Staybridge Suites Dallas - Grand Prairie by IHG — Hotel in Grand Prairie

My wife booked this hotel for a couple of reasons:

Location (We previously rented in the Grand Prairie area)

Evening Social

Ability to cook in the room instead of going out to eat every night

Fairly new construction.

My wife booked a king room, not handicap accessible.

My preference was to drive up 75 to the new hotel chain found mostly in Missouri which has the best evening social with mixed drinks and a real spread for the evening social. But my wife chose this location.

Upon arrival we checked in, got our room keys, and the clerk immediately stated "oh we have not gone back to cleaning rooms, but if you need some towels you can get them at the front desk". Wait so I am slated to be in this room for 1 week and no one is going to clean it, and everyone puts their trash in the halls like we are in the "ghetto". Really.

We head up to the room, go in and its a handicapped suite. No island in the kitchen, no door to the bedroom, no closet to hang clothes, no door stop to catch the sliding bathroom door handle from banging into the door frame, but we had a basket with hangers in it, but no place to actually hang the hangers.

I call downstairs to get another room, but the lady says "oh I am sorry, we do not have any other rooms due to the football game this weekend". HOLD UP, you are telling me that I checked in on a Wednesday, had a reservation for a King non-handicapped room, but I cannot have it because you have reservations for some weekend person to stay one or 2 nights and refused to give them the handicapped room. Just horrible management. I ask about someplace to hang clothes "oh wait we can bring you a clothes rack and you can keep it the whole stay". REALLY. So you put me in a room for a week with no place to hang "work clothes" cause I am going to be commuting to and from work, but you got a flimsy rack to hang my clothes on but you give the room with everything a person might need for a week long stay to some person who is only there on the weekend. Like I tell people, "Common since is no longer common".

On the way out to dinner I just looked into the Evening Social, what a joke, someone should sue for false advertisement. I looked at the food being served 3 different days and it did not look anything like what is on the site. There was a sorry looking pizza thing with a little bit of toppings day 1, a potato bar with mashed potatoes and bacon that looked like it needed to be cooked on day 2, and then the best thing was tacos or something day 3. Nothing like the pictures.

The next morning I left my number for the manager to call me. The clerk stated the manager came in around 8. By 1130 I called the Hotel, and was told the manager was in a meeting. She called me back around 1230. Really.

I mention the issue with the room but she states "Oh you getting the handicapped room has nothing to do with the football game, it had to do with pout computer system going down. The system did not come back up until 11 Sep. Previously the system allowed people to overbook room types. So because of the money you where paying we did not want to give you a smaller room, so we gave you the handicap instead of the room type you reserved". Wait so because I was paying top dollar and you did not want to lose any money, you said "oh stick him in a handicap room". THAT is FOUL. Like I told the manager what you should have done was either put us in the room we reserved or picked up the phone and called us to see if we wanted to cancel. To just stick us in that room was just plain arrogance. But you did not want to lose out on any money, so you just acted like nothing happened.. The manager went so far as to say "oh the room situation should have been explained at check in". How do you think that is supposed to go when a patron walks in and you go "oh by the way, the room you reserved is being help for some weekend patrons, and all I have is a half-finished handicap room, will that be ok". Just a horrible stay from the start. And the clerk was right, the ladies did not clean the room for a week. Just SAD all...

CAUTION! BEWARE OF THIS LOCATION. READ ALL NEGATIVE REVIEWS FIRST.

My wife had reservations to this location at 3 o'clock and we arrived to the location a 15-20 minutes early before check-in, and spoke to a nice lady that informed us that room is ready, but needs to be inspected. Once it was 3 o'clock, my wife approached the counter to deal with another woman who was being standoffish. My wife was standing at the counter as I took the luggage over to the counter, and she said that she hadn't been acknowledged yet and was just waiting. Whitney, the attendant at the counter, smirked at my wife and I and asked for her last name rudely. Then she told my wife that she failed to "click" the link on text message, so they canceled the reservation. My wife was confused because she never received a confirmation on her previous stay at this hotel. Whitney said they sent it the day prior and told my wife that it wasn't their issue if she didn't receive the text. My wife asked what are we post to do now, and Whitney replied very condescending with a smirk on her face, "You can find another hotel to stay at," and then asked for the next customer. I verified that my wife didn't receive any text messages from the hotel. While she helped other guests, I called customer service to make another reservation and gave the phone to my wife. I asked the other guest at the counter if she had to verify her stay with a text message link and she said "no" and nor did her 11 friends either as Whitney was getting the guest more towels. The guest was clearly upset at Whitney because Whitney snapped at her for requesting towels again because she requested towels the day before. I asked Whitney why we were the only ones with a link confirmation that she was claiming but never received. Then she responded rudely and loudly, "Because your wife's card was declined." If that was the case, then someone should have contacted us, and we would have gladly fixed the issue instead of being embarrassed at the counter on something that was false. My wife returned at the counter with a new reservation, and Whitney said she had seen it and was denying us service. Our frustration of driving for over 3.5 hours, with our little kids, dealing with the worst customer service experience, and not having a place to stay was overwhelming. She rudely said, "I told you, you can find another place to stay earlier," and we did at the Courtyard Marriott where we were treated with respect. I would strongly recommend that any potential guest who wants good treatment to overlook this hotel. This has to be the worst customer service experience that I have ever had. Whitney's attitude was horrible and went against all of IHG's core values.

