Have you ever had a vegan cupcake? You know how they look super good - the chocolate is often shiny, the cake looks great, and the frosting looks like it could pass for buttercream? Then you take a bite and you instantly feel bad for anybody who thinks that’s what a good cupcake tastes like. That’s the Courtyard Rochester Downtown in a nutshell. Sure it looks nice enough, but it ain’t buttercream. Oh where do I begin? How about finding a full bag of garbage left in our room when we checked in, and then when I called, I received a curt “I’ll send him up to get it.” Let’s proceed to not a single time being greeted with a hello or even having a front desk agent bother to look up when we walked by. How about being referred to as “bro” and “dude” by the people who worked there? Let’s consider the ridiculously overpriced menu in the hotel’s sad little restaurant. The employees at this dump makes you feel like anything you might ask for is a hassle, and they make it obvious at every opportunity just how much they hate their jobs. I made a huge mistake deciding to stay here, especially when the Hampton Inn on Union is a lovely new property with wonderful team members.
The room was a king suite which was quite spacious with a fluffy pillow and comfortable bed. Upon check in, the friendly woman told us breakfast is served behind you in Char and gave us the hours. I'm not much of a breakfast eater but figured I'd grab a yogurt and muffin before hitting the road. There was a buffet with breads, yogurt, fruit, and eggs, bacon, and sausage, but I don't eat much at breakfast. My husband grabbed some mediocre eggs and a few slices of bacon. I asked if there was coffee and it was brought out promptly. We were surprised when a bill for 47.00 came. Perhaps partially my fault for not remembering that it was not included, but I also think the woman at check out should say, You can purchase breakfast at the restaurant located by the fireplace. That's a hefty price for a yogurt and muffin. Someone said they make pancakes and custom eggs and omelets. That was never indicated to us at all so I'm not sure if that is true. Anyway, I've learned a lesson. I would stay here again but probably walk somewhere down the road for breakfast. Live and learn!
While traveling to Canada we stopped over in Rochester and stayed at the Staybridge Suites. The hotel was nice and comfortable. The sausage at their free breakfast looked like it needed to be cooked more, otherwise it was okay. Check in and check out was easy.
SSimon_Says_YYZWe booked this hotel as it had been mentioned it was recently renovated. Unfortunately, there are still quite a lot of the hotel which is older/rundown. There are many parts of the hotel carpeting that have some sticky residue that you can feel on your shoes, although the room itself seems like it has newer updated carpeting. On the plus side the breakfast was remarkably good for a Fairfield; I'm a Platinum Marriot so have stayed in quite a few, but the kitchen staff are really doing a great job here. The not so good was our refrigerator was not cooling for the duration of our 2 day stay. We mentioned it to the front desk and they apologized but did not send maintenance out to swap it out, and quite frankly I only discovered it wasn't functioning in the evening after we got back to the room. There are other Fairfield and even Courtyards in the Rochester area that we have stayed at in the past; will be sticking with them in the future.