Residence Inn by Marriott Irvine John Wayne Airport/Orange County — Hotel in Irvine

Embarking on a cross country move, we chose this Residence Inn as the best option for a longer term stay with a pet and three people.|Starting with the good: the pool is nicely maintained (if a little cold in early June), the hot tub is comfortable, and there are usually towels pool side. The day team at the front desk was kind and responsive, usually quick to say good morning. Parking was ample, and there's a water station near the lounge area that offered regular water or carbonated water for no fee. The main area bed (King) was comfortable, and the bath gel/shampoo/conditioner was good quality with a mild fragrance. The windows actually open a bit, allowing some fresh air in. The refreshed interior design is pleasant (you can still smell the new carpet) and the use of wall length prints is fun and a nice change after a decade of greige paint schemes. The refrigerator makes ice cubes, which was a nice bonus.||Housekeeping was great about emptying our trash/recycling containers daily, as we left them outside our room (we didn't want our pet disturbed).||The frustrating: this hotel is undergoing "renovation" and appears to have been doing so for months. The main impacts we encountered were water being shut off for a few hours during mid-day; when we went to shower later, we had no hot water. We ran the water for about 5 minutes and still had no hot water. When we inquired with the early evening team, they just told us to "run it longer". After running it for 20 minutes, we STILL had no hot water. We all ended up taking cold showers that evening; we waited for the morning shift change and told the day staff we had no hot water. The day staff took our comment seriously, and had maintenance look into it--behold, it was NOT an issue running the water for 20 minutes was going to fix, so we were somewhat frustrated our earlier complaint was so casually ignored.||The other issue with renovation is that this hotel evidently has no freight elevator, so contractors are using the (two) guest elevators to come and go. This was not much of an issue our first week; however, week 2, the hotel took one of the guest elevators offline to use for the contractors--when they had two sets of (large) group reservations in the hotel. This would result in waiting anywhere from 10-20 minutes for the single operating elevator to make it down to the lobby. Housekeeping would end up waiting on almost every floor, hoping for an empty elevator so they could continue their rounds--this is likely why we couldn't check in until well after our 4pm check-in time the first day of our stay. Housekeeping was unable to turn rooms based on the elevator situation.||We would take the stairs down when we could; unfortunately, taking the stairs up was not an option as management locked the ground floor stairwell--despite the sign on the elevator directing you to use the stairs. Perhaps this was a safety/access issue, but if so, then don't direct your customers to use an inaccessible door.||"Food"|This location also advertises a continental breakfast each morning, and...there was food of sorts there. The prep kitchen was right next to the breakfast area, so it was very clear everything served came out of a box/was just warmed. The options were usually the same every day with minor variations: some sort of egg (scrambled or "omelet"), some sort of protein in gray-brown disc form (turkey or pork "sausage" patty), potatoes, two flavors of Dannon yogurt that never altered, and some Oikos Greek yogurt, a vat of instant oatmeal with some mix-in options, some "fresh" fruit that had I doubt had ever seen the sun. After being there almost two weeks, it was a pretty sorry selection.||Room|As a "residence" inn, there is a small kitchenette. By small, you should understand only one person is going to be in this area at any given time. Whoever designed the space has apparently never cooked or worked in an operational kitchen; the two burners on the stove are so close together, you can barely have a pot and a pan in use at the same time. The shelving/cabinets are situated so that unless you're over 5' 5", you cannot reach then (four) plates, glasses, or bowls. You are given one strainer, two pyrex bowls, one measuring cup, a vegetable peeler, a small assortment of teaspoons, and... that's about it. All the silverware in our room looked like it had been down the garbage disposal multiple times, with chewed edges on the utensils.||It is very clear whoever designed this space either doesn't cook, or expects patrons to microwave everything. The other two shelves that would have been accessible were "accessorized" with decorations you couldn't move--they were literally screwed in place, making the shelving useless.||One night we tried to cook pasta, and the stove surface is so underpowered, it took over 20 minutes on the highest setting to bowl water. ||We were given no dish soap to handwash dishes, and one packet of dishwasher detergent--presumably you could ask for more at the front desk, but the friction of having to do so is a little ridiculous. And Marriott--for a room that sleeps four people, why do you continue to insist on only supplying three towels?||Overall, these are small irritations that would be fine over the course of a few days; over a few weeks, they become much larger. If you're looking at staying here, don't unless the renovations are complete. Management needs to do a better job of considering their room block needs against the contractor schedule and not making guests and housekeeping...

