Staybridge Suites Sterling Heights - Detroit by IHG — Hotel in Sterling Heights

A Nightmare Stay at Staybridge Suites – An IHG Member’s Worst Experience Ever

As a loyal IHG Club member, I expect a certain level of service and comfort when choosing a hotel. Unfortunately, my recent stay at Staybridge Suites in Sterling Heights was an absolute disaster, far from the "home away from home" experience I was hoping for. I had pre-booked my room well in advance using 32,000 hard-earned points for one night, thinking this would guarantee a smooth and pleasant stay. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

My flight landed very late, and knowing this, I communicated with the hotel earlier that day to inform them of my late arrival. Despite this, I was shocked when I arrived at the hotel at midnight, only to be subjected to a 45-minute wait to receive my key. The front desk staff were completely incompetent, struggling with their computer system, which delayed my check-in to an unacceptable degree. After fumbling with their system, they eventually found my reservation, but even then, the key card machine wasn’t working properly, and they couldn’t process the $100 deposit required for the stay.

Finally, at 12:45 AM, after an exhausting day of travel, I was able to get into my room. However, my nightmare was far from over. At 1:57 AM, I was rudely awakened by a knock on my door. I was alarmed, thinking something was terribly wrong. Instead, it was the same overnight agent who had checked me in, demanding that I come down to the front desk to pay the $100 deposit. The sheer audacity of waking a guest at such an ungodly hour for something that was not my fault was beyond belief. If the deposit was that important why even give me key in the first place.

When I went to the front desk, still groggy from being woken up, I was met with an attitude of complete disregard for my comfort and experience. The agent insisted that unless I paid the $100 deposit immediately, they would have no choice but to put me and my family out on the street, as if we were freeloaders trying to scam them. This was despite the fact that the room had already been paid for with points, and they had all my information, including my ID, on file from earlier. The lack of compassion, understanding, and basic customer service skills displayed by the staff was appalling.

Eventually, the system miraculously decided to work, and they were able to process the payment. But the damage was already done. The entire experience was demeaning, stressful, and left me questioning why I had ever chosen to stay at Staybridge Suites in the first place. This is by far the worst hotel experience I have ever had, and I am deeply disappointed that this is the level of service provided by an IHG property. You can see in the photos that I got the manager name because i was so disappointed in my experience. The next day, I informed my company about the unacceptable service I received. I was scheduled to stay for another two weeks, and my company had plans to book additional rooms for other staff members coming into town. However, after my experience, I advised them to cancel all future bookings at this hotel. We ended up finding accommodation elsewhere where we were treated with the respect and professionalism we deserved.( p.s. I won't go into detail about the disruptive behavior of other guests, as that warrants a separate review entirely.)

Call to Action:

I strongly urge the management at Staybridge Suites in Sterling Heights to take a serious look at their staff training and system reliability. The behavior and attitude of the staff were unacceptable and have no place in a hospitality environment. If this is the treatment given to an IHG Club member, I can only imagine how other guests are treated. Immediate action is required to prevent other customers from enduring the same miserable experience I did.

IHG, if you care at all about your loyal members, please address these glaring issues at this property before more guests are subjected to such...

First off, I never write reviews. I am an avid Traveler with over one million plus points with IHG, M, and H. I can honestly say that throughout my years of travel and hotel stays this hotel has the absolute WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED. SOME STAFF MEMBERS HERE WALK AROUND WITH ATTITUDES AND ARE VERY RUDE TO CUSTOMERS. At this location I've previously had rude encounters with staff on more than one occasion. However, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt as You never know what someone is going through in their life, so I just passed it off as maybe their having a bad day. But after the most recent bad experience here I realized that these issues are stemming from the top; with the leadership and management of this location. As a business owner and executive; the most important thing in your business are the employees that you hire to represent it. In a customer service environment employees' must exemplify a superior level of professionalism in order to create a meaningful value to its customers'. If you’re not constantly creating value for your customers you're decreasing it. To get to the point specific to this incident absolutely under no circumstances should an employee DISRESPECT, ARGUE, RAISE THEIR VOICE OR SPEAK IN A CONDESENDING MANNER TO A CUSTOMER. A front desk clerk by the name "Victoria" displayed the most unprofessional behavior I've ever seen by far of any hotel associate. For the simple fact that Victoria even has a job in hospitality shows that there's a bigger problem further up the ladder. I decided to write a review for the first time so that maybe others who decide to stay here may be mindful of the environment. I would advise the property owner or Franchisee of this location to invest in a re-evaluation of its staff members, have a closer look into the hiring and training processes, provide hospitality training where needed for current employees, and re-establish IHG core values & principles to resolve and eliminate any confusion an employee may have about their role in...

This is a newer property, which makes it very attractive. Breakfast is somewhat limited, but politely provided to you as requested, due to Covid. A few types of cereal, bread, bagels, milk, coffee, juices, and a couple different Jimmy Deans breakfast sandwiches; I think it was either sausage, egg and cheese muffin or bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. The staff is very diligent in tems of safety and wearing a mask (they'll provide one if needed!) and it was a joy to interact with them every day. =) Amanda, Ghada, Avery, Jenny, Will, Ashram, Austin, everyone at the property was amazing and they'd do anything to make your stay the absolute best as possible!! We decided to switch rooms 1/2 way through (not the property's fault) and let me tell you, if you can get the 1 bedroom suite, definitely do it. Loved having a separate bedroom from the living room, especially for a lengthy stay. Laundry facilities are free, you just need your own supplies. If you don't have your own, they're available for purchase. The outdoor spaces are amazing!! I didn't get a chance to use the BBQ grill but saw quite a few that took advantage.... awesome! I loved sitting outside on the patio loungers, very comfy, also wonderful when the bonfire was going! The one and only negative, even though housekeeping was amazing, I think they could be a bit more conscious of how noisy they can be, ex: bumping into walls with vacuum, opening and closing the door on the metal doorstop, etc. Honestly though, besides that, this hotel is definitely a must, Lukas & his team make sure you have an incredible stay, whether you're here for a few days or...