Residence Inn by Marriott Homewood Mountain Brook — Hotel in Homewood

As a Titanium Elite member with over 300 nights at Marriott properties in the last 18 months, I have a deep and clear understanding of the brand's standards. I was disappointed to find that my recent stay at the new Residence Inn in Homewood/Mountain Brook fell significantly short of the quality I have come to expect. While I recognized that my stay two months prior was during a period when new construction "kinks" might be present, my most recent visit revealed that these issues have not only gone unaddressed but have seemingly worsened.

Unacceptable Physical and Design Flaws

The state of the room was the primary disappointment, plagued by several significant issues:

Room Environment: The room was notably small, humid, and had a pervasive musty odor.

Air Conditioning: the units are unusually loud for a hotel room.

View: not great, but if location is what matters most this hotel is a good fit.

Safety and Finish: I encountered a serious tripping hazard from a hard, uneven floor strip under the carpet. Furthermore, the room showed multiple signs of unfinished work, including chipped ceiling patches and lifting wallpaper. (See pictures)

Design Flaws: The bathroom layout was incredibly frustrating, with conflicting doors that made navigation nearly impossible. The lack of a bathtub was an unknown and unacceptable surprise; had I known, I would not have booked the room.

Entertainment: The single TV that had to be physically rotated between the bedroom and living area is an outdated and inconvenient feature for a new property.

Service and Status Benefits Failures

Despite my Titanium Elite status, my stay was marred by a series of service lapses and a clear failure to honor standard loyalty benefits:

Upgrade Denial: I was told no upgrades were available, even though the hotel appeared to be far from sold out.

Key Card Malfunction: The most disruptive issue was the key card requiring five re-keys in a single morning. The inoperative mobile key system compounded this problem, leading to me being locked out of the building entirely while attempting to utilize my late checkout benefit.

Late Checkout Violation: My request for a late checkout was limited to 2:00 PM instead of the standard 4:00 PM. Housekeeping repeatedly knocked after I requested a late checkout and displayed the Do Not Disturb sign. At 2:00 PM, upon leaving the room, I found staff members sitting directly outside my door, whose clear look of disgust indicated a profound lack of respect for an elite member utilizing a guaranteed benefit.

Billing and Accountability Issues

Finally, my checkout was hampered by a billing error and unhelpful staff:

I was overcharged for incidental fees.

When brought to the front desk's attention, the staff member was unhelpful and dismissive, offering only a vague explanation that the charges were "pending" and would "clear up on their own in 5–10 days," without being able to explain the amounts or cause.

Given the price point, guests should not have to tolerate so-so pillows, dirty walls, and basic construction/design flaws. The current state of this property is a significant letdown to a highly loyal guest. Management and ownership must take immediate, fundamental action to bring this hotel up to the standards of the Marriott brand and address the complete lack of elite status recognition and...

A Disappointing Stay at a New Property - massive Room for Improvement ||The price is 200plus a night here and not worth it at all. There are much nicer, cleaner options with better views and exceptional service to choose from in the area that cost much less. ||As a Titanium Elite member with over 300 nights in Marriott properties in the last 18 months, I have a clear understanding of the brand's standards. I had hoped to see the new Residence Inn in Homewood/Mountain Brook live up to that reputation, but my recent stay was far from the quality I've come to expect. While the location is convenient to Highway 280, my experience was plagued by issues that a new hotel should not have.||During a stay two months ago, I was impressed with the staff and recognized that new construction sometimes has kinks to work out. However, on this most recent visit, the issues were significant and seemed to have gone unaddressed and even gotten worse. ||The room itself was a major disappointment. It was small, humid, and had a musty odor. There was only one TV that needed to be turned around between the bedroom and living area, a hard seam tripping hazard running under the carpet between the den and kitchen, and multiple signs of unfinished work, including chipped ceiling in multiple areas, past patch jobs that looked unfinished and lifting wallpaper.||The bathroom layout was especially frustrating, not only was there no bathtub but the layout with the doors conflicted with each other and the toilet, making it nearly impossible to navigate. You literally cannot use the toilet with the door open and if someone walked in to take a shower they would crush you. ||A new property should not have these kinds of basic design flaws.||In addition to the physical state of the room, my stay was marred by a series of service failures. Despite my Titanium Elite status, I was told there were no upgrades available even though the hotel was far from sold out. My late checkout request was met with a 2 p.m. limit instead of the standard 4 p.m., and housekeeping knocked on my door repeatedly even after I'd requested a late checkout and put up the Do Not Disturb sign.||At 2:00 pm they were literally knocking on my door again and when I walked out to leave they were sitting on the floor in the hallway inches from my door, looking disgusted. ||One of the worst issues was the key card. I had to get my key re-keyed five times in one morning, which was incredibly frustrating. I was locked out of the hotel multiple times and had to walk all the way around to get back in. The mobile key system was completely down. ||I was also overcharged for incidental fees, and when I brought it to the front desk's attention, the staff member was unhelpful, claiming the charges were just "pending" and would "clear up on their own." The lack of concern was astonishing.||Given the price point, guests should not have to tolerate so-so pillows, dirty walls, and unfinished construction. While I appreciate the effort to bring a new hotel to the area, the current state of this property is a major letdown. The management and ownership need to take immediate action to address these fundamental issues and ensure the hotel meets the standards of the Marriott brand.||I will for one will...

The worst experience ever!! Could give it zero stars if I could.

We booked 3 nights at this hotel for our stay. After the first night, next morning the water supply was shut off completely. When we asked at the front desk, the staff assured us that it should be back within few hours as the entire street had no water supply. This was about 1pm Monday July 8th. Guests left the building and went around and when they come back, to our utter disappointment the water is still not back yet well into the night. We call front desk and the staff assures us that the crew is working on it and we should get it back in couple hours. We go to bed in hopes of getting the water supply back up again. The whole night passes, we even leave the taps open and nothing. It was extremely inconvenient!! Couldn’t use the toilet all night. Finally in the morning we get up and decided we had enough and decide to check out. It’s been almost 12 hours at this point till morning hours of Tuesday July 9th.

When we ask the staff again, this time they have no clue what’s going on. The staff girl who was on duty informs us that she got to know it’s just the building and not the entire street, that had no water different to what she told us earlier. On top of that it was the guests of the hotel who told informed her that.

With a big chain hotel like Marriott, you would expect better customer service and accountability!!! The staff has absolutely no clue on the situation. The manager is nowhere to be seen. There is only one person at the front desk who has absolutely no information to what’s happening and when’s the water gonna come back. Absolutely ridiculous!!

Guests have been out of water for almost 12 hours at this point and there is no information or explanation on what happened.

At the time of checkout we were expected to pay full at the rate of $200 a night and absolutely no apologies or remorse on the staffs part. When asked, she said we can dispute this with Marriott but as of now expected to pay in full.

Never had such an awful experience and that too from a highly reputed hotel chain. Plan to take this matter to corporate and expect a full refund for this awful experience!!

And never staying at this particular...