This past weekend, I had my first stay ever at a Staybridge Suites property. Staybridge Suites is an extended stay hotel, and the hotel brand is under the umbrella of IHG.
Normally, I don’t stay at a place long enough to warrant an “extended” hotel. I generally think of “extended stay” as a week or longer. However, through word-of-mouth, I heard some great things about a good value hotel: Staybridge Suites Toronto-Markham. The general price range for this hotel is $140-180/night.
I booked 2 rooms for my party for a night’s stay.
Location
The hotel is in a decent location, only a mere 30 minutes from downtown Toronto. The hotel is located right on Highway 7, and you can drive to one of many restaurant choices nearby. The hotel offers free parking for guests.
If A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
The hotel offers complimentary breakfast. If you like to cook, there is a kitchenette in the hotel room too.
The kitchenette area!
Soft/Roll-out Bed
Cupboard with supplies
Sink area outside bathroom
There is a queen bed in the standard room, but the sofa that doubles as a pullout bed. The bedding and sheets and an extra pillow are readily available in the closet.
View of the room
Bathroom
Shallow pool. Swim at your own risk.
Picture Perfect, but Not Quite?
Here’s the thing — everything “looks” great, except for one major problem. The room has this old, musty moldy smell. This wasn’t quite as obvious until much later after I settled in and turned down the loud air conditioner.
Remember that I booked two rooms? The other room was slightly better in terms of the musty smell but it’s not without issues. There was apparently a bunch of ants crawling around in the bathroom area during the wee hours of the morning (they weren’t there during the day). I saw the photographic and video evidence. Fortunately, that was not a problem in my room…
Will I Stay at the Hotel Again?
Since the hotel tries hard to provide a good value, it pains me a little to not give it a good rating. I’d give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. One of the key measures I use for hotel stay is whether I can get a good rest. In this case, I can’t. I can’t — in good faith — recommend the hotel when I feel like there isn’t enough fresh air circulating in the room and I can’t bear to stay in the hotel room for a long period of time myself.
It was a bit telling when I was actually glad that I only booked the hotel for one night.
Do I think the hotel is a good value? Absolutely. Would I book another stay at this hotel again? No, not at this point.
That is not to say that the issues can’t be fixed. I suspect most of the musty smell came from their dated furniture, most notably, the sofa bed. If they could upgrade and make sure the room is fresh and clean for the next guests, I think it would make for a far more comfortable stay.
Have you stayed at a Staybridge Suites before? What has been your experience?
I’ve stayed at the Staybridge Suites in Atlanta/Perimeter and it is actually quite good, provided you get a room that doesn’t face the expressway (quite loud at night, then, without the A/C fan on). Otherwise, the property itself was relatively new, clean, nice workout facility, patio area with grill (bring your own steaks!), evening social with free wine/beer, decent breakfast, and rooms were comfortable (no smell, pests, etc.).
I wouldn’t rule out staying at a Staybridge Suites hotel again, “provided” (as you noted) certain conditions. In my case, no smell and pests. Those are fairly big factors in my book.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I am really glad to hear that you had a good stay at the Staybridge Suites in Atlanta/Perimeter.