Quality Inn Raleigh Downtown — Hotel in Raleigh

The Animazement anime convention was in Raleigh this past weekend. Normally I like to stay at the Cambria Suites out by RDU airport, but circumstances this year led me to choose a hotel closer to the Raleigh Convention Center. Due to an affordable rate and a current Choice Hotels points promotion, the Comfort Inn on South Saunders Street got my business. The hotel is less than two miles from the downtown area, but it is NOT walkable. However, bus route 7 runs to/from the hotel and the downtown area if you want to save money by using the hotel's free parking and not downtown parking garages.

Our room was 219, with two double beds. The room was clean as far as daily housekeeping, and everything worked as it should. However, maintenance needs to do a better job at keeping things repaired. In the bathroom, the granite tub surrounds have water damage/discoloration. The tub floor has some discolored/stained spots. A chunk of tile trim in the bathroom was missing. A large crack ran across the floor underneath the sink. A piece of the wall was damaged next to one of the beds and a large stain was on the carpet near the room entrance. Soundproofing could stand to be improved; we heard our neighbors and the people staying above us for most of the night.

I have to say that we had stayed the night before at another Choice property (Quality Inn in Greensboro, see that review), and although this hotel has the newer physical plant of the two, it was actually in worse condition than the older Quality Inn as far as room maintenance was concerned.

On the plus side though, the bathroom was larger with most, with the added luxury of plenty of counter space. Beds were comfortable. Wi-fi speed was decent. Microwave and refrigerator were included, though the fridge had a large chunk of frost/ice buildup and probably needs to be defrosted.

Hot breakfast in the morning was good, but seemed to lack in variety of bread items (no plain bagels, for instance.) They alternate between bacon and sausage patties as the meat of choice. Staff we encountered were all friendly and helpful, and assisted us in keeping our belongings in storage (we arrived in Raleigh at around 6:30 in the morning.)

The Comfort Inn near downtown Raleigh offers fairly good accommodations at a value rate. Although a bit worse for wear, the rooms are cleaned well and are comfortable, the staff is very helpful, and the breakfast is good. Maintenance needs to go through and check rooms, though, and get some of the damage repaired. There were more than a few issues for what doesn't appear to be that old...

Choice hotels wouldn’t let me post my full review so here it is: I am so disappointed. Last time we stayed here (last year in September) the room was outdated, sure, but incredibly clean. We were both impressed! This time…utterly unhappy. Room was disgusting. Bathroom floor had spill from previous guest (looked like pink soap?). Toilet seat had dry pee and hair on it. Towels had stains and hair in them. Shower had dark mold spots all over the upper part of the tub where the tub met the wall. Shower curtains were very apparently never cleaned- dingy and stained and dusty on top. Obviously nothing was wiped down. I honestly just pray the sheets were new and inside out, because there was a key card holder between the mattress and the sheets…really looked as though maybe the sheets weren’t changed. Floor had a ton of weird stains. I walked in my socks from the car nightstand to the bathroom and the bottoms of the white socks were completely charcoal colored. Glad I brought flip flops 🤢 Last time we came it was VERY clean, this time it was VERY dirty. I’m appalled that these stays were only 12 months apart. For what we got, this stay was way overpriced at $120 a night. Also had some creepy guys hanging out on the side door of the hotel smoking cigarettes and drinking when we arrived at the hotel. It was late after the NC State game, but with half the parking lot being full of work trucks from another company, I didn’t necessarily feel safe walking from the dark corner of the lot to the front door.

I did notice when we walked in that literally the day prior to our stay, the hotel received a 94.5 sanitation rating. I do not know how on earth unless the person who came was blind, they only looked at one room, or the state standards are ridiculously low.

This hotel will never get my business again. I’m really pretty upset that their rates went up from our last stay and the room was in such disrepair. While I do have very high standards for a room being clear and satisfactory, this was an all time low. If it hadn’t been so late and we hadn’t been so tired we would have left and found somewhere else. Don’t believe the reviews that said it was clean…

The only good thing I have to say about this place is that the sheets are soft and the staff is nice. That doesn’t make it worth more than...

Loved the hotel they treated us well and are very accommodating to there guest. Rooms are well kept and cleaned. Free breakfast was great most hotels don't offer free make your own waffles or hardly anything with the variety they had. Side note Please be kind to the staff at this hotel, I notice there wasn't too many people working when I was staying there so I assume they might be under staff. Alright so this hotel is next to a super 8,Sam's club with a gastation and the traffic might be little rough getting in. Hotel parking isn't spacious enough but thats something they can't help.

The sketchy side that people mention I had one encounter myself some dude tried to sell me not drugs but..a handled saw. That was only one night and that was it, I know why people say this place is in a "rough" area when driving to this place and I can see why they are worried but I stayed here 4 days and had a excellent time at the hotel and at the anime con, plus hotel has cameras that overlook the parking lot you might only see one our two but there are more I've seen 4. Bugs- I only found one in the room but hear me out, it wasn't a full grown roach but I know it's never pleasant seeing or finding one especially in a hotel room you paid for to stay at. Again I only found one just one any more than one I would have complained, but hear me out folks. 9 times out of 10 when you're away from home it's quit no activity it's very still there is probably one hiding somewhere. To me a bad roach problem is you see 2 or more at a time during the day/night cause how use they are if left unchecked. Not to go on a bug info dump but I'm saying this to defend the hotel/staff because they care and they do there best in keeping the rooms cleaned and free from waste. Aside from all that this is a great...