Courtyard by Marriott Madison West/Middleton — Hotel in Middleton

First, the good! This is a newly built hotel in a great location. The front desk and housekeeping service was generally excellent (more on why I gave that category only 4 stars below). And one standout wonderful thing about the hotel is the breakfast. You have to pay a la carte for everything, but they have great espresso drinks, nuanced food items (avocado toast with sun-dried tomato and arugula and honey drizzle!), and the prices are reasonable. We overall had a great stay there!

The two downsides of the hotel were: 1) The walls are thin. There were louder guests next to our room and we could hear almost all of their conversation. Thankfully, when I went and knocked on their door, they kept it down. But still, we could hear a LOT! 2) The hot tub was out of service when we were there and the pool, while technically operational, was also "broken" in the sense that the heater was malfunctioning and it was 12 whole degrees colder than it should be (according to the front desk staff). The staff were incredibly gracious and proactive in trying to fix the problem, and we were offered an alternative at check in (to go across the highway to use the Residence Inn pool and hot tub). So there is nothing I wish had been done differently. But still, this was extremely disappointing because I shopped around for a kid-friendly pool setup for our 5-year-old daughter, and there were a LOT of other hotels in the area with compelling pools, and then I chose the ONE place where the pool actually...

Really enjoyed our stay at the hotel. I travelled with two small kids and my wife and we would stay here again. ||Pros: recently remodeled rooms and commons areas, spacious lobby with lots of seating and TVs, big outdoor area with more seating and nice layout, pool is big with stuff for kids, quiet and remote, not too busy||Cons: shower tubs drained poorly, the couch in the suite could be a bit more spacious, the only other con for me was the non-plussed staff. I encountered a front desk person and a staff person near the bar/food area. Neither were friendly or attentive. The front desk person seemed annoyed that we bought some snacks and she had to ring them up. The bar person was just not interested in doing her job. She just sorta starred at me when I walked up and wanted to order some bottled waters. When I asked about a beer I couldn’t see well she just served it to me and when I saw what it was I knew I wasn’t going to like it and I would’ve picked something else if she had just showed some effort to tell me what it was. It’s too bad when you’re trying to enjoy time away from home with your family and have to deal with ornery staff. It wasn’t busy. Makes you wonder if they’re being treated fairly or they just hire people who lack any social skills. ||Luckily you can avoid the abysmal staff entirely by bringing your own drinks/food and checking in with your mobile app! It’ll give you a room key that works in the...

After reading the reviews about this hotel I was a bit skeptical about staying here. As a travel industry professional industry have stayed in a lot of them especially in the Chicago area. Hands down this place blew away those. Whatever this Manager ins doing they should train the ones in den the North Shore area and the one in dinner Brookfield WI. The welcome checking in was very nice, no attitude. The room was very clean and well kept. There was no strings hanging like a cat attacked indent in Brookfield or very dirty and falling apart on Lake Cook Rd. The bed was very comfortable. The only thing that kept me from giving in don't think a 5 rating was the Internet. That was terrible! It was very hard to connect then would go up and down. Oh one other item was the prices in the lobby restaurant. It was a bit too much for what you get. If I had the French Toast with coffee it was pretty close to my limit of $20. For breakfast that is too much. I like that this was in a quiet area and they didn't have spot lights projecting back to the building. The worst thing is to have a spot light for a night light. I will say that I can't wait to stay here again. Hopefully the East side sells out again, so I can be put here. And there, are not many hotels that I can say that of. Well...