 types of cereal, a few varieties of yogurt, some mini milk bottles in regular and chocolate, whole wheat bread, white bread, english muffins, plain bagels, cinnamon raisin bagels, boiled eggs and a mixed fruit salad. Oh and a Florida's Natural juice dispenser. There is a mini coffee station available all day...(SEE THE NOT GREAT SECTION BELOW) Staff ranged from neutral-polite to incredible. Pool was always clean and seldomly used by anyone else. There is ample parking, but only a few spots with shade. We stayed during a heat wave so we were constantly seeking shade for our car everywhere we went.

The not great: There was only a small dining table for 2, bar height, with uncomfortable backless chairs. The room is meant to fit up to 6 people, where is everyone else supposed to eat? The pullout bed was flimsy and uncomfortable but we did not need it so this did not detract from our stay. -The blanket/duvet situation was not comfortable, and neither were the pillows The whole suite was darker than I would've liked, everywhere. Even with all the lights on and windows open, it never got bright enough. That fruit salad was rank, every single time. Also the bananas were really really gross. Would've been better if they just hadn't put them out Coffee station doesn't get refreshed, so if you are a caffeine fiend like me, and you want a 2pm, 4pm cup of coffee, chances are it's stale and cold. The in-suite coffee maker was missing components so could not make a cup in the room. We went during a heat wave, and although we set the room's internal AC thermostat to 65º it truly never felt much colder than ~75º.

You may be asking why there are so many not-great things but the review is still 5 stars. Honestly, between the comfy beds, the amazing shower, the convenience of the kitchen, the staff, the breakfast, the pool... it was really a great vacation. If the hotel were busier, maybe it wouldn't have been a 5-star experience. But for the price? Unbeatable. This was our third visit to Gainesville - the first time we stayed at Staybridge Suites and the 2nd time we stayed here. For this visit we were torn between this place and Staybridge because the pool and breakfast at SS are better, for sure, but not nearly-double-the-price better! Will likely stay again if the price remains reasonable compared...

I'll start with what should be obvious: This hotel is located RIGHT off the highway, so YES there is road noise. I personally found it to be relaxing, like a white noise machine, but I could absolutely see it being a problem if there was a lot of traffic and honking. Thankfully that wasn't my experience, but if you are noise sensitive? Find somewhere else to stay. As for me? I would absolutely stay here again because I think the noise honestly helped me sleep more soundly. Again, it was like a white noise machine for me. ||The suites are AWESOME if you're like me and want to have a kitchen. I love being able to prep my food and save on costs there. The space is laid out really really well. You get a lot of room, even if you were traveling with others, and there's a full kitchen. I was able to get groceries (I walked over to Publix) and stocked my fridge for the week. It was really nice to have that option. And the free breakfast was fabulous too. Every morning there were a couple of fresh, hot options (my favorites were the mini omlettes and the quiche muffin/egg bite type thing), oatmeal, eggs, a meat, fresh fruit, a waffle maker, bagels and toast and english muffins, hard boiled eggs, cereal, milks, yogurts, etc. Definitely not just your standard continental fare. ||I have to say, though, I think my favorite thing (ok, maybe second favorite, because my FAVORITE might have to be all the super friendly pups that were also staying there and were so polite) was honestly how wonderful every single staff member was. I arrived stupidly early for check-in and was able to leave my suitcase with them while I went to work, rather than having to lug it all over with me. I came back later and got checked in pretty quickly. Every single person who worked that front desk during my stay made me feel welcomed and valued, even if it was just by saying a quick hello as I came and went. The housekeepers were also so so so sweet and kind and friendly. Everyone smiles and greets you, which is just really nice, especially when travelling alone. It's nice to know they've got an eye out for me. ||Overall, I would absolutely stay here again and recommend it to anyone who needs to be in the area and doesn't mind a smidge of road noise. Oh, one last thing: I didn't use the pool while I was there, but it looked like a really nice area...