Hotel Review: Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland, Mississippi

After leaving New Albany, our second stop in Mississippi on our 50 state road trip was the state capital – Jackson.

We actually stayed in Ridgeland which is just to the north of Jackson as the Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland was excellent value when using points which turned out to be even better value after we checked in – more on that in the ‘Cost’ section later.

Marriott offers every 5th night free when redeeming points, so we booked a 10 night stay to max out that benefit as it meant we got both the 5th and 10th night free. Another reason this was a great value stay is because we were able to book directly into a one bedroom suite using points rather than a studio suite. That makes a huge difference for me and Shae as she gets up early in the morning to teach kids in China while I tend to stay up until 2-3am working. Having a separate living room means we can both work with the lights on and not disturb the other person while they’re sleeping.

While there were a few aspects of our stay that weren’t great, I wouldn’t have any hesitation staying at the Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland if we returned to the area in the future. Here’s a full review of our stay to explain why.

Check-In

I used Marriott’s app a day or two before we checked in to contact the hotel to see if it was possible to get a minor upgrade to a one bedroom suite with a fireplace. I have Titanium Elite status with Marriott which offers room upgrades, so I figured it shouldn’t be too much of a problem as Marriott brands are usually good about upgrading us (unlike IHG). The fireplace wasn’t a necessity, but seeing as we’d be there for 10 nights I figured it’d be a nice feature to have. The person replying advised that it wasn’t possible to confirm that in advance, but that we could request it when checking in if there was still one available.

When we arrived at 4pm, there was a slight delay when getting checked in as the front desk agent seemed to be trying to get something fixed for the people ahead of us in line. That didn’t take too long though and once it was our turn to check in we asked if it was possible to get a room with a fireplace. She was able to do this and so gave us our keys to room 226.

One Bedroom Suite With Fireplace

Room 226 was the perfect location for us as it was at the end of the hallway, so we weren’t next to the elevator. While it can be convenient being next to the elevator, being at the end of the hallway means it’s usually quieter and so our dog Truffles doesn’t get disturbed by people walking past as much. We were next to a staircase, so it was also convenient only having to walk down and up one flight of stairs when needing to take her out.

The living room was straight ahead when entering the suite, with the kitchen on the left. The door off the living room led off to a room with the bathroom sink and vanity, with doors either side of that leading to the bedroom and bathroom.

Living Room

The living room had a corner sleeper sofa with a coffee table and ottoman. Next to that was a desk and office chair. There were power outlets next to the desk, but I don’t think there were any accessible by the couch itself. That didn’t end up being much of an issue as I just plugged in our power strip into the outlet by the desk so that I could work on my laptop from the couch.

On the opposite side of the living room was the fireplace with the TV mounted to the wall above it. The TV was fine, but it felt a little small compared to the size of TVs at other hotels.

The hotel had a good selection of TV channels. I particularly appreciated that they had ION, WE and USA as that meant I could get my fix of Law & Order SVU and Criminal Intent along with Chicago P.D.

There was an on-screen channel guide where you could see current and upcoming shows which is something we greatly appreciate so that we don’t have to flick through endless channels in order to find out what’s on.

On the other side of the door leading to the bedroom and bathroom was a dining table and a couple of chairs.

Back by the entrance was a clipboard with a pen beneath it.

Kitchen

As with all rooms at Residence Inn properties, our suite had a kitchen. This included a full-size fridge-freezer, microwave, dishwasher and stove top.

The cupboards and drawers had everything we needed during the stay including plates and dishes, pots and pans, silverware, cooking utensils, a toaster (not pictured below), other cooking equipment, etc.

In case you’re not familiar with our road trip, Shae and I are on a 50 state road trip and live in hotels and Airbnbs. We have a box that we keep our non-perishable food in and it normally stays in there. Seeing as we were staying at the Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland for 10 days, I decided to use one of the kitchen cupboards to unpack the food box and it was strangely satisfying – like we actually had our own kitchen again.

Bedroom

The separate bedroom had a king bed which was very comfortable. The room had decent blackout curtains which helped ensure we got a decent night’s sleep during our stay.

The bedside lamps above each side of the bed had power outlets which is a feature we appreciate so that we can charge our phones overnight. One side of the bed had a dresser while the other had a circular table; it was a little strange having mismatched furniture like that, but it was nice having a table on my side of the bed rather than nothing at all.

