Extended Stay America Suites- Jacksonville - Deerwood Park — Hotel in Jacksonville

This isn’t the first Extended Stay that I’ve stayed in but assuredly it has been the last. Even though it’s in the dodgier part of this part of already questionable Jacksonville, we decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Since I was also mid-evacuation from Hurricane Milton and the choices were increasingly limited, I wasn’t able to be too selective. I checked in with my boyfriend and our Psychiatric Service Animal with no issue, aside from being put in a room on the third floor that was down three separate hallways from the nearest broken elevator. As a disabled person who uses a cane for regular perambulation, not only was this incredibly inconvenient and insensitive of the staff member, a young woman, who checked me in, it was also increasingly detrimental to my overall well-being since the handrail at the top of the second flight of stairs was not securely fastened to the wall and came loose during one of my trips ascending to my accommodations. Eighteen hours or so after I checked in, the manager knocked on the door of my room and informed my boyfriend that we were required to pay the pet fee of $25/night in order to continue to stay in our fully pre-paid room another night. She was informed that the dog in question was not a Psychiatric Service Animal because she was barking at the door. Considering that barking at the door when I am staying in sketchy hotel rooms is one of the things I’ve specifically trained my dog to do as it helps to mitigate my anxiety, the manager was mistaken in her appraisal of my dog, illustrating her complete lack of training in, understanding of, or lawful obedience to accommodating guests and their service animals. After locking us completely out of our room while we were out, she and the female employee who checked us in let themselves into our room and went through our belongings while another employee, a young male who is reportedly the cousin of the young female employee, stood guard at the door, should we be seen arriving back at our room during their illegal ingress and search with possible seizure. The manager was not on the premises when we returned but yelled at me through another employee’s phone while he thoughtfully held it out for me on speakerphone moments before he momentarily supervised my eviction. At that point, the manager told me that I could either pay the $38/day pet fee (up from the $25/day pet fee from earlier) for my non-stop barking dog that tried to attack her when she came to my door (a substantial escalation from my dog that barked when she knocked on the door, I rather think) or I could leave the premises immediately. Otherwise, she threatened to call the police and have us forcibly evicted from the property, a relatively empty threat considering the overall illegality of what was happening and the false premise it was based on combined with discriminatory practices toward disabled persons. As it was abundantly clear that logic had left this disagreement quite some time before, we elected to pack our bags and leave the hotel at 22:30 on a Friday night, in the midst of thousands of other hurricane evacuees seeking refuge. I would love to say that this is the end of the horrible little affair and that it’s the reason I won’t ever be staying at this particular location of Extended Stay America. However, I won’t stay at ANY Extended Stay America again and would rather sleep in my car if it came to it, which is all thanks to the response of Extended Stay America’s corporate office. After being apprised of the behavior of their manager and the consequences of it, they informed me that they have no authority to override the actions of their individual managers. Go ahead and read that last sentence again. How in the world does corporate NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY to override a local manager, let alone not even question the validity and truth of her statement, all without asking me or even calling me back?? If they’re incapable of overriding a local manager’s statement/decision, then what on earth do they, as the corporate office, have the...

Part A: The king deluxe suite I was assigned was spacious. The bed was comfortable. The desk clerk Kathleen was friendly and the other desk clerk went above and beyond going to the room to check it before assigning it to me. Apparently, they had to so a lot of work on the room to get it ready to rent. She said that the drawer in the kitchen was missing and to let them know if I found any other issues and they would move us to another room...no big deal to me. When I got to the room, I saw that the room next to mine was hermetically sealed and I could hear the heater fan going inside it (big red flag for bed bugs right next door and in our room the furniture was mismatched and to let them know if I find any other issues and they would move us to another room. There was one end table to use as a nightstand and no room telephone or trash cans. (Side note: All 3 Extended Stay locations I have visited have had issues with the telephones. It's starting to look like a trend for the brand...lol) When I went to draw my granddaughter's bath, I discovered that the water pressure was so low the faucet water stream was the diameter of a nickel and the water barely got lukewarm. It ran for 45 minutes to fill the tub less than halfway. I went to the desk and the shift had changed, the new clerk said I would have to tell the day person to get a trash can for me because she didn't have access to the storage room where they are kept and they would have to change my room, she couldn't. It's Sunday evening and I found a trash can but haven't had a shower all weekend. I have extended for three days this evening and will cancel if they don't change my room using the same deposit. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part B.

