InTown Suites - Gilbert, AZ
I like to warn people when I'm traveling. This extended stay establishment is the very most humiliating and horrible location I've ever stayed - and in my early years I stayed at Motel 6 a lot!
Expect them to tell you that the rate they offer per week is a special entry amount and only good for one week. If you want to continue that much lower fee, you need to check out, go somewhere for 24 hours and come back and check in again.
At any time once a week, the (prior) manager will pound on your door, demand entry and stick her head in or simply storm into the room for a "safety inspection." She helps herself to your space you paid for.
While unpacking on the first day, I went to take a shower and the shower had shampoo dripping down the tub, dirty soap holder, and a pubic hair. Later, during the weeks there, the maid was sent in to clean the bathroom. She cleaned the toilet and changed the trash basket, but didn't clean the shower. When I directed her to clean the shower, it looked the same.
Once a month they do pest control. Repeating exactly all that is on the sheet of how to prepare, the room passed easily without the $50 noncompliance charge. The second time, a repeat of what I did the last time and was told by manager it did not comply. There was literally zero difference. I had to argue to get that passed. The first time, I took videos and photos because I didn't trust the overly reactive manager to complain. The place has the vibe of staying in a prison cell and at the whims of guards. It doesn't take much to be kind or warm, but not for this manager!!!
Another time, they passed my mail package to some other guest who opened it, assuming it was their's. It was folded closed and brought back to the office, thankfully nothing missing.
I was told the pool was heated. The gates are locked and it is not heated. But,, it was an amenity worth nothing. As well, the pool had the only chairs for sitting outside. If you want to sit outside, you have to sit in your car in the parking lot.
I turned thet heater on in the room and it filled with smoke that made the alarms go off. I told the management about it and she said, "just run it, it smokes at first." I'm like - how do we stop the alarms?
The place smells of pot around certain rooms where people linger. It seems as if their "no pot" warnings meant nothing and with a very nosy intrusive manager, I'm shocked she doesn't smell it just walking by or sticking her nosy head inside the rooms.
They do not wash sheets or towels. It's up to us. I have the housekeeping clean the bathroom and she has never touched the tub, just the toilet and trash can.
The refrigerator died - the interior got completely warm, ruining all the food. The freezer was frozen beyond belief. They exchanged the fridge, but did not apologize or offer to replace the cost of the groceries. Then, two weeks later, the replacement fridge did the same thing! The guy came to replace it and said, yeah, they are cheap and won't budget for more than a couple new fridges, so they thaw them out and put them back into the units.
The manager "K" was (key word "was") not pleasant at all, very aggressive and robotic. Yes, she should do her job, but she doesn't have to treat everyone as if they are prisoners with no rights.
I had considered this as a possible location for film shoots to house cast or crew, but there is no way I would ever recommend it and, in fact, would like to reach the huge audience (20K readers a day) on my blog to warn against InTown Suites.
This has been the most humiliating and horrible stay ever. I work remotely and the stress levels have sent my BP rising and my sleep restless and almost nonexistent.
At about 2200 a month to stay here for extended stay, it is absolutely a nightmare. They do not consider seasonal rates for this snowbird-happy city, but keep upping the rate a bit each month. Don't let the low ball pricing for reserving a room fool you. They do it for one week and after that, normal rates.
I don't know if I could honestly give it one star.
The pro's of this location is that we contacted headquarters and the horrible manager was fired. In fact, people working for the hotel rushed up to me to thank me profusely as she had been terrorizing the workers for some time. The new manager is a very pleasant and efficient lady and that helped ease some of the tensions, though she could do nothing for making the conditions better, she at least talked to me like a human being.
I have since moved on to Georgia and that is a faded memory, but as a writer it certainly helped me to understand the culture of desperate folks with bad credit ratings trying to find an all-inclusive room, though how they afforded it, I do not know. Here in Georgia, a really nice 2-bedroom apartment is at thousand dollars less a month.
If I had my qualms, I would go to a Motel 6 extended stay or other. I did Extended Stay America and, althoughit was nice, the price for what you get was painful and their "healthy" breakfast was coffee, muffins, granola bars, maybe a few tiny tangerines, and oatmeal packets.