Opposite the bed was another dresser with a TV on top. The TV didn’t work, but it didn’t really matter for us as we don’t tend to watch TV in bed when we have a separate bedroom like this. We didn’t report the TV as not working, so it’s not like they ignored any kind of maintenance request regarding that. Similar to the living room though, the TV felt pretty small.

The bedroom had a closet which contained a sheet, blanket and pillows (for the sleeper sofa), along with an iron, ironing board, safe and luggage rack.

Bathroom

The bathroom was spread across two separate rooms. When going through the door from the living room, there was a square room with a sink and vanity.

Off to the left was the door to the bedroom, while to the right was the door to the actual bathroom. This contained the toilet and a bathtub with a shower that had fairly good water pressure for most of our stay. They did plumbing work early on in our stay which resulted in us being without water for half the day, then when it came back on there was no hot water. They seemed to fix that overnight, so it wasn’t a huge issue.

The toiletries were Paul Mitchell and were good quality.

Overall, we really liked our one bedroom suite and made use of the fireplace pretty much every day during our stay seeing as we visited in January.

One minor complaint is that only one of the four doors in our room closed properly – the door leading into the bathroom itself. The other doors were very stiff and had to be shoved or pulled hard to open, with the bedroom door making us cringe every time we had to open it as it made a horrible noise. The door to enter the suite itself had to be pushed or pulled hard twice in order to get it to close properly, while the door leading from the living room to the sink/vanity room had to be pulled hard to close it properly, otherwise it popped open when the air conditioning turned on.

Breakfast

A complimentary breakfast buffet is included for all guests when staying at Residence Inn properties, including this one in Ridgeland, Mississippi. This included several hot options which rotated each day; the day these photos were taken there were scrambled eggs, andouille sausage, grits and turkey sausage patties. Other days there were biscuits and sausage gravy, pork sausage patties, vegetarian hash and more.

The other breakfast options were the same for the most part, although the fresh fruit and pastries sometimes differed.

The staff did a good job with keeping the food well-stocked. There was a very noticeable difference between the lady who was in charge of breakfast during the week and the one who worked at the weekend though. The lady during the week was always hustling and was constantly in the breakfast area, making sure guests had everything they needed, making sure everything was OK, etc. The woman who worked at the weekends was constantly out back and on the few occasions she appeared in the breakfast area, she had her phone attached to her ear every single time talking to someone.

On a few mornings of our stay I had to ask for silverware as there were either no forks or no knives left. Looking back, this was always at the weekend. This meant having to call out into the kitchen area to attract the staff member’s attention which is when she’d appear while talking to someone on the phone. Although she’d promptly get the knife or fork for me, she didn’t bring more out which meant other guests had to do exactly the same thing. She certainly wasn’t rude (other than being on her phone while working), but it was always clear what day of the week it was when having breakfast.

Residence Inn Mix

One of the reasons why I like staying at Residence Inns is because they offer something called the Residence Inn Mix in the evening from Monday to Wednesday. This is where they provide a meal in the evenings along with (normally) complimentary beer and wine.

Shae and I often take advantage of this when staying at Residence Inn properties, although we didn’t really do that at the Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland. That’s not really their fault – it’s just that they seemed to alternate between food that Shae liked and food that I liked. For example, we checked in on a Wednesday and that night they had mushroom risotto, bread, cheese and roasted grapes. I don’t care for mushrooms or cheese, so I gave that a miss. Shae went down there to check it out which I was glad about as it meant she got some photos of the mix. In addition to the food, there was red and white wine and a couple of beers on offer.

Another evening there was BBQ chicken with sesame seed buns, roasted sweet potatoes, fruit and Fritos. Shae isn’t always the biggest fan of BBQ sauce and doesn’t like sweet potatoes, so we gave that a miss and made something ourselves seeing as our room had a kitchen.

Amenities

The Residence Inn brand is targeted at people looking for an extended stay, so they have amenities to cater for that. For example, they offer guest laundry facilities on the second floor. There were three washing machines and six dryers (I’m not sure why they need quite so many dryers in comparison to washing machines!) that cost $2 per load. The hotel had a number of plumbing problems during our stay, which included all three washing machines not working for 2-3 days, including while we were in the middle of washing some clothes one time. It took a couple of days and numerous phone calls to the front desk, but they eventually got the washing machines fixed.

Exercise-wise, there a fitness room with a few pieces of equipment and weights. The TV on the treadmill didn’t work, but the temperature could be controlled by guests which is something I always like seeing as I like it to be cooler while working out.

