Hotel was clean and updated. Checkin was a breeze.
Gave it a 3 as my room faced the thruway and I could hear the traffic. Other then Dunkin’ Donuts there isn’t a restaurant in walksble distance. Restaurant on-site wasn’t open for dinner. Breakfast was an additional fee.
This hotel is right across from SUNY Albany's menacing campus. It is budget-friendly, our room was nice. There's a pool and a fitness room which is great. The temperature in the room was excellent and we were able to control it well throughout the weekend. Love the small touch that you can turn on the shower before stepping in. Beds were comfortable. Plenty of parking. Right next to a Dunkin and a 7/11, which is convenient.
No extra amenities here. No extra pillows, blankets, etc. That's fine, but some of the amenities we were supposed to have were also missing. The bottles of toiletries were almost all empty. Worse, the room clearly hadn't been cleaned—not deep-cleaned even, I mean it hadn't been vacuumed. We found a pile of nail clippings between the beds and a Q-tip in the middle of the floor. Staff was fine, the little shop beside the desk was extremely bare.
One final note, the hotel wasn't crowded, and we were given a room on the 2nd floor looking right out at the parking lot. Given there were a good number of vacant rooms we would have loved something a little quieter/more private, as people could definitely see through our windows.
Quick visit to U at Albany, this Courtyard was one of the hotels closest to site. Personnel was curteous and professional, hotel was clean with signs of wear - Marriott website says recently updated but that was probably a long while ago ...
Room was clean incl. bathroom and could also do with an update given the stars and price compared to nearby hotels. Had windows facing the highway but well insulated so no exterior noise. Didn't use the pool or other facilities. Complimentary WiFi is fast. Breakfast a la carte and tasty (eggs, bacon, toast, pickled tomatoes yumm), made fast and served in the little area near the lobby.
The Courtyard Marriott Thruway has been a reliable and comfortable place to stay over the last few years, near SUNY Albany and the airport. Things have slipped recently though. It's still a no-frills decent bed for the night type of place, but a few issues in my most recent stay were problematic.
My room itself was comfortable enough, though the AC seemed to barely be able to keep the room comfortable, and I'm glad I wasn't there for the full summer heat.
I needed more towels on my third day (no room cleaning occurred during the stay) and I tried to message the front desk through the Bonvoy app, and never got a response. The front desk was often unattended for long periods of time, and there didn't seem to be a bell or any way to alert the staff. When I was able to speak with a person, they were minimally helpful and not friendly.
The cafe has reopened, and the staff are very friendly but didn't seem to know how to produce most of the items on the menu. They were also out of many staples, like milk for coffee.
In general this hotel is still a decent option for a bed for the night and not much else, but I will likely look elsewhere for my next trip.
I guess the dead plants in the pots by the front entrance should have been a sign.
We had to wait almost 5 minutes for Emmanual to come out 'from behind the wall' to check us in. He was pleasant enough though.
He informed us that the pool was closed due to a maintenance issue (it did not open at all during the time of our stay).
Our room was nice. There was a mini fridge that needed some dusting/cleaning around it and under it.
In the bath, I discovered there were only 2 towels and 2 washcloths for the 3 of us and there were no linens or blankets or pillows for the couch pull out. There was no answer at the front desk when I tried calling several times, so I had to walk down to get these items. When Emmanual did finally appear, again from 'behind the wall', he said there was no one to bring them up, so he told me to hold on. He went 'behind the wall' and after a bit re-emerged carrying a mound of towels, linens, blankets, and pillows and passed them off to me, as he had to check someone in. I should have made 2 trips, as I couldn't carry all of this large load without dropping things along the way.
The king bed was comfortable with clean, soft linens.
The shower was set up so you could turn the water on on one end and the shower head was on the opposite end, There were 3 bottles attached to the wall that were supposed to hold shampoo, conditioner, and body wash...they were empty. The hair dryer shut off button was broken, so it had to be unplugged to turn it off.
One evening, I went down and ordered a flatbread pizza. Justin made it. It was pretty greasy and was not how it was described on the menu.
During our stay, we also dealt with Imani at the front desk...she's wonderful!!!! Great personality:) Very helpful.
There was always plenty of parking.
Overall, this was not a bad stay by any means. This property was just not as good as other Courtyards we have stayed at.
