Since my first Fairfield Inn stay in 2014, I’ve been hooked with Marriott. Now, I am on a person quest to stay at every Marriott Bonvoy brand at least once. Welcome to my #EveryMarriottBrandChallenge, #1.
Table of Contents
| Date | Room type | Status | Rating |
| June 30, 2023 (2 nights) | Studio with Two Queen Beds and a Sofa Bed | Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite | 3/5 |
Ratings:
OVERALL: 3/5
Location: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Rooms: 3/5
Amenities/facilities: N/A
Dining: 4/5
Design: 3/5
Value: 4/5
In one sentence
The TownePlace Suites Windsor has modern and well-sized studio suites with free breakfast in downtown Windsor, but the service was not particularly warm, and amenities can be lacking or a bit run-down.
Premise
As an architecture and transportation fan, I had long been wanting to visit Detroit, and finally did so during the Canada Day long weekend. However, hotels in downtown Detroit are quite expensive. To balance my budget, for a 3-night trip from Toronto, I decided to stay in Windsor for the first two nights.
I chose the TownePlace Suites by Marriott because of its proximity to the waterfront and to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, the free breakfast, and separate beds for our group of three. The hotel is also right across from the Windsor-Detroit tunnel bus station, for those who wish to take it. Staying at the hotel also helped me fulfill Marriott Bonvoy’s “Stay Twice, Earn a Free Night” promo that was going on during summer 2023. Additionally, I could receive 5 extra points for dollar (US) spent using my Canadian Marriott Bonvoy AMEX card, which is pretty sweet and helps build towards free hotel stays.
(This card pays for itself with an annual free night award, one of the only Canadian credit cards remaining to have this bonus! You can learn more about the card and its hefty first year bonus here and apply for it so you could stay at Marriott Bonvoy properties for free!)
The hotel was opened/last renovated in 2017, after a reflag from a Quality Suites.
Arrival & first Impression
After I got off work on June 30, I picked up my rental car at Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) in downtown Toronto and drove directly to Windsor (I used my AMEX Gold card for Hertz rentals, which offers complimentary Hertz Gold Plus status, allowing me to have a complimentary upgrade to a SUV). It was 4:30 PM when we picked up the rental car and 9 PM when we arrived at the hotel, including waiting for the ferry from YTZ to the mainland and a rest stop at an onRoute enroute. Fortunately, it was not long after the summer solstice so there was still daylight around when we arrived in Windsor.
The hotel is a 9-story, rather drab brick building. Note that the hotel doesn’t have free parking; there is paid parking on the street and in the lot right across from the hotel that, at $5 a night, is much cheaper than the hotel’s own parking. Windsor also has free street parking after hours and during weekends and holidays, as of writing.
Upon entering the building, I found that the lobby has a high ceiling and modern, bright furnishings, which I liked and gave me a much better vibe than the building’s exterior. I also liked the lounge chairs and a colourful wall decoration with the word “Windsor” written in a playful typeface across it, which adds a bit of flair to an otherwise generic brand hotel.
However, I was disappointed by the service at check-in. There was no welcoming or acknowledgement as I entered the hotel and waited in line. The front desk agent conducting the check-in did not seem particularly warm or quick. Additionally, while checking in, there was no acknowledgement of my Marriott Bonvoy status and very little proactive explanation of the hotel’s services and amenities, such as pool and breakfast.
Another issues I had was that in the evening I found out that I had forgotten to bring my toothbrush, but the front desk told me that the hotel had ran out of toothbrushes and we needed to wait for housekeeping to replenish them. However, the next day was Canada Day, when there was no housekeeping service at the hotel, which meant that the hotel would not have toothbrushes during my stay. I found that to be subpar for a hotel that caters to extended stay guests.
Room
Our room was on the 5th floor. After exiting the elevators, I immediately sensed that the corridors had seen better days.
First, we accidentally got off on the wrong floor (the front desk agent’s handwritten “5” looked like an “8” to me and he did not verbally mention the room number during check-in) and we were greeted with a hole of some sort on the ceiling of the corridor, which was under repair (not pictured) along with unfinished paint. It was not a very good impression.
On the bright side, the room still looked modern even though a few years had passed since the last renovation. Right at the entrance is a full kitchen with a large fridge and well-equipped with pots, pans and utensils and lots of storage space. On the other side of the kitchen counter, there is a small closet and a dining table for two, which also functioned as the room’s work desk, as there is no dedicated desk and work chair, which did not bother us during the trip but might be an issue for work travellers. The room had two windows and is just high enough for a sideways glimpse of the river. Because of the hotel’s position, very few, if any, rooms would have a full-on view of the river. Our room was on the west side of the hotel; however, you might be able to see more buildings across the river from an east-facing room.
The room has a sofa bed, where I slept for the first night, an extra red armchair, whose colour adds vibe to the room and also functioned for us as a place to put our bags, a flat-screen TV between the sofa bed and the beds, and two queen beds that are situated furthest from the door, such that it would be quieter and more difficult to hear any corridor noise. In fact, I found that the room’s soundproofing was among the better ones out of the hotels I’ve stayed at.
The bathroom appeared modern and cheerful at first, but the devil is in the details. For some reason the shower, when in use, often made weird, loud noises that were funny but also mildly annoying, and the shower head and the lower faucet in the bathtub just had to run at the same time. I tried repeatedly to turn the lower faucet off while showering but it never worked consistently. I would have reported the issues to the front desk, but we had filled days and were tired in the evenings, so we didn’t end up notifying the hotel. However, it is a maintenance issue that the hotel should look into and have it fixed.
Food
I had breakfast at the hotel both mornings. The breakfast, in terms of selection, was actually pretty decent for a TownePlace-level hotel (and I would say better than some of the Fairfield Inns I’ve stayed at). I was quite happy with the breakfast food, especially given that it is complimentary.
However, the breakfast room was rather small for a hotel of this size, and it can get crowded. We had some difficulty finding seats for the three of us the second morning (the morning of Canada Day), when we got there at around 9:15 AM. Additionally, the hotel didn’t seem to have enough staff members to replenish the food and clean up the dining area in time. There was just one staff member who was working extremely hard on everything in the dining area.
Verdict
The TownePlace Suites by Windsor has a great location with lots of space in the modern studios (and even more space in the suites) and is more affordable compared with hotels across the river, making it a great option for families or a few friends travelling together. However, the downside is service and maintenance quality, so more attention paid to those areas could make this hotel a standout option for travellers to both Windsor and Detroit.