Like other Residence Inn properties, the one in Ridgeland had a sports court.

The hotel also had an outdoor swimming pool that appeared to be open seeing as there was no cover on it despite it being January. We never saw anyone in there, but neither of us checked it out to see if it was heated or not.

The hotel is fairly near grocery stores and restaurants, but if you don’t feel like going out to get something to eat or drink there’s a pantry area next to the front desk where you can buy food and beverages.

It rained during much of our stay, but when the weather is better I’m sure it’d be nice to take advantage of the outdoor seating where there’s a fire pit and grill.

If you need to get online or print something off during your stay, there’s a business center. This is in a semi-private area off the lobby, so it could be a good area to work if you don’t like working in your room. It didn’t seem like it was a particularly comfortable place to work if you need to use their computers though as the setup didn’t seem conducive to sitting when using them. That’s not so bad if using the computer on the left as you could stand when using it, but you’d presumably need to kneel (or sit with legs spread either side of the cupboard) when using the computer on the right.

Pet Policy

The Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland is a pet-friendly hotel. They allow 2 pets that don’t weigh any more than 45 lbs and there’s a $75 pet fee per stay.

There’s a reasonable amount of grass around the hotel, including a dedicated pet walking area at the back of the property.

Ridgeland has a nice dog park next to the Ross Barnett Reservoir called Dog Park at The Rez. There are separate sections for large and small dogs and it’s on a hill, so your dog will get tired out more quickly while running around which is always helpful.

There are several trees on both sides of the dog park which I’m sure are much-needed in the heat of the summer in Mississippi. Both sides also have a water supply to help keep your dogs hydrated.

Service

Service at the hotel was pretty good, with all of the front desk staff being friendly, while the woman in charge of breakfast during the week was extremely proactive.

Check-In & Check-Out Times

Check-in is at 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm. On the final day of our stay we wanted to visit the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, so we were able to get a 4pm late checkout as I have Titanium Elite status.

Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi at the Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland was very good. I don’t think we ever had any issues with its speed, plus we didn’t have to log back in every 24 hours which is much more convenient than when we stay at hotels that require that.

Location

The hotel is just off I-55 and is only 10-15 minutes from downtown Jackson. It’s very close to grocery stores, restaurants and other stores, many of which you could walk to if needed.

Parking

Parking is complimentary at the hotel and there were loads of spaces at the front of the property and a few more spaces around one side.

Cost

Marriott offers every 5th night free when booking award stays, so we booked a 10 night stay to maximize that benefit as it meant we got the 5th and 10th nights free. They introduced off-peak pricing recently and this worked in our favor. The Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland is a category 1 property and so in the past it would’ve cost 7,500 points per night.

For four nights of our stay the 7,500 point rate was in effect, with four of the other nights costing only 5,000 points per night. With the 5th and 10th nights being free, that meant our total cost was 50,000 points, or 5,000 points per night. That’s incredible value considering we were able to book directly into a one bedroom suite, breakfast is included and complimentary food and alcohol is provided three nights a week.

That 50,000 rate got even better after we checked in. I received an email late that night advising that our rate had been reduced to 47,500 points – not a huge drop, but still 2,500 points fewer than expected. This seems to be due to a glitch in Marriott’s systems which, in most cases, has resulted in people being charged more for their stays. We were an exception to that rule which was nice.

If we’d paid cash for our stay it would’ve cost $125.28 per night which means we got 2.64cpp (cents per point) of value by using points which is 3-4x the value that you can normally expect to get from Marriott Bonvoy points.

Final Thoughts

Shae and I enjoyed our stay at the Residence Inn Jackson Ridgeland. Our one bedroom suite with a fireplace was very comfortable, the hotel had good amenities and the staff members were friendly.

There were a few minor issues during our stay – mainly relating to plumbing – but I’d be more than happy staying at this hotel again if we returned to central Mississippi.

Truffles Approval Rating

Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawsome! Having a one bedroom suite meant she slept well at night as she couldn’t hear anyone in the hallway. There was a decent amount of grass, it was near a nice dog park and the pet fee of $75 for our entire 10 night stay was reasonable.

Our Rating

Room = 4.8 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.6 / 5
Food = 4.5 / 5
Location = 4.3 / 5
Service = 4.3 / 5
Overall Value = 4.8 / 5

Total = 4.55 / 5

Address

Residence Inn, 855 Centre St, Ridgeland, MS 39157