Residence Inn by Marriott Lafayette — Hotel in Lafayette

I lived here for 4 months straight, so I have a lot to say. The following was emailed to the manager after my stay, to which he never responded.

First off, the good.

-All of the staff was very friendly and always helpful.

-Please give the breakfast staff my highest praises. They always opened on time, kept the food refilled quickly when it ran out, and maintained a wide variety foods. My favorite was always the biscuits and gravy!

Maintenance. These guys were great, fast to fix a dead bulb or clogged drain and or check the smoke alarms.

-Housekeeping...good (and not so good). For the most part they did a great job cleaning the room.

Second, the not so good.

-Avoid a room near the elevator, doors have large gaps under them that let sound and light in. Ask for one at the end of the hall if available.

-Housekeeping. For the first two months or so I would regularly find long dark hairs on my bathroom towels and sheets. And not just inside a folded towel that might have been missed, sometimes there would be hair just laying on top of a towel. How do they miss that? One time earlier on, they also left my rolled up dirty sheets and wet towels on my couch, leaving it wet. The head of housekeeping was quick to rectify the issue and gave me some bonvoy points. They never replaced the shampoo/conditioner bottles when they were empty. I had to go down to the front desk and ask for a fresh bottle. Sometimes I'd be in the room when they would come by to clean up and I'd ask if they could come back later or the next day, usually they'd say yes, and when they did say yes, they never ended up coming back later or the next day.

The entrance door on the west side of the building was never locked for the last 3 months. If I was living on the first floor that would make me very uneasy. It looks like you need a key to access that door, but just pulling on it let's you in, because the locking mechanism is missing.

-Employees would regularly park in the handicapped parking spaces without displaying the proper handicap placard. I'm not saying they're not allowed to park there, but if someone who needs to park there pulls up and they're full of cars without the handicap placard, they're going to be very upset. One car stood out to me as a habitual offender, a white mailbu license plate 303CAT.

-Additionally, it became quite obvious employees would park in the "Guest Registration 10 minute parking" for the duration of their shifts. So clearly, you guys have zero parking enforcement.

-Laundry. Get those machines fixed, or get rid of them. It was very annoying to see 8 driers in there when only 3 work.

-Internet. You claim to offer "high speed" internet for $5 a day. Every time I tried to access it, it always popped up with an error saying "sorry, we can't connect you to the internet". I never reached out to the front desk because the regular internet was fast enough, but you should get...

This is a nice hotel, but I can't give it more than a 3 stars. We had a double queen suite for one night which was nice, clean and comfortable. However, we needed to use the silverware that is provided, but none was in the drawer. Didn't occur to me to check the dishwasher, but that is where we found it the next day. Also had to rewash the dishes that were in the cabinet before using them. Thought that would have been something that maid service would have taken care before our stay. It is difficult to enter the hotel from the door in the back, had to either enter by one of the side doors or walk all around the hotel to get in. Could not enter the pool area using the outer door either due to the handle not working. Both doors did respond to the key, but just would not open. The outdoor firepit did not light when I tried it. When we got to our room, there was only one extra toilet paper, not a big deal, but I wanted more since there was three girls in the room. I went to the front desk to ask for more and had to wait 10 minutes for the employee to come out of the office. The TV guide channel was way off. We stayed on May 28th, the guide was saying May 9th, and the time did not change from 10am when it was late afternoon when we turned it on. Not a huge deal either, we did find something to watch, but having an updated guide does help. We did use the pool, but it was colder than I expected, thought it was supposed to be heated and the floor got extremely slippery once water was on the surface of the pool deck. And lastly, we were sitting in the lobby talking and the fire alarm was going off throughout the entire hotel for about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was a false alarm, but no one seemed to have a sense of urgency to turn it off. I even overheard another guest complain at the front desk about the alarm because he was sleeping, and it didn't seem to matter to the employee. The hotel does offer breakfast which was actually very nice. I'm not sure if they change the menu daily or not, but there was fresh scrambled eggs and bacon which were pretty good and the usual staple items that were fresh. I would probably stay here again, but they need to fix the door handles, do something about the tiled pool deck when it gets wet, so no one really hurts themselves, make sure the pool water is warm like bath water, and have employees that have a better sense of urgency to take care...

On the first night of my stay, I woke up with huge hives all over my body and I was itching all night. Before I left for the day, I asked the front desk to have housekeeping replace the sheets out of concern that something that was used to wash the sheets was causing the itching and hives.

After I returned that evening, I was disappointed to find that the sheets had not been changed. When I brought this concern to the front desk agent, I was informed that "Housekeeping had gone home for the day" and that my only options were to stay in the room or change rooms. Despite my being worn out from the day, I choose to change rooms, with the hope that this was a one-time thing.

I was wrong. This time, I just laid down on top of the comforter, and after only an hour, my legs were once again covered in hives. Thankfully I had purchased cream that reduced the hives, but I was forced to spend a night sleeping on the uncomfortable couch.

I have stayed at multiple Marriott properties over the past few years, and this is the first time I have had any type of reaction to bed sheets. Whatever is being used to wash these sheets has the potential to impact someone far more vulnerable than me, like a child. That is my biggest concern. However, I was also disappointed that no staff members apologized to me for the skin issues that were caused or for the inconvenience of changing rooms. (And there surely had to be another option.). I am fairly easygoing, knowing the pressure hotel workers are under, but when an oversight causes me medical issues and the only reaction is indifference, that crosses a line.

What's particularly disappointing about my experience is that the property itself is quite lovely. The rooms were well-appointed, the full-size fridge was convenient, the fitness center is excellent, and there were even barbecue grills outside. It is a shame that these amenities have been overshadowed by two unpleasant nights that have left a bad taste in my mouth.

This is absolutely unacceptable service that falls below the Marriott standards. I want an apology for this avoidable issue that cast a shadow over an otherwise enjoyable trip. For the foreseeable future, I will not stay at this property the next time I visit the Lafayette...