I spoke with Angel, the front desk supervisor, and to no surprise she is supporting this poor behavior. Whitney's horrible mannerisms and attitude and it's reflective of her leadership/management. It's not too surprising to understand that most of this location's negative reviews are about front desk and management. I'm just disappointed we didn't look up this location reviews prior. A huge lesson learned. Angel actually admits Whitney's attitude towards the other guest was unprofessional and going to address it, but fails to see her poor attitude towards us. I guess she also missed Whitney flipping us off when I took her picture and considered that "calm and professional". If this is the best, I would to hate to see what other guest have to go through.

If you want cheap room and to be treated horrible, then stay here, but if you want to be treated like a valid customer go to Courtyard Marriott or even La Quinta, Home2, Holiday Inn, or hate say even a Motel 6 is probably better...

Location: Ideal as I didn't want to stay in the downtown area yet was close to driving distance for Starbucks, Chipotle, new lunch and dinner spots as well as the lacrosse fields. Free parking and well-lit parking area next to "the best convenience store" ever according to my teenagers. The store had 20+ selections of slurpees, soda fountains, ice teas, etc. and I felt safe for them to walk there on their own (same parking lot).

Rooms: Reasonably priced which allowed me to book two rooms for 4 nights so my teenage girls could have their own room to socialize and stay up late without disrupting others. Slept sound and bed was comfortable. Rooms and hotel were clean.

Soap/ towels: There is no hand soap provided to wash your hands which I thought was odd, especially during covid. Makes me wonder who's not washing their hands after using the bathroom because there's no soap? We used the dishwashing soap under the kitchen sink until I went to Walmart to buy hand-soap. Towels are not the softest set ever used but they do the job. Tip: Provide a small hand soap for guests. It can't cost that much as I bought a bar of soap for $1 at Walmart. Pass on the cost to the guest if necessary.

Breakfast: Food was decent and a good variety although i was criticized by the kitchen staff for using the same serving spoon for grapes that I used for strawberries and was "cross contaminating the fruit". I was told I needed to walk around to the other side to use the spoon for the strawberries - really? I can't reach the serving spoon specific for the strawberries from the side I was on but could reach the strawberries. There's no hand soap in the rooms so who knows what dirty hands are touching those spoons but let's make sure those fruit juices are not cross contaminated. Tip: Label the spoons so guests know there is a specific spoon for each fruit that is all placed next to each other.

Lobby: Big screen TV and seating area to socialize with friends. On Sunday night, while watching the football game, the staff person told us the lobby closed down at 10:30pm (and the football game was not going to be over by 10:30). Not sure if that's a rule or if she just wanted us to leave. There was only 4 of us watching the game (and we weren't drinking, eating, or loud) so not sure why she didn't mention that to anyone else in the lobby playing cards, etc.

Customer Service: Overall, friendly staff, with some hiccups (one kitchen staff and lobby hour enforcer). While at Costco, called the hotel to ask if we had an oven as I couldn't remember. Was told yes so picked up a pizza to bake. Got back to the room and low and behold, there is no oven. Called the front desk back and spoke to the same lady who told me there was an oven. She apologized and said she was thinking of the stovetop. Had to return to Costco to return to pizza so just a slight inconvenience.

Extras: Fort Worth (Cowtown Coliseum) has a rodeo every Friday and Saturday night. Super fun and highly recommend for all ages. A 30 minute drive west from the hotel.

Food / Grocery Recommendations: Jason's Deli and Abuelo's Mexican restaurant are close to the hotel and have a wide variety of selections! Gluten free menu at the Abuelo's as well. Pick up a great rub at Rudy's (gas station / restaurant). Also, Costco and Walmart close by too!

The experience overall was great and would stay here again if I was in the area. The little events noted above were not big enough to impact our trip or overall...