PART B: Okay, here's my update. On Monday, I extended and they moved me up to the 3rd floor to another deluxe king suite. The maintenance guy explained that the room I had been in wasn't quite ready yet but they were trying to accommodate my needs. He checked out the issues in the suite and then said that he was going to do a walk-through of the suite to which I was moving. He also explained that the sealed room next door was due to a flood and proactively sealing and drying out the room on the chance mold was to grow so it would be contained within that one suite. On the funny side...remember my mention of the room telephones? Well, lol, the one in the new suite also isn't in working order. They put in a work order for a new jack since the phone replacement was unsuccessful. Maybe it is a new branding for the company. Just kidding, but they really should check all of the extensions and Jack's in all rooms, at all locations because this is too often to be a coincidence.

That said, the location is quiet, the most of the staff are quite friendly, helpful, and courteous. This location appears to be undergoing renovation in several suites and the exterior / roof. Although the location has several maintenance issues, they are being addressed. This particular location could be quite profitable with a little bump in the budget since it is convenient to the expressway toward downtown and the beaches / TPC, and shopping/ restaurants. I am planning to extend my current stay and would recommend this location in particular.

PART C: This morning I woke to banging on the door because they still hadn't fixed the phone line in my room. At the front desk, I was informed that they could not extend through the hotel which I had started doing to avoid having to pay a new deposit every time I extended & I could rebook through a 3rd party booking agent. Which would require me to place another deposit. I checked out & rebooked at Lenoir Extended Stay again even though I had a bad experience there. When we arrived to check-in, no one came to the desk. Both of these are managed by the same GM I believe & I was told that the Asst. GM is married to the GM. This company has so much potential to be a popular and successful Extended Stay, however, a larger budget to upgrade TVs& furniture&replace missing kitchen items & building...

In my 25 years in the hospitality industry, this is the worst hotel experience I have ever had. My friend, her 17-year-old daughter, and I rode into Jacksonville on our motorcycles to attend an event we have been attending every year for the past 10 years. There were over 600 people at this event and were all staying in surrounding hotels. When we first checked in, we asked if it were possible to have our rooms close together, the front desk lady said no, they had already been assigned. Didn't even bother to look to see if it was possible. This was strike #1. Then she proceeded to say they do not have any housekeeping, we are there for 4 days with no housekeeping? Strike#2. I got to my room and it was a Handicap accessible room. This was not disclosed to me as I would have declined and asked for a regular room. I just lost my mother a year ago and This triggered me in a big way! Strike #3. I checked the room and it was disgusting. The bathroom door was being held open by the cord of the Television, the bathroom had no vanity, and I had to put my toiletries on the floor. The shower curtain rod was all rusty and the shower head was bad with limescale. The towels were stained as well as the carpet. The lamp in the "living room" didn't work. The stove didn't work as well as the kitchen vent and light did not work. The refrigerator door handle looked like it had been chewed on. There were no dishes or glasses, no cookware or anything. Not even a coffee pot. In my friend's room, we were getting her daughter ready on the sleeper sofa. Went to pull out the bed and the whole thing was broken. No mattress and two couch cushions were stuffed inside to give it support just to sit on. Their carpet was also stained as well as stained towels. Her daughter had to stay in my room, which was fine, however, what if I wasn't there? The front desk lady said maintenance would have to look at it tomorrow. Where would the poor kid have slept? The next day the maintenance guy came in to look at the couch and said, Oh yeah, that couch is broken!! They should have given you a rollaway bed. Was never given this option! He brought a rollaway for her for the next night. Day #3 we ran out of toilet paper. Went to the front desk and Asked for some Toilet paper and the response was, We are out too! Not, I do apologize but we are waiting on a shipment. Nothing! Just, So are we. Very rude! This is a health violation to not have toilet paper in a hotel! We were told there would be a continental breakfast, it was watered-down coffee, a bag of instant grits, and a bag of instant oatmeal. We go to our event on Saturday morning and come back later in the early evening and we are very tired. We get to our rooms and NONE of our keys work to get in. Back to the front desk. They deactivated our keys for SOME odd reason, so the Same rude person had to reactivate our keys. Every floor smelled like marijuana as well. Day 4, Check out day, The assistant Manager comes to the door with fresh towels and... you guessed it, toilet paper. I told her, well we don't need it now, we are leaving in 10 minutes. She apologized but at this point, it is way too late for apologies. Strike after strike after strike, I will NEVER stay at this location ever again and I will be sure to let the people know for next year not to stay...