THE ULTIMATE RESIDENCE INN REVIEW

I stayed here for approximately two weeks. Overall, I had a great experience. Charles, Claudia, and Maria were all very helpful during my stay. I had brief interactions with the other staff there, and they were always so friendly and polite.

PROS:

Parking: Free. Front desk gives you a permit to display in your car.

Lobby: Friendly staff and nice dining/sitting area with TVs. Filtered water dispenser is always there, and coffee and tea varieties in the morning hours

Free Breakfast (in order): Apples, oranges, and/or bananas daily. Make your own delicious waffles on Saturdays and Sundays only. Scrambled or egg omelette patties daily. Potatoes on most days. Rotation of bacon, sausage, pancakes, and breakfast sandwiches. Daily: salsa, spinach, shredded cheese, 2% and fat free milk, chocolate milk, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, granola, Fruit Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, oatmeal, honey, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almond slices, chocolate chips, coconut pieces, raisins, craisins, brown sugar, peanut butter, jelly, bread, bagels, English muffins.

Gym: TV, towels, water with cup dispenser, antibacterial wipes, bike, 2 treadmills, elliptical, dumbbells ranging from 5-50 pounds, mat, weighted medicine balls 8, 10, and 12 pounds.

BBQ: Big Viking gas grill, front desk has a lighter to start it

Pool and jacuzzi: Pool is on the smaller side, but was usually heated. 3-5 feet deep. Jacuzzi was nice and hot. Jets aren’t too powerful. Showers were not functional. Fresh, clean towels.

Room (1 bedroom with living area and kitchen): Quiet, clean, everything worked well, windows crack open for fresh air.

CONS:

Construction: Hotel is under renovation. Occasional construction noise. 6th floor was closed, which is where the laundry facilities are.

Room Leak: They were testing the fire alarm/response system. Hallway flooded and seeped into the corner of my room. I called the front desk and maintenance came out within 5 minutes with a carpet extractor to suck the water up, and left me with an industrial fan to dry it out. They handled it well and promptly. I did not need to move rooms.

Pool and Jacuzzi: On my second to last day there, there was a sign on both entrances to the pool that it was shut down by the health department due to poor water circulation.

None of these issues severely impacted my stay there. Overall, it was a nice and...

I would give 0 star for this but 1 star is for its front desk - they were nice. Anyway, I came to Irvine for a business trip and stayed this residence hotel for about 2 weeks, which was supposed to be about 3 weeks. However I quitted satying and got my remaining days refunded through the travel agency that works for my company. I had no choice but to go to a different facility nearby as you can see in the images I attached. After a few days passed in this hotel, I felt itchy all over my body and found some rash going on over my chest, arms and calves. So, I woke up, tried to find why, and unfortunately easily, saw some very small bug-like things on and in the bed, which were not seen before I went onto the bed for sleep, even after the room was cleaned. Of course, I took a shower before coming upon the bed. There was no reason these things be found on the bed sheet. It was weired as I don't have any allergy to anything and I've not seen this, except India, while traveling. (I've travelled around-the-world twice in 2011, 2015; visited more than 40 countries in my 20s.) I told this to the front and she changed the room. But the same symptom came up and found something similar again. I could not easily find any only if I got to the bed, other reason without the things on the bed, as I came here for work so I did not hang around nor go for a short trip nearby, just worked (sad lol)... Even worse, I was not the only one feeling itchy and irritation over the skin. Everyone of my colleagues said the same thing. Finally, my team leader and I decided to move to a different hotel for the rest of the days in the States. I am not sure these things are bedbugs (they called a third party company to inspect the rooms we stayed and could not find any), maybe it were some bugs like tiny ticks or fleas, or probably some dust which can make rash/itchiness or something. But it is obvious that I would not recommend other colleauges/people to stay here when they come to Irvine for a trip and this hotel should be cleaned, disinfection would be much better, of course, I know I am not the person who decides this, but just leaving my review comment as a customer. I feel kinda sorry for leaving this comment but post it for other future visitors. I had no choice but sleeping in the sofa for nearly a week, which my colleagues...