Design Suites at Castle
I should've paid attention to the reviews. This building is a condo/hotel.
Pro's
1. Cheap
2. Collins Ave address
3. Free Parking
4. Free Wifi
5. Air conditioner in room works well.
Con's
1. No handicap accessible way to get in building. The wheelchair lift is broken. Be prepared to walk up two flights of stairs. I watched a handicap man and a mother with a stroller have to negotiate those stairs.
2. They will charge $250 for a reservation on the room. It's not listed on the website and Hotel's.com takes no responsibility for correcting this.
3. I have little to no cell phone reception in the room. Dropped calls galore!
4. Clearly an old neglected building. The lobby is nice despite the old carpet. The rest of the building is layers upon layers of chipped paint on the doors and scuff marks on the walls. Very old and dirty carpet. Odd smells, random dirty corners of hallways and elevators. Gross.
5. The room does look as pictured sort of. It feels very institutional. Very! The beds are cheap. Plastic chairs, cheap furniture, warped windows. Wish Hotels.com let you post pics the way Trip Advisor does. Thats the other thing. ALWAYS check Trip Advisors pics. Always. Hotels.com lets the hotel post pics and theres no way to see the reality of the place.
6. No ice machine in the building. There is a mini fridge...Design Suites at Castle
I should've paid attention to the reviews. This building is a condo/hotel.
Pro's
1. Cheap
2. Collins Ave address
3. Free Parking
4. Free Wifi
5. Air conditioner in room works well.
Con's
1. No handicap accessible way to get in building. The wheelchair lift is broken. Be prepared to walk up two flights of stairs. I watched a handicap man and a mother with a stroller have to negotiate those stairs.
2. They will charge $250 for a reservation on the room. It's not listed on the website and Hotel's.com takes no responsibility for correcting this.
3. I have little to no cell phone reception in the room. Dropped calls galore!
4. Clearly an old neglected building. The lobby is nice despite the old carpet. The rest of the building is layers upon layers of chipped paint on the doors and scuff marks on the walls. Very old and dirty carpet. Odd smells, random dirty corners of hallways and elevators. Gross.
5. The room does look as pictured sort of. It feels very institutional. Very! The beds are cheap. Plastic chairs, cheap furniture, warped windows. Wish Hotels.com let you post pics the way Trip Advisor does. Thats the other thing. ALWAYS check Trip Advisors pics. Always. Hotels.com lets the hotel post pics and theres no way to see the reality of the place.
6. No ice machine in the building. There is a mini fridge and a single tray to make your own.
7. No one will help you carry your luggage up the two flights of stairs. Be prepared.
8. Valet is free ONLY if you can check in under 20 minutes?!?!?!
9. Check in is a fiasco. If you booked on Hotels.com for Design Suites you need to enter and go to the left. Wait in that line and then go wait in the security line for a secondary check in. Then go wait in the valet line to give them your free ticket. If all of those lines go one minute over 20 you pay $6. If it goes over an hour you pay $12. Cash only. Good luck.
10. Valet is incredibly busy/slow. Give yourself a full hour just to get out of the hotel.
11. Elevator system is interesting. You push a button, if the wall unit is working, and tell it what floor you wish to go and it will tell you what elevator to stand at. Rather than having a sole use service elevator sometimes it sends you to the service elevator which is typically full and you have to wait for that one to close and leave before you can re-call another elevator. Seriously, give yourself an hour just to get out of the hotel.
12. The front desk staff doesn't speak or understand much english. This was a problem when explaining to them about service animals. Was also a problem when they tried to ask me questions and explain the check in process. Now sometimes this is subjective based on whose working that day. I stayed here 5 days and often passed the front desk feeling sorry for the folks standing in line trying to communicate to them. Remember you're on that 20min parking window at check in so this complicated everything.
13. No phone in the room so be prepared to trek down to the lobby if you need anything.
14. Extremely old fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom area. Odd smell in the bathtub and the toilet paper holder is falling off.More
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