Sonesta ES Suites Tempe — Hotel in Tempe

Just fyi, this is a long review, but trust me when I tell you that you'll want to take everything I mention into consideration before booking here! We stayed here for about two weeks, the first week we paid day by day and paid for the second week up front.. When we moved into the room, The kitchen was lacking several utensils, cups, bowls, etc.. And one of the little sample dishwashing detergent packs was already open and spilled out in the cabinet, but didn't matter cause the dishwasher was horrible! I had to hand wash nearly every dish I put in there! The kitchen floor was disgusting w/ hard, dried up food in the corners and some kind of black dirt/grime caked into the linoleum so bad that when i wiped something up off the floor that I had spilled, the sponge was black! And just fyi, I didn't scrub the floor, I simply made 2 swipes across the floor to wipe up a drip of ketchup. That's nasty, guys! So I ended up getting down on my hands and knees and cleaned all 3 floors in the room.. the kitchen, entry way and bathroom. And speaking of bathroom, the tub was so ridiculously slow to drain so I mentioned it to a maintenance guy in passing the next day. He said someone would be by the take a look at it but no one came. So a couple days later, my husband turned on the shower, and while he waited for it to get hot, he made a quick work call. All of a sudden we get a knock at the door and it's maintenance asking if we're running water cause it's leaking out of the light sockets/ light switches downstairs! So he let him in to take a look but it wasn't even overflowed, at all. The water was about an inch or two from the top of the tub, so idk how it ended up downstairs..? So he said he was gonna go deal with them downstairs and he'll be back up to help get the water draining. An hour and a half goes by, so i took it upon myself to go next door to Home Depot and spend $40 of my own money to purchase a plunger, a snake and some drain-o for afterwards. We plunged the tub for nearly 45 min but the water didn't go down at all. So finally a little while later, the same maintenance guy brings back a guy that specializes in this sort of thing I guess, and they head into the bathroom. He turns on the snake thing and after about 20 min, the water drains! He apologizes for the tub being so clogged and I assured him it's fine, he wasn't the one who clogged it. Lol. Still trying to stay in a decent mood about it. So fast fwd a few days to yesterday, our day to pay, and I get a call telling me that they may not be able to extend us but to come to the office to discuss. Confused, I head down there only for them to tell me that because of the damages to the room under me, they can't extend me. Like wtf?! Because they hadn't kept up on the maintenance of their drains, I'm getting kicked out?! And on top of that, my husband had to leave work to come help me pack everything up because since I have a service dog for my condition, I can't get overly exerted.. so it takes a little longer to do some things, such as packing up everything and moving stuff downstairs. At 11:18 the manager knocks on the door and w/ a nasty attitude says, "oh you're still here? Checkout was at 11" i apologize and tell her I'm hurrying as fast as i can, but she turns around to walk away halfway thru my sentence..So about 15 min later, i go down to the office to ask if they can give me a little leeway, and promise them I'm going as fast as i can. The girl at the front desk says she can give me until 12:30. I said thank you and went back to my room. Around 12:05, the manager knocks again, this time saying, "oh do you need some help? I can get you some help. I'll call the police to come help you" and walks off. Not wanting to listen to anything I've got to say, as she's throwing her hand in the air and yelling back at us, "no, that's fine, I'll just call the cops". Oh, and keep in mind I'm a platinum member! But don't count on getting any sort of "special treatment or benefits" for being a high level member.. cause they treat all of their guests the...

LATEST UPDATE I received an email out of the blue from what I'm assuming is their HR dept, claiming that after they called the hotel and spoke with a clerk themselves, they confirmed that I in fact do not even qualify to get my deposit back because I "violated their no smoking policy"... which is laughable because I've never smoked anything a day in my life!! And I already called and confirmed with the hotel clerk MULTIPLE TIMES that I was DEFINITELY getting my deposit back and was told my refund was processing and would take several days, which I already documented and included in every complaint and email I have sent out from day 1! Now they are withholding my refund under false pretenses! Sonesta is a SCAM full of THIEVES and I am reporting your shady, lying asses!

UPDATE As of today @ 2pm on Wednesday 10/30, it has now been 18 business days and 25 days total since my stay at Sonesta ES and I STILL have not received my deposit back. My next step will be contacting the regional manager and then I'll be filing a complaint with the BBB. I will continue to update this review every few days.

10/18/2024 - I've stayed here several times and for the most part always had a great experience.. I only have a couple complaints but I think they're worth noting for the sake of future tenants.

First of all I want to start off by saying that despite other reviews claiming the rooms are of poor quality, every room I've had has been clean, tidy, spacious, and appeared to be very well maintained. During one of my stays here I was in a room with 2 private bedrooms/bathrooms, a full kitchen, large living room area, and a pull out couch with a full size mattress, and that room felt luxurious even! It was like a small apartment, I loved it. There is plenty of parking and it was always quiet and peaceful.

