Residence Inn by Marriott Knoxville Downtown — Hotel in Knoxville

I have mixed feelings and reviews about the facility. Why because I am a former Courtyard by Marriott employee and know the company standards for each brand. I now stay exclusively at Residence Inn by Marriott for business and pleasure these days because of the extra room, kitchen space to cook, the many more amenities offered here than the other brands like Courtyard. I contacted Bonvoy rewards to book a free night at this location using my points at Residence Inn by Marriott. She sent me an email but I never opened it. I got to the hotel and it was very different than a regular Residence Inn and had both Courtyard and Residence Inn on the side of the modern looking building. I did know that their was only valet / garage self parking fee but didn't mind sense the room was free. Here is were it gets weird. I go into the front doors to see two podiums right next to each one with Courtyards by Marriott and the othe Residence Inn by Marriott. I asked if it mattered which one but I have a reservation for Residence Inn. The friendly lady at the Courtyard podium said come on up I will take care of you. She checks me and I get my key park and go to my room to be shocked. As I walk into the room it was very small but my name was on the TV. I looked for identification if it was Courtyard or Residence Inn. It was definitely a Courtyard room. I called the front desk to confirm if i was in a Residence Inn room or Courtyard. She stated I was in a Courtyard room. I asked why I was in a Courtyard room when I specifically booked a Residence Inn room using my points. She stated the room booked for a Courtyard room instead. I asked to be changed to a Residence Inn room because that is what the Bonvoy associate took my points for which are higher value the Courtyard. She stated the Manager would have to change it. I went down to the front desk to be told by the manager the points were already redeemed and nothing she can do about it. Being a former employee I knew she was wrong and not using a higher points to be downgraded to lesser room. I called Bonvoy and explained the situation and they took care of me making the manager give me a Residence Inn room like I reserved. The room was bigger but still not a Residence Inn standard. I was disappointed. No Tennis courts or other amenities that a Residence Inn usually has and no breakfast. Just to bags. I have to say this new combined company venture of the two brands are not good idea to me but I am use to a...

My AC went off in the middle of the night. I woke up in a complete sweat with my room thermostat reading 86 F even thought when I went to bed, it was perfectly set at 68F. Summer in TN is not fun without AC, especially if none of the windows can open and there are no fans accessible. I tried to fix myself, and since there was a burning smell radiating from the air vent, I quickly called downstairs with grave concern. I was very rudely dismissed that the building was brand new, and all the air is working but that they would send someone up. They sent a cleaning maid, and some other random dude who explained that he didn't even work for the hotel, and I watched them press buttons on the thermostat and breaker box for 20 minutes (now its 4:30 AM) before asking to go downstairs with me and talk to management. The lady at the front desk explained that there was no management on duty, no maintenance on call until 9 AM, and no other available rooms as they were sold out. I tried to find resolution with her for another 20 minutes dismissed on each question and request before I finally had enough and asked her if I should go grab a pillow and sleep on the lobby floor. Somewhere a lightbulb went on in her head and then she miraculously found me a room a little before 5AM. I think this establishment needs 1- better night staff, 2- maintenance on duty, 3- a game plan for when things hit the fan, 4- better communication skills, and 5- better customer service over all. Just because its a new building, there isn't a guarantee that everything will work perfectly. That's not the excuse I want to hear at 4 in the morning. The fact that a large brand name hotel didn't know how to solve a very simple problem in the middle of the night is a huge issue. When you pay that kind of money, you expect to be able to receive some standard of service. I unfortunately was traveling for work and had to give a huge presentation the next day on zero sleep. Because of all the above, I will NOT...

This hotel is really lovely - very clean with subtle details throughout to make a person’s stay very comfortable. The location is relatively easy to access (as downtown locations go), and the hotel has a great layout.

A couple things to BE AWARE OF: Parking garage: the parking garage is well lit and feels very safe - HOWEVER - you cannot enter it without your room key. On arrival, if you did not set up a mobile key, you must park in the (very few) spots right in front of the hotel. When we arrived around 11 pm, all the parking spots were taken and we had to park in an accessible spot. It was brief and we didn’t stay in that place long, but it was rather upsetting that all the other parking spaces were taken.

Internet TV: If you log into your Netflix account in your room, be SURE to log out of your account before checkout. The tv in our room had not reset after the previous guests so I logged them out and was able to log into my own. If you don’t know how to do this, in Netflix on the tv, open the left side bar to see the list of options. The second to last one at the bottom is “Get Help”, just before “Exit Netflix”. Click “Get Help” and it will open another side bar. Near the bottom, there is an option to “Sign out of Netflix”. Click this, and click “Yes” (“Are you sure you want to sign out?”). Another option is to log into your Netflix account and go to “My Netflix” and navigate to your account settings. There is a section for “Security & Privacy” where you can click into “Manage access and devices”. This will allow you to see all the places where your account is signed in and you can remotely sign out of any location that you wish.

Overall, we loved our stay on our road trip and if we have occasion in the future, we would absolutely choose to...