We spent all 15 days of our time in Utah’s state capital at the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown. There were all kinds of hotels in the Salt Lake City area that were good value when booked with points, but we picked this particular property as it was the best value option in downtown Salt Lake City which meant we wouldn’t have to drive into the city in order to spend time there.
It ended up being a fantastic choice. Not only were we able to book straight into a one bedroom suite with points, but the breakfast options were good, the staff members were friendly and it was in a decent location for where we wanted to be.
Here’s a full review of our stay at the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown in Utah.
Check-In
Truffles and I arrived at about 4pm (Shae had flown back to Virginia, so she didn’t arrive until a few days later) and we got checked in quickly. The front desk agent was very friendly and assigned us room 433 which is on the top floor of the hotel. I appreciated that as it meant there’d be no one in a room above us stomping around.
Each day, the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown has a number of Guests of the Day. Each of those guests get a welcome package with some treats, although Truffles and I weren’t on the list the day we arrived unfortunately.
One Bedroom Suite
When entering our suite, the kitchen was on the right, the living room straight ahead and the separate bedroom and bathroom through a door on the left.
Kitchen
All suites at Residence Inn properties have a kitchen. That includes a full-sized fridge-freezer, stove top, toaster, microwave and dishwasher.
One of the nice features of the kitchen at this particular Residence Inn was that there was lots of cupboard space including pantry shelving. Some suite hotels with kitchens only have a couple of cupboards and so there’s nowhere to store food; that wasn’t a problem here.
Some of the cupboards and drawers had plates, dishes, glasses, silverware, cookware, etc.
Living Room
The living room had a good-sized sleeper sofa along with a large ottoman.
To the left of the couch was a small, movable side table, as well as another side table fixed in place. The fixed side table had power and USB outlets incorporated in it which were useful to have right next to the couch.
To the right of the couch was a desk and office chair.
Opposite the TV was a wall-mounted TV and fireplace. Unfortunately the fireplace in our room didn’t work. The TV was also frustrating because it wasn’t possible to use our Fire TV Stick with it and so we were stuck watching their limited selection of TV channels.
The TV had HDMI inputs, but those didn’t work to allow us to use the Fire TV Stick. I removed the HDMI cable for their TV service and replaced it with our Stick which sort of worked. However, it wasn’t possible to adjust the volume and it played TV streamed via the Fire TV Stick at 1,357 decibels, so we had to revert back to their cable box. This isn’t an issue isolated to this particular property – we frequently have this problem when staying at different Marriott brands, so it seems to be Marriott that’s the pain in the backside with how their TV setup works.
The person mounting the TV on the wall did a terrible job as it was far from being straight. It was strangely irritating having the TV tilted like this for our two weeks there.
The living room had sliding doors leading out to a balcony with a couple of chairs.
The balcony looked out over Pioneer Park.
Back by the kitchen there was a small closet, along with a two-person dining table and chairs.
Bedroom
Off the living room was a door leading through to the bedroom which was far more spacious than I was expecting. The bed was comfortable, the blackout curtains worked well and there was a dresser with a TV on top.
Both bedside tables had power outlets which was convenient for charging our phones overnight.
In addition to the closet in the living room/kitchen area, there was a closet in the bedroom. The one in the bedroom had a safe, luggage rack, iron, ironing board and an extra pillow, presumably for the sleeper sofa.
In case it’s important to you, the bedroom window could be opened, with a screen ensuring bugs won’t get in.
Bathroom
Opposite the closet was a sink and vanity. I’m not a fan of when hotels have the sink outside the bathroom because it means if one person is up later at night or earlier in the morning than the other, you have to use the sink in the dark so as not to wake up the other person sleeping. Even if you use the dim light of your phone, washing your hands, brushing your teeth, etc. can still wake up light sleepers.
The bathroom itself had a bathtub with a shower; the water pressure of the shower was good.
Breakfast
Breakfast is complimentary when staying at Residence Inn properties. At the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown, it was served from 6:30am-9am during the week and 7am-9:30am at the weekend.
There were always several hot options which sometimes varied, as well as all kinds of other breakfast items. The breakfast staff did a good job of keeping breakfast well-stocked; there were only one or two mornings where things ran low, but that seemed to be Saturday or Sunday morning when they were particularly busy.
There was also a coffee and tea station that seemed to be available 24/7. We don’t like coffee though, so we can’t attest to how fresh it was throughout the day. As a Brit who enjoys a couple of cups of tea every day though, I appreciated that they kept the supply of English breakfast teabags well-stocked.
The Mix
Residence Inns offer an evening social called The Mix. These usually run for an hour or two on several weekday evenings and they provide complimentary drinks and snacks. They understandably stopped offering them for a year or more when COVID hit, but they seem to be gradually getting reintroduced.
The offerings for the evening social can vary from property to property – some will include complimentary beer and wine and provide enough food to constitute an evening meal, while others charge for alcohol and only provide very light snacks.
I’m afraid that I don’t know which category the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown falls into when it comes to their The Mix offering. They did seem to be running it during our stay, but we kept forgetting about it until after we’d had dinner, so we never ended up checking it out.
