Courtyard Atlanta Decatur Downtown/Emory

I stayed at the Courtyard Atlanta Decatur with my family for two nights. The cost was reasonable and the room was clean and comfortable. The front desk and staff were helpful and courteous, bringing extra towels within 5 minutes of request. The lobby was spacious with high ceilings. Within the common area there are several computers with internet access and printers useful for checking in and printing boarding passes. My cousins warned me away from trying the hotel restaurant since there are so many good restaurants within walking distance. Overall nice stay!

Note that I won’t be discussing bed softness or shower pressure in this review; my work has an annual all-​day event here so this will just be about the event experience. I’d have to say the Courtyard Marriott has been pretty pleasant the last two years I’ve visited for this purpose.
According to their website, the Decatur Conference Center has 10 total meeting rooms for a total of 15,000 square feet. We were in just one room so I can’t say anything about the others. The room temperature wasn’t frostbite cold which is always a plus. You could hear clapping and such from the adjacent room but that wasn’t a huge deal. Tasteful holiday-​themed decorations brightened up the room. Last year, the hotel provided little notepads and pens, but they didn’t this year. Not sure if that’s an optional feature or not.
All of the staffers were quite courteous and pleasant. The breakfast and lunch were both buffet-​style and were highly satisfactory. Just give me crispy bacon and I’m happy. The lunchtime desserts of cobbler and apple pie didn’t leave us dying of pleasure, but there was baked salmon which was awesome. Between breakfast, lunch, and snacks, I was stuffed. If you’re into tea like me, the tea service is Bigelow which seems to be the brand served at nearly every hotel.
The women’s restroom by the conference area is strange in that there is only one paper towel dispenser, and it’s all the way on the opposite wall from the exit/​entrance. Who planned that? But aside from that, there was always plenty of toilet paper, paper towels, soap, and the bathrooms were kept tidy.
And you can’t beat the location of the hotel and conference center, right in happenin’ downtown Decatur. Once you’ve finished for the day, you can treat yourself to drinks and/​or ice cream only blocks away.

Very nice hotel to stay at. Receptionist were pleasant and helpful. Perfect customer service

I haven’t stayed in many of this chain but it was so-​so. The lobby is really lovely and airy but the rest was unimpressive. We arrived on a Friday to one weird little restaurant being not open. Then the room had two (Paul Mitchell –yay) shampoos but no conditioner. Sad.
The workout room had the crummy elliptical machines and the tvs don’t have many of the same channels as the rooms. There were no cups for the water machine and no magazines.
Similar lack of attention of other basics
However the front desk (Chris James) was one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.

There needs to be more stars for this place. I stayed here for 4 months for work this spring. BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER HAD! I have had the pleasure of staying at several Ritz Carlton’s and the Four Seasons and they don’t ever compare to these guys in decatur. I will always stay here when in ATL. No question. Thanks for making me feel at home!

I stayed here for several days for work and was really impressed with the hotel. At a rate of $ 129 a night, it’s pretty classy here!
The atrium and lobby are really nice — it feels so open, and the lights strung over the open seats/​tables are very welcoming. There is a spacious and fairly new gym. The pool is a good option, although the water looked a little murky.
I really want to emphasize how the great the service is here. There is always staff at the lobby, and sometimes hanging out in the lobby (i.e. late at night), and they are always cordial and go out of their way to be friendly. Maybe it’s their southern hospitality that I’m not used to, but I definitely noticed how welcomed I felt all the time.
If you need to refrigerate something that doesn’t fit in your mini-​fridge, they will refrigerate it for you in the lobby. In fact, I did this at about midnight one night and had to get up at 5am the next morning to catch a flight. When I came down to check out, the woman who’d put my food in their fridge recognized me right away and asked if I’d like my food before I even asked!
Just be wary if you have on of the rooms facing the inner atrium (as opposed to having a window facing outside). If your blinds are open, someone across the atrium can really see everything in your room! I had to be conscious of closing the blinds when changing.
Also, the A/​C is pumped up really high. When I walked into my room the first time, the air was set to 65 degrees. This was a really nice respite from the 100-​degree weather outside, but I quickly realized how cold it was. I turned the air off and never had to turn it on for four days; in fact, I was cold at night and had to ask them to bring me an extra blanket!
For comparison’s sake, we had stayed in another Courtyard by Marriott in New Haven, CT, and the prices in the 24-​hour deli were about double in New Haven. However, they did do things like make the yogurt-​granola parfait fresh, whereas in Decatur it’s been sitting in the fridge for the while. The gym was also a lot older and smaller in New Haven.

Good hotel in great location. Nice staff but we were disappointed when, as a gold Marriott member, they would not extend us even a one hour checkout.

