Not Your Typical Courtyard--Mediocre
I am going to preface this by stating that Courtyard hotels are my favorite of all hotels in the Marriott family. The new renovated properties have great rooms and the lobby is very business traveler friendly. Stayed at the North Central Expressway Courtyard for 2 nights over Thanksgiving. Visiting friends in Dallas and this was closest Marriott to their house. Great location of the hotel right off Central. Only problem is the hotel is on the freeway.
We stayed in room 522 which faced the freeway. The freeway noise was close to being unbearable. As a Marriott Rewards member with multi-year Gold status I would have thought they would have put me in a room facing away from the freeway, but no, the front desk said they preassign rooms based on when the reservation is made. They also told me I should have requested a room on the non-freeway side. Thankfully we were only in the room for a few hours each day and that was to sleep and the traffic was not as bad.
Evidently the property is or just went through a renovation to the new Courtyard decor. The lobby was great. The room was mediocre. I think the linens must have been from pre-renovation. They were very well worn. And please address the issue of the wash cloth location. The housekeeper folds them and puts then next to the sink faucet. What an inconvenient location. Do what other Courtyard properties do, put a washcloth on the floor mat along with the bar of soap. Makes it very convenient to the guest.
There was no laundry bag in the closet and there was not "do not disturb" hanger on the door. Give me a break housekeeping manager, train your personnel to make sure the details are handled. Not sure who designed the bathroom door swing, but it doesn't work with the toilet location.
If the GM reads this. I understand the need to have security on property 24/7. But the racing around the parking lot is ridiculous. Friday night when we arrived at the hotel the security guard was driving laps in the parking lot. Then on Saturday morning I moved our vehicle closer to the lobby to load. I never left the property but the security guard questioned the reason for my moving the vehicle and told me he was keeping an eye on me to make sure I actually checked out. If security is that bad put a fence of some type around the property with gate access or something similar. I seriously doubt the rent-a-cops running around in a golf cart are going to prevent vehicle break-ins or other crime on the property.
Final comment. Give guests access to leave the property via Meadow versus dumping us onto the busy Central feeder road. There is a rear gate that can give a safer egress.
I do not like writing harsh reviews for a Marriott property, but I'm not going to sugar coat my review. The GM and franchisee (if it is a franchise property) or Marriott Corporate need to understand that you've got a problem that is easily fixed. One bright spot....the towel animal on the bed when we arrived. I am a sucker for towel animals and it was a nice greeting.