Amenities
The Residence Inn brand is focused on people wanting to book an extended stay, hence the kitchens in every suite. They also have amenities that are useful for longer stays, such as a guest laundry area which was on the fourth floor.
Unfortunately both of their washing machines seemed to be somewhat broken when we were there as their spin cycles didn’t always run. Our clothes therefore got washed, but at the end of the cycle they were still completely soaking, so much so that taking our clothes out of the washing machines resulted in puddles on the floor.
The Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown consists of two buildings. We were in the main building which is where the front desk is, along with where breakfast is served and the guest laundry area on the fourth floor.
When heading over to the other building there’s a courtyard area with a gazebo, tables and a grill for guests to use.
In that second building is the hotel’s fitness room which has several pieces of equipment and weights.
Next to the fitness room was an ice machine. The fridge-freezers in the suite kitchens have their own ice maker, but it was handy having this additional machine as our freezer’s ice maker didn’t work very well.
At the front of the main building was an outdoor swimming pool. We stayed there in mid-May 2022, so the pool wasn’t open yet.
In that enclosed pool area was some additional outdoor seating, a fire pit and a couple of grills.
Between the two buildings was a sports court.
In the main building by the front desk was a business center with a computer and printer for guests to use.
Pet Policy
The Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown is a pet-friendly hotel that has a weight limit for dogs of 50lbs. I’m not entirely sure what their pet fee is though. Their website lists it in one place as 100 CAD and in another place as 100 USD. Given the hotel is in the US rather than Canada, I’d assumed the pet fee was US$100, but we were charged $75 + tax for having Truffles with us.
Truffles loved our stay there because some of the front desk staff members offered her treats. She normally doesn’t like Milk Bones, but they had soft, chewy Milk Bones which she apparently found delicious.
The hotel has the grassy courtyard where your dog can do their business, along with grassy areas along the sidewalk outside the hotel.
One of the awesome features of the hotel’s location is that it’s right opposite Pioneer Park. That has a dog park, so it’s a great place to let your pup run around off-leash. There aren’t separate sections for large and small dogs, but it wasn’t a busy dog park and so Truffles had it all to herself a few times when we took her over there.
Service
Service at the hotel was very good. We declined housekeeping throughout our stay and so I can’t rate them, but the front desk staff members were always friendly, welcoming and helpful. The breakfast staff also did a great job of keeping food well-stocked in the morning.
Wi-Fi
The hotel’s Wi-Fi is complimentary for all guests. The speed was good and I don’t remember us ever having connection issues.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
The check-in time at the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown is 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm.
Location
We really enjoyed the hotel’s location downtown as it was within walking distance of everything there. There were plenty of electric scooters and bikes around that you can rent if you don’t feel like walking.
As mentioned earlier, the hotel is opposite Pioneer Park. That seems to have a bit of a bad reputation in the Salt Lake City area, but from our limited experience of staying there for a couple of weeks, the bad reputation seems a little overblown. Sure, there were a number of homeless people who seemed to hang out in the park. However, they kept themselves to themselves, didn’t seem to leave litter behind, never hassled anyone, etc. I took Truffles for a walk around the park at night time a number of times and never had any problems.
Parking
The hotel has lots of parking spaces available. There are several spaces at street level, along with a gated underground parking lot.
Similar to the pet fee, the cost for parking is a little confusing. The hotel’s website says it costs $10 per night, but we weren’t charged for parking at all which was a nice surprise.
Cost
We booked our stay at the Residence Inn using Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott has a ‘Stay 5, Pay For 4’ feature when booking award stays which deducts the points cost of the cheapest night. This feature works when staying in longer five night increments too. We therefore booked a 15 night stay rather than 14 nights as that meant we got three nights free.
The total cost for our stay came to 218,500 points, or an average of 14,567 points per night. If we’d paid cash, it would’ve cost us $158.21 per night including tax. As a result, we got 1.09cpp (cents per point) of value by redeeming points which is good value for Marriott points.
Final Thoughts
Shae and I really enjoyed our stay at the Residence Inn Salt Lake City Downtown. Being able to book straight into a one bedroom suite using points was lovely, their breakfast options were very good, the front desk staff members were friendly and helpful and the hotel was in a great location for us.
There were a few minor negative points such as the fireplace not working, the crooked TV, not being able to use our Fire TV Stick, etc. However, those weren’t huge issues and so we’d be more than happy staying at this hotel again if we head back to Salt Lake City at some point in the future.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! She loved that it was quiet, so she didn’t feel the need to defend us from wild marauders out in the hallway. The treats she got from the front desk were delicious and having a dog park only a couple of minutes walk away was fantastic.
Our Rating
Room = 4.5 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.5 / 5
Food = 4.5 / 5
Location = 4.8 / 5
Service = 4.4 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5
Total = 4.52 / 5
Address
Residence Inn, 285 W Broadway, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Nice review-thank you. And man, that TV would’ve bothered me too!
I’m glad I’m not the only one!