Sonesta Simply Suites Philadelphia Mount Laurel — Hotel in Mount Laurel Township

Look I read the reviews, I was just staying here for a night, so I didn’t expect much. I might have even gone on here and left 3 stars to go easy on them. But after this experience… no. The location and the staff are decent enough, the sheets were reasonably clean, there’s plenty of parking and… that’s about all the positive comments I can say… First off their elevator was out of order (see picture) and while it says “Temporary out of order” it was out for the entire time I was there and I had a lot of equipment with me. That lead me to the stairs… Phew! Did those smell. Someone spilled tuna all over them. Did the staff bother to clean them? Nope. The room was what it was. The window didn’t really open, many of the fixtures were old and falling apart, as others have mentioned, the toilet didn’t flush all that well, but the bed was decent enough so I’ll give them that. They have an old style noisy heater which made it a little hard to sleep. I eventually just had to turn it off. Before my check out time, I was sleeping (with a do not disturb sign on my door) and the housekeeper knocked on it and asked about check out 🤦🏼‍♂️ The rest of this is seriously like a Seinfeld episode: I was gonna shower right before I left but realized they didn’t have any shampoo. I called the front desk, they said they send someone up. Fair enough. 15 minutes later, no one is there, I call again and tell them I can’t leave at my checkout time if I can’t shower. To the receptionist’s credit he understood. Finally the housekeeper arrived with a big bottle of shampoo for filling dispensers. The only problem was that this room didn’t have a shampoo dispenser… or ANY dispensers! She was surprised at this so left to go get something else. 10 minutes later, she comes back with a glass of shampoo (see picture). I have to be honest with you, I’ve been in easily 100 hotels in my life and I’ve NEVER seen a glass of shampoo. Honestly it was kind of comical. She told me they were going to send someone to install the dispenser. I said you might as well wait until I leave. 🤷‍♂️ So shower underway, with the glass of shampoo - and all of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off (and it’s LOUD)! At the moment I’m writing this, Philadelphia is recovering from a plane crash, so I took it seriously. I had to quickly dry off, put my clothes on, my hair was still wet (and it’s winter) get my belongings together and head out. Didn’t smell any smoke, didn’t see any flames, it didn’t seem like the staff was all that worried but I waited in my car for the fire department to come. Once all was clear (didn’t seem like there was a fire) I finally went back, dried my hair and checked to make sure I had everything. Any one of these things I can forgive on its own, but all together? No. This place seriously needs renovation, they need to hire more staff members to keep it clean and maintain it. P.S. I’m sitting in my car writing this, and just as I’m about to hit send, I hear the fire alarm go off...

We arrived to the front desk, which consisted of 2 people, one of which was having a conversation with a friend while customers waited. We checked in after signing an ungodly amount of signatures. We arrived to our room, where we were at first satisfied with the appearance of the room. That satisfaction quickly diminished. We realized that even though we booked a room for 3 adults there were only accommodations for 2. We called the front desk and upon picking up the phone my hand stuck to it. The front desk informed us that they had absolutely NO extra linen, no extra pillows, NOTHING to accommodate our 3 adult booking. This was incredibly upsetting. We unfolded the incredibly hard sofa which had no linens whatsoever, it was stained, metal springs, and all around uncomfortable. We decided to put the mattress on the floor so that we didn't have to sleep in dips and on metal poles. After we put the mattress on the floor, we left to buy our own linens and pillows so that we could sleep. We noticed on our way out that all doors were propped open for public access.....which we found a bit odd, and slightly eerie. We arrived back, and had to request extra towels since we again only had accommodations for 2 people, although we had booked for 3. The front desk seemed to get annoyed at our request, but retrieved what was needed. When we arrived back to our room, the minute that we entered we received a call from the front desk with a noise complaint. We had just stepped into the room, so we informed them that it clearly wasn't us making the noise. We hung up and started putting our belongings away and while putting them away we noticed how gross things really were up close. Nothing had really been wiped down from the last I don't know how many guests. We had only a half of a roll of toilet paper, the AC didn't work 75% of the time, and all night long there was bass from another room that kept my mom up. My boyfriend awoke at 3AM from sleeping on the mattress on the floor with a neck ache and couldn't fall back asleep. I tossed and turned all night with a back and neck ache from the floor.....horrible night of sleep. No breakfast option, small gym, and lack of overall accommodations. For $159 a night I definitely do not...

A little background on me and our purpose of visit here before I dive into this review. I am generally someone who can make due with very little and when it comes to hotels, airlines, and other hospitality businesses where you can pay more for better service, I opt for the cheaper side. This was a one night stay which influenced my wife and I to book here as we traversed the East Coast back home. If you don’t want to read on, the main takeaway is I would have rather spent an additional $40 on something nicer - across the street.

Our visit started with a $100 deposit upon checking in. While not an issue, it caught us off guard as the other hotels we’d stayed throughout the week hovered around $50. Upon entering the third floor, we were overcome with a moldy smell that emanated through the halls and became stronger in the room we purchased. Other reviews indicated a smell but we brushed it off. Our conclusion was a smelly room is luck of the draw. The desk was quick to accommodate us moving to another room which, fortunately, did not smell.

A night’s stay led us to these “discoveries” that we feel anyone considering a stay here should know. The orientation of the television is interesting as it’s in a corner, obstructed by blowing curtains if the air conditioner or heater is on, and does not swivel. You will struggle to watch TV laying down. The bedding was generally clean but had lint and remnants of laundry debris scattered. Further, our shower did not have the advertised amenities to include hair conditioner. We brought our own anyway.

The biggest complaint my wife insisted I write would be the towels. At first glance, you are provided one full size towel. This was later found to be two, child size towels. After two trips to the front desk and a few encounters with room service, we were provided one full size towel.

A major concern I had at checkout was the guest list, their room numbers, and contact information center as on the front desk by the receptionist, visible for anyone coming in or out of the hotel. This is potentially a major safety issue for a number of reasons.

To conclude, we survived our stay but will not...