Complaint #1 - they require a $100 deposit for every night you stay. The only way to pay that $100 deposit once during your stay is if you only stay one night, if you book the room for multiple nights ahead of time, or if you book your stay directly through their website which offers higher prices than 3rd party websites. If you book for one night and you do it through a 3rd party website (which most people do to save money) and then decide the next morning before check-out that you're going to stay another night, you pay the $100 deposit again. I have stayed in many hotels and have never had to pay daily deposits.. This is beyond ridiculous in my opinion, especially if the extra nights you decide to stay are in the same room. Why should we have to pay multiple $100 deposits for multiple nights in one room? There is no logical reasoning for that, just greed. Again, no other hotels I've stayed at or even heard of do this. Everywhere else charges a single deposit regardless of how many nights a customer stays.

Complaint #2, and this is my biggest issue.. every single time I've stayed here it has taken Sonesta an abnormally long time to refund me my deposit. I recently stayed here on October 5th & 6th and once again was told I'd be refunded my deposit within 3-5 days. It has now been almost 2 weeks, today being the 7th business day, and still no refund. I've called the hotel twice and have been repeatedly told I should be getting it any day and still no refund. It isn't my bank that's the problem either, I have used the same debit card for stays at many other hotels and I have NEVER had to wait so long to get my deposit back from any other hotel, ever. Last time I stayed at Sonesta with a few friends, it took 23 days to get our deposit back so this is clearly a recurring issue and it is completely unacceptable! There certainly is no delay in your system when it comes to TAKING payments from people but getting our money RETURNED to us is like pulling teeth, it's obvious Sonesta has no sense of urgency to process customer refunds. You people really need to get your 💩 together, this is exactly how you lose customers and credibility as an honest & reputable business. There is no way in hell I would stay at any Sonesta...

Pros:

Other than my triple billing deposit issue, the staff were helpful with more towels or toilet paper and check in was relatively quick and easy.

The two-room suite with two bathrooms and a kitchen was nice and a much better value than some regular two-queen hotel rooms one would normally get for a party of three or four.

Had a small amount of vendor type food (mini pizzas, sodas, waters, candy, and other snacks) in coolers or shelves like a mini convenience store you can purchase.

Relatively quiet and peaceful, other than nearby main arterial road noise, which wasn't too bad.

Breakfast was okay, had a dining area to sit at and had better food than some continental breakfast some places have

While the suite was a bit outdated, the full kitchen, while small, was nice, especially with the counter and barstools and the beds were large and comfortable in both bedrooms. Bathrooms were small, but adequate with full showers and vanities.

Lots of parking available, typically in front of building you were staying at, though they charge $5 a day, which I found odd due to the large amount of parking availability.

Regular patrol by security of the grounds was nice and definitely made the area feel safer.

I didn't need to use the amenities, but from my understanding it had a fitness center, laundry, and internet/desk station to print things out at.

Cons: The one central area thermostat in the suite was fixed on 72, and no way to change it--which was annoying because it was either too hot or too cold. There was no option for in-between.

While it wasn't needed for this particular stay, I did check the sofa-bed 'bed' in the living room, and it was in really bad shape, nor were there any blankets, pillows or sheets for it--just an old thin mattress that had old spills and food particles all over it. It might be okay for small kids, but wouldn't have worked for teenagers or adults at all.

Loud road noise, sirens, police patrolling a lot, since it is off two major intersections. Coming from a big city it didn't bother me too much since I'm used to it, but for others it might be too loud.

While the French doors in one of the suite's rooms looked nice, they were impractical with the frosted glass, and let all kinds of light from main living area and kitchen into the room at night. Pack a set of eye masks.

Unable to use wood fireplace due to local ordinance. Instead of replacing/converting them with a decorative gas one or a radiant heat one, they just left them empty.

One of the bathrooms toilet paper roll holders was completely broken off from the wall, and just lying on the ground.

Triple charged me for my deposit. Twice on one debit card I pre-paid the room for originally when booked months before, and then of course on the actual credit card I provided them for the deposit. Took $300 instead of the $100 basically, and then stated they couldn't do anything until after the stay, so it took 3 days after my stay to get all that money back. I literally had to ask them to delete my debit card from their systems so they would stop charging it over and over.

In summary: If you are looking for a solid suite that is better than a lot of regular hotel rooms and more like a condo for a stay of 2-4 in your party, this may fit the bill. The biggest downside is you will want to watch your payment accounts to be sure you aren't double, or triple billed for your deposit.

For this, I gave this stay and experience a solid three stars, but the lack of concern or resolution by staff regarding the triple billing of the deposit during my stay is what kept me from giving a solid four stars or higher, and is the one big reason I would be a little hesitant to stay again, as was the broken bathroom toilet paper holder, though that was minor but I expect better service resolutions with billing issues and non-broken items in my suite from the $300+ I spent each night for the...