Great hotel to stay in Decatur as its walking distance to downtown and MARTA.
The reception is super friendly. Each and every employee. I bought wine at the little store in lobby and Mr. Allen went and found me a wine glass to take up to my room. The little store is decent, but expensive. $ 7 for a miller lite!
Got upgraded room as I am a Gold Elite. The room was very large. And two walls of windows on a corner unit. Not much in the room that you wouldn’t find in a normal rom. Just lots of free space. The black out curtains worked well considering the room was all windows.
The lobby restaurant was surprisingly good. My daughter had a fantastic kids French toast which was fresh with a side of strawberries. Coffee was nice and strong.
The only disappointment was the indoor pool. It was the reason we booked this hotel for my 7 year old and it was really cold. And this was June. It is a nice and clean pool with lounge chairs and towels however. Wish there was a hot tub.
Would stay again. And a great weekend place since you can walk to local shops and restaurants.

This Courtyard by Marriott is a pretty solid hotel in charming downtown Decatur. My husband and I got a free night here courtesy of the Decatur Book Festival, and we were happy with our stay. We would’ve booked the whole weekend except that it sold out way in advance. Serves us right for taking our time planning a Labor Day trip.
Service was fantastic. Every single person we dealt with was friendly and competent. We only stayed one night, and the desk staff learned my name. We didn’t get housekeeping during our short stay, but the room was clean, neat, and comfortable. Courtyard isn’t a luxury hotel or anything, but I was pleased with what we got. Bed was decent, and the room was spacious. The lobby was nice, and so were the conference rooms where we took in a panel during the book festival.
The Courtyard ended up being home base for the festival, which sprawled out across downtown Decatur. The hotel was centrally located, walking distance from a whole slew of great bars and restaurants. I’d love to come back for the book festival, and I’d gladly stay in this hotel again.

Great location, comfortable room (love the rolling desk), and beautiful lobby. We stayed for 3 nights and took the shuttle to the Emory campus several times. Chris treated us so well — made sure to get us where we needed to go on the shuttle and with walking directions and made sure the other shuttle drivers knew just where to go. He is the best!

Great customer service. Everyone was really friendly. Roger, one of the front desk staff, provided one of the best customer service experiences I’ve ever had. He was extremely nice, hospitable and welcoming! I came here for a work-​related training — most, if not all, of my colleagues had the same thing to say about Roger.
There is a mini market by the front desk that is open for 24 hours. Of course, items (water, beer, chips, cookies, candy, instant noodles, hygienic items and more) were more expensive than they would be if you buy them at the local store (CVS is about a block or two away), but if it’s late and you don’t feel like going outside, this is the more convenient option. The market also has a microwave for guests to use.
There is a computer in the main lobby specifically for printing boarding passes, so you don’t have to wait until you’re at the airport, which means you can skip that line and go straight to check-​in! Super efficient.

This hotel has mind blowing décor and the service was great! I didn’t have any problems with the room service or help! The front desk was very helpful when
needed and they even allowed us to CHECK in EARLY in the morning at 7AM, which was GREAT! there is a small 24hr «market» down below by the entrance that’s nice and handy for a quick snack. The bistro is great too for some quick coffee and drinks. The only thing I didn’t like was the parking garage. The garage had very tight parking space that was impossible to park into! I also didn’t like how the parking garage and the main hotel and lobby had a separate elevators, it was very inconvenient and you had to do a lot of back and fourth from car to hotel room. Although I didn’t like the location of the hotel and there was limited restaurants near by, you had to drive quite a distance for some nice food. Overall it was a nice stay!

This place really goes above and beyond on the interiorer decorations. The Courtyard Decatur is by far one of the most accommodating hotels I’ve stayed in. The staff is very helpful, it’s absolutely gorgeous inside, and the hotel is centrally located in the heart of Decatur. Decatur Square is right around the corner and full of great restaurants. Some of the main things that are the SUPER COMFY beds, amazing showers, a refrigerator in every room (especially when staying for a couple days), free wireless internet. I love the coziness of the lobby (usually I’ll sit in one of the cubicles holding meetings/​working for hours), and a free shuttle parked outside will take you any where within a three mile radius of the hotel.

