Sonesta ES Suites Burlington, VT — Hotel in Williston

We stayed for two nights to see the solar eclipse with our two dogs.

First, what I liked: The people were very nice.

They were very conscious of the planet. I liked the wall-mounted dispenser for body wash, shampoo, and conditioner instead of those little plastic bottles most hotels have that will end up in landfills. The plates and bowls for breakfast were paper based, not plastic or styrofoam. Loved that.

I found the breakfast nice. The food was good. They even had a little self-serve pancake machine.

I like that we were welcome to bring our dogs. The rooms all had external doors more like a motel than a hotel, which worked well for getting our dogs in and out. Also we didn't hear any neighbors through the walls which makes me think they didn't hear one of our dogs who likes to bark (we quieted him as quickly as we could).

The bed was incredibly comfortable.

Next, what I didn't like:

The place was a bit of a dive. Holes in the curtains, threadbare carpet, a stain in the bathtub. Scuff marks on the doors. Peeling paint and crumbling cement outside. The carpet seemed like indoor/outdoor carpet; thin and ugly.

Trash on the property. Not too much but enough that you had to be careful when walking your dog that he didn't grab anything. I pulled pistachio nut shells out of his mouth more than once (which my husband said he thought he saw a maid eating them the day before).

Check-in was at 3 p.m. but when we arrived at 6:30 p.m. our room wasn't ready.

So many things just didn't work:

The bathroom sink was clogged; took 5 minutes to empty after brushing my teeth.

The outlet plug built into the lamp didn't work so I had to move furniture to find a floor outlet for my laptop.

The conditioner dispenser was just about empty.

Even though I liked the breakfast, I was disappointed that there was nothing non-caffeinated to drink except water; no juice of any kind, no decaf coffee, and only variations of black tea and green tea; no herbal tea.

The kitchen was full: microwave, full refrigerator, stove. But the supplies were inadequate. They only had two cups, plates, etc. Which is fine but it means we had to run the dishwasher with only 3 or 4 items in it.

There was one spoon.

They supplied a colander but no pot. They supplied dish soap but no sponge.

The bed only had sheets on it; no bed spread of any kind.

If I were staying at some kind of econo lodge, I wouldn't mind as much; you get what you pay for. But this room cost us $336/night. Hence 2 stars.

But the up side to all this is that the room was such a dive, I didn't feel bad...

Hotel Review My family and I were recently in town for a baby shower and to visit family. Due to several other conventions and sports tournaments happening in the area, we had limited options. This was near the highway, near where we needed to be, affordable, and available.

Let’s start with the positives: the location is good (right off the highway, as we needed), the pool was clean, and the linens on the beds were clean.

I’m sorry, but that’s about it. In all fairness, I believe this hotel just changed hands… so take that for what it’s worth.

First of all, calling this a hotel is a stretch. This is one part apartment complex, one part motel.

The units seem to have been updated 15-20 years ago, based on the materials and cosmetic touches. Carpets are stained and pulled. Heating/cooling units are loud. Drapes appear to be from the 70’s.

The breakfast was gone very quickly, and they did not refill it. Prepare for other options.

The unit we checked into smelled terribly of smoke. We asked to move to a different room, which reeked of curry. I asked if they could change the filter on the HVAC, and was told maintenance was “back on Monday”. It was Friday.

There were two TV’s in the unit… one worked with standard definition and limited channels, one didn’t work at all.

Most of the exterior lights don’t work in the complex, leading to significant security issues. Again, no maintenance. Prepare with your phone flashlight.

In the kitchen, the dishwasher was not connected to the counter, so it rocked back and forth if opened. There was a garbage disposal, but it was clogged. The refrigerator door would not close. We had to prop it closed.

This unit was billed as a “900 SF fireplace suite”. To me, a suite has more than one room. No such luck. Plus, the fireplace was inoperable (not that we would have used it, but still…)

The bathtub has fresh caulking, which clearly just covered up the black mold, which still showed through. The toilet handle was barely hanging on. Again, no maintenance crew.

What I am hoping to give potential travelers is some perspective. If you’re looking for a modern, clean hotel with an attentive maintenance staff, this is not the place... at least not right now. Perhaps after the new ownership has some time with it? If your looking for affordability and easy on/off highway access, while ok with sacrificing the above, this could...

Check in was fine. Room was awesome when the heat worked. Heat stopped working sometime in the night hours of Christmas eve. Christmas day we went down to reception where we were told this cannot be fixed today and we would have to change rooms and gave us keys to another room that did not have a fireplace, leaving the wood i already purchased useless. We were told we would receive a discount at least. We return around 3pm Christmas to make the switch from rm 421 to rm 723 and our key for our first original room doesn't open the door leaving our belongings barred from us. We go to reception to get those keys working, start packing the room and when we get to the new room the keys she gave us in the morning didn't work for the door. We go back to reception...again to see a sign that no one is there and someone will be back shortly. Great. About 10-15min later someone finally arrives and were handed new keys. We finish moving everything, and my girlfriend just wanted a bath and some rest after the day. The tub faucet however does not work at all, so she could only take a shower that night. Some pluses however were the cleanliness of the rooms and the full kitchen you don't get an oven or plates/utensils these days so that was pleasant to see. Breakfast was shoddy no hot food but I assume that was due to COVID, I don't see why its advertised so much on the site when it really was a downfall for the stay. Upon checking out 12/26 at 10am no one was at reception during primetime. Luckily after only 5 or so minutes someone showed. I had to completely re-explain our situation to the receptionist. No notes were given to the person helping us out for checkout leaving her blind and unable to apply the discount or to even confirm it. The next day however Karen the supervisor was in and applied the discount only after I made an attempt to get it, not proactively. She did assure me i was going to receive money back and provided me with a "folio" showing the credit which was nice. Next day after that I received credit. Overall a lot of the problems I had came down to maintenance not being followed up on well. When the rooms being cleaned, everything should be checked for operation, heat, faucets, lights, etc. If it wasn't for the few but major problems I had I'm sure I would've had a...