Residence Inn by Marriott Madison East

This place worked for us. Clean, inexpensive and just off the freeway exit. But it badly needs a renovation. Has kitchen with full size refrigerator. Everything is old and dated. Deadbolt did not work. If you need a place to spend the night, it works. But there are nicer options if you don’t need a full kitchen.

I travel quite a lot. I typically am a solo female traveler. This trip I was traveling bc my dog had surgery at UW & was traveling with a companion. I have to say this hotel was frightening. The experience started when we pulled in to the lot. There were 2 Madison Police cruisers in the lot & they remained in the lot for about an hour after we arrived. I requested a 2 bedroom suite near a door to enable my dog to easily go in & out to potty after surgery. Our room was a bit dated & worn but was clean. The bar lock on the door was damaged & looked like it had been screwed back into the wall in several spots. The living room curtains were missing. The carpet was ripped. The beds were very hard. However these things were minor. After checking in I discovered the door we were near was out of order & went up to request being moved to a room near a working door & told nothing was available but we could be possibly be moved later. A few days later, someone was trying to get in our room with a key. The front desk called & didn’t understand why we were in that room, 104, that we were supposed to be in 109. I said we were given this room at check in & had not been moved. This was one of numerous scary events. There was something sketchy going on in the room across from us as they had at least 10 people knock on their door every day we were there. Next, I noticed that there was only one other female guest, besides staff & that I saw, the entire time we were there. When the snow melted & I was walking my dog outside I noticed needles around the grassy area by the broken door. I also saw the police in the parking lot 2 other times. Something is not right about this hotel. It is not well maintained & something shady is going on. If I had been on my own I would have checked out & gone to another hotel. I have never been at a hotel were I have only seen 1 other female guest. It was uncomfortable. I do NOT recommend this hotel & STRONGLY advise any female solo travelers NOT to stay here.

The positives: the location is right by I-90 but far enough to be quiet. The staff is very friendly. The beds are comfortable. The negatives: It is a run-down hotel. It needs deep cleaning and lots of repainting/repairs. The breakfast is so poor that most people would look and leave. The only hot choices were scrambled eggs and scrambled eggs on some mornings. No cut fruits ever.

We were disappointed with our room at the Residence Inn Madison East as the room's furniture was very worn, especially the sleeper sofa/couch was very uncomfortable to sit on and the bathroom was filthy. We had to ask the housekeeping to come and clean excrement residue that was left on both sides of the bathroom door and on the wall next to the toilet and adjacent wall. There was a shortage of accommodations available throughout the whole city during the days we were there, so we were thankful when we were able to move to another Marriott facility in another area of Madison.

We stayed one night for a sporting event in the area. We chose this hotel specifically for the pool so our kids could swim. The pool area is nice (no hot tub), but the kids dipped their toes in the pool and it was freezing. There was no heat and the kids couldn't stay in, it was so cold. It was also dirty on the bottom and the kids said it tasted like salt. I asked the desk worker, who was very nice, if she knew about the pool and she said she had heard that but wasn't able to fix anything. We didn't see a single person in the pool during our stay...makes sense. The room was set up nicely and breakfast was okay as well.