Residence Inn State College

A very disappointing experience. The room, while clean and spacious, smelled like feet. This was almost certainly due to an issue with air condition condensate as that was the origin of the smell. Obviously, you could be in the cleanest room in the world, but if it stinks, you’re not going to be happy. I explained this issue to Gabby at the front desk. Rather than an apology, your response was “Are you sure it wasn’t your feet?” This unto itself disqualifies this hotel from the hospitality business. The smell is something that can happen with any air conditioned space and I wouldn’t downgrade them in the way I did except for the response of the person at the front desk, which was beyond disappointing. I would be remiss to not mention the outstanding breakfast with an outstanding hostess, who came close to making up for Gabby. The food was great, which is unusual for a free breakfast in a hotel and served in a truly immaculate setting. That woman deserves a raise. Overall, quite disappointing. Those of you follow my reviews, know that I love to give great reviews and love to shout people out, but this…

My mother, who had a room booked for WEEKS, just had the most unpleasant experience with an employee named Isaac. Upon her arrival to the hotel, she was greeted (if we can even call it that) by the aforementioned employee and was given a key to go to her room. Naturally, she took the elevator and tried to key into her room; however, her key card did not work and she was denied entry. Following this, she returned to the front desk to notify Isaac of her issue. A simple mistake is, of course, okay. He told her that he would reprogram her key and that she should try again. So, she makes the journey back to her room and is, again, denied entry. She treks her way back to the front desk and, frustratedly, tells Isaac that her key card does not work. He then decides that it is smart to send her to another room on the third floor that he claimed she would be able to get into. Again, this does not work. At this point, my mother calls Isaac at the front desk and requests assistance. He tells her to walk back to the front desk to reprogram her key (a tiring coincidence, at this point). So, she makes the journey back and he again sends her to a different room. This happens one more time following this. In the midst of all of this, despite having a woman alone at night requesting a room, Isaac decided it would be best to tearfully express his disdain with management, a lack of staffing, and pleaded to my mother that he would be quitting very soon. Amidst all of his unnecessary emotional dumping, my father and I are on the phone listening, and my mother STILL does not have a room at 9:00 p.m. At this point, I decided it would be best to call the Residence Inn myself and plead to Isaac, the one who answered the phone after several minutes of ringing by the way, that my mother desperately needed a room after 8 hours of travel during the day. He decided it would be best to tell me that he was, "only one man and that he was handling it," despite NOT handling it.... and then he slammed the phone and hung up in the middle of my sentence. Following this disrespect to us, and the continued behavior towards herself, she requested a refund and walked across the street to the Courtyard (where I spoke to a man named John who could not understand the actions of the Residence Inn). I think this behavior is abhorrent and blatantly disrespectful. I cannot believe that the Residence Inn stands for such behavior and customer dissatisfaction. Isaac's mistakes are understandable, but his "handling" of such mistakes several times is completely unacceptable. Frankly, the fact that he sent a woman alone at night to several rooms without ever accompanying her or giving her any sense of safety after the fact is not what your company stands for. For as many words as I've wrote, I still cannot fathom this happening anywhere else by anyone else. That was completely unacceptable and your hotel will not have our business again.

This is a very comfortable place to stay. The room was roomy and premises are clean. The staff is friendly and helpful. Will stay here again.

Our family has stayed in several Marriott hotels, as lifetime titanium elite members we have had a lot of different experiences and the Residence Inn State College def falls near the bottom of the list. I am giving a negative review but first I would like to say the staff is phenomenal. They were polite, accommodating and very friendly. Kudos to the staff! Management however gets a thumbs down. First - this hotel is very expensive considering what you get, at approx $240/night. Let’s start with they do not participate in the “water program”. They do not offer free bottles of water to guests. I have never stayed at a Marriott where this was denied. Second the thermostat. There is a motion sensor or some detectable measure to see if you are present in your room for the A/C to kick in. We had been outside all day looking forward to coming back to a nice cool room to sleep, only to find the air did not kick on until it detected our presence. Third, the only fresh fruit offered at breakfast was bananas, compared to most residence inns at least have berries, melon, oranges etc. Fourth, the room we requested was available online but when we checked in to the hotel they told us it wasn’t available! We made it clear the room was available on the website, and management insisted it was not available. Upon calling the Marriott main line- they too noted it to be available. Fifth- there are no ice machines. You had to ask the front desk for ice and they would go get it, rather than having it easily accessible on your floor to fill up water bottles, coolers etc. The rooms were okay but not nearly as spacious as other Resident Inns we have stayed at. To sum it up, this hotel looked for every way to save a buck and it was definitely noticed. I think I would have had more understanding if they did not charge so much per night. Do yourself a favor if staying in the state college area and find another hotel or go to the Bellefonte bed and breakfast for a 2 bedroom cottage for $170 where breakfast is included as well.

I recently stayed at the Marriott Residence in State College and overall, it was a great experience. The location is excellent, and the spacious rooms with kitchens are a big plus, especially when traveling with others. However, if you’re sensitive to noise, you might want to request a room away from guests with dogs. I had an issue with a dog barking late at night, and although the staff was kind, they were unable to resolve the problem immediately. It’s fantastic that the hotel is pet-friendly, but keep in mind that it might lead to some noise. Despite this, I’d still recommend the hotel for its comfort and amenities.