Residence Inn by Marriott Tempe Downtown/University — Hotel in Tempe

We have stayed here several times over the last few years with no problems. This time, however, it was one problem after another.
First, we arrived late to our room after a long drive, only to find 3 towels for the 4 people in our family. When I called the desk and asked for additional towels, I was told I would need to come down to get them myself at the front desk. So, I got dressed again and went down 7 floors after midnight to retrieve my own towels. I requested that additional towels be provided each night of our 3 night stay, but I was told that he didn't know if the housekeeping person on my floor ever checked her email, so he couldn't guarantee anything. But I could always come get my own towels. Unacceptable.The next morning, we left our room at 10 am and returned at about 4:30 p.m. to a room that had not been serviced. This is AFTER we had stopped at the desk on our way out in the morning, again requesting additional towels for the room when serviced. For some reason, a card had been slipped under our door BEFORE 10 a.m., saying that our room would not be serviced unless we made a special request. We had a do not disturb card hanging on our door until 10 am when we left, but that is not an unusually late time for a family on vacation, and certainly not too late to expect service when we are paying for a hotel room. We stopped at the front desk, told them that we DEFINITELY wanted our room serviced, that we needed additional towels, and that there was no tag hanging on the door. When we returned from our day, instead of being able to rest, shower, and take much-needed naps, we had to wait an hour for someone to be sent up to service our room. Unacceptable. On our second day, we were unable to get in or out of the parking structure using our room keys as instructed. Both the parking attendant and the front desk personnel told me that there was nothing they could do, even though I was paying for parking! The front desk person just kept saying "They work! THEY WORK!" But they didn't work. The parking attendant continued to refuse us entry or exit without taking a public parking ticket and grilling us with extreme irritation and disbelief--as if we were criminals trying to cheat the system rather than valued hotel guests. We were finally given new room keys by the front desk, but the parking attendant refused to allow us to try them to see if they worked. It was now late at night, my family was tired, and we gave up. ...

We arrived with our PRINTED RESERVATION CONFIRMATION that Marriott had sent us through e-mail, and my husband showed his credit card with photo I.D., but Tim at the front desk wouldn't let us check in because he said that our daughter had checked in first which wiped out our reservation. He said that we would have to get her from a restaurant down the street to come and give permission for us to check in. I said, "Doesn't common sense prevail here?" and he said, "No. Too many people have been checking into other people's rooms." I don't believe that. His attitude was nasty, too. He didn't ask the manager to help him or apologize for the inconvenience. It was late, we were tired and hungry, and we just wanted our room. We called our daughter to see if she could come, and we spent time being upset, and then Tim realized that he had made a typo on our name and that our reservation was there. He didn't even apologize. The next day we spoke to the manager who apologized. He didn't offer to comp us anything. Our relatives had left us gift baskets at the front desk, but Tim didn't give them to us. The baskets would have been nice to have the first night because they had snacks in them. The next day when we found out we had gift baskets, we asked for them at the front desk. They had our names and room number on them, but they sat in the hotel office the first night. We stayed at a different hotel three years ago, and our relatives left us gift baskets there which we were given when we checked in.
Our room keys didn't work. There were three of us in one room, and none of our keys worked. They reactivated the keys at the front desk and said that we must have put them next to a cell phone or something, but we hadn't, and we each had our own keys in separate places. Breakfast was served until only 9AM and until 9:30 on weekends. I've stayed at other Residence Inns where it was served later. 10:30 would have been more like it. Our shuttle drivers, Dan for us and Jessica for my daughter, were very nice. We were doing well until we arrived at the front desk and tried to check in. Our group spent a lot of money at this hotel. We were in three rooms for the weekend, and we had a very large family breakfast at the hotel on the last morning there. We will spending the money at at a different hotel for our next family...

Stayed at Residence Inn Tempe Downtown from 8/26/23 - 8/28/23. Check-in was very easy. They do hold a $20 deposit for incidentals per day. $15 for parking per day in a covered garage that is attached to the hotel so easily able to access the hotel/parking garage. Customer service was 5 stars.

Location: Prime location in downtown Tempe right next to ASU and a short walk to Tempe Beach Park. Right next to a large bus terminal for public transportation. There are several restaurants and bars in the area, so food options are almost unlimited.

Room: Rooms are fairly large and include a kitchen area that has a full-size refrigerator, 2 eye stove tops, cooking utensils, pots & pans, dishwasher, etc. The bathroom is a decent size. However, it is not a walk-in shower it is the standard bathtub/shower combo that you need to step into, so something to keep in mind. Booked a room with a balcony, and the view from the balcony was amazing (see my videos in this review) however you can go to floor 11 which is where the pool/jacuzzi is located to get pictures of the city day/night.

Property: Property is well maintained and kept up with. Lobby area especially for breakfast is big and will seat a large amount of people. You have to use your room key in order to enter the hotel via any doors, which is not a bad thing to ensure the safety of all. Pool and jacuzzi were amazing. Pool was Luke warm water (not cold), and jacuzzi water was hot but not overpowering, but the jets for the jacuzzi were not the best and not high-powered. Pool closes at midnight, which will allow you to enjoy the pool/jacuzzi when the sun is down and it's not as hot. Towels are available in the pool area. The gym area is small but adequate, which includes free weights.

Breakfast: Free breakfast that includes scrambled eggs, sausage patties, make your own waffles, biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, yogurt, bread/muffins, cantaloupe, apples, hard boiled eggs, cereal, coffee, apple & orange juice.

Loved this hotel and would definitely recommend it and stay again when I am in the area. 5 stars. See my pictures and videos that are attached. I hope this review helps someone when...