Not Up to Par — Night of the Living Dead
This newly refurbished Courtyard by Marriott is nicely appointed, but fails to deliver on the basics, unfortunately.
As a longtime fan of Decatur, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opening of this hotel. Set in the prime footprint of the former Decatur Holiday Inn, the new Courtyard has been under renovation for more than a year.
And at a glance, it looks well worth the wait. Within walking distance of the quaint and hip downtown Decatur area, the stylish and modern hotel seems perfect for a weekend couple’s getaway or small to mid-​size business conference or event.
And maybe one day it will be. But today doesn’t seem to be that day, just yet.
At the end of the day, the most basic service a hotel provides is a place to sleep. And stylish rehabs not withstanding, this is unfortunately the service that the Courtyard fails to deliver.
We checked in later in the evening on Friday, and asked for a late checkout, if possible. Graciously, the desk clerk said we could stay until 1PM the following day, and made a note of it on the check-​file (this will be important later, stay tuned).
After later returning from a night of dining with friends, we hit the sack well after midnight. Which is when things slowly started to go from bad to worse, like something out of a sit-​com.
After cleaning up, the first thing we noticed was that the toilet continued to run. Not just the sort of long-​time-​to-​complete-​the-​cycle-​run, but rather more of the very-​loud-​and-​just-​never-​stops variety.
We attempted to jury-​rig a solution. But the stubborn toilet won the day and continued it’s racket. And for a small room… it really was quite a lot of noise. So, we called the front desk and asked if someone from maintenance could assist. We were told someone would be up right away.
20 minutes later with no help in sight, we called back to check on the progress. We were told something else had come up that the maintenance department needed to work on, but that they’d be up shortly.
After 15 or so minutes, we called back and told them not to worry about it; that we would just deal with it; we preferred to go to sleep by this point.
20 or so minutes later, now approaching 2AM and us just having dozed off, was, of course, when the maintenance person knocked loudly on the door. Hop up, throw on some pants, groggily answer the door and politely tell them not to worry about it, we were retired for the night, thanks anyway.
And for the next hour and a half, I’m happy to say we slept very comfortably and soundly.
That is, until the hotel-​wide fire alarm began to roar at piercing decibel level loud enough to wake the dead. Appropriate, perhaps, given that Atlanta is home to many episodes of the fun TV series, «The Walking Dead».
Adrenaline and heart pumping, we hopped out of bed and hastily threw on some clothes, preparing to evacuate. And then, after 60 or so seconds… the alarm stopped. Blissful silence followed. I checked the hallway, and all appeared well. I also peeked out the window to the parking lot; no sign of trouble and no emergency vehicles.
Warily, we concluded that it must have been a false alarm. Our heart-​rate now having returned to within a hundred or so percent of normal, we crawled back under the covers, sighed, and closed our eyes, heading back towards our goal: sleep.
About ten minutes later, the fire-​alarm strobe-​light in the room began to fire. There was no klaxon this time, but the powerful strobe-​light combined with the ongoing racket of the running toilet turned the room into one of the creepy corridors from the classic horror movie, «Alien» for about five minutes. Fun stuff.
Eventually the in-​room-​fireworks stopped, and we were left only with the relatively benign toilet noise, something that at this point had become seemingly relaxing in comparison. That is, until…
…8AM and a soft knocking comes on the door, followed by an attempt to open the door from outside the room. I race to the door half-​naked and find… the cleaning crew. Given we’d watched in person as the desk clerk made note of our late checkout time of 1PM, this seemed like an odd oversight. Back to sleep. That is, until…
…9AM and the same thing happens. Knocks followed by attempts to open the door by a determined cleaning person. The Siege of Stalingrad might have gone better for the Nazis if they’d had the sheer willpower of the Courtyard Cleaning Regiment.
Upon checkout, I smiled and politely told the desk clerk that I’d like to speak to someone about a credit for the night’s stay. He thought for a moment and said, «I might be able to help you if you tell me about it.» I politely replied that I preferred someone who could definitely help me, and that «might» wasn’t good enough today.
I got another couple of minutes of semantic runaround and left, deciding to let Marriott keep my money, and resigning myself to a Unilocal review… and hopefully a nap later.

I am not sure how I feel about all the windows facing the interior of the hotel. You can spy on people from your window, expose yourself by accident, or be a bit nervous of a peeping tom– but that is my opinion.
Besides the awkward position of the hotel windows, this hotel definitely lives to the hype established by the Marriott. The breakfasts in the morning are fresh and delicious. There is a work station at the side where you can get work done or surf the internet, and the staff is friendly. Our hotel rooms were always clean when we came back. I just wish the gym had more weights because it seems more suitable for the cardio enthusiasts and that there were wider parking spots at the parking garage. It seemed very confined.
I highly recommend this hotel for anyone who wants to explore Decatur (or Atlanta, in general) because this hotel is minutes away (walking distance) from the MARTA and is surrounded by mom and pop shops where you can find delicious dishes. I highly recommend visiting Sweet Melissa’s for breakfast!

This Courtyard by Marriott is exquisite (
).
I’m pretty much a huge fan of this hotel chain as I have stayed at a handful of Courtyards in the east coast and each experience has been met with quality and comfort. Our stay in this location in Decatur, Georgia was no different this time around. The location is very close to shops and restaurants (there’s a Publix complex with eateries nearby, maybe a less than 5 minute drive from the hotel). The entrance and lobby is very spacious and inviting and it has been outfitted with contemporary furnishings and tech amenities such as charging stations for your laptops. There’s even a small «Market» convenience stand by the concierge desk where you can pick up snacks, beverages, and random toiletries. Additionally the hotel has ample parking on the premises though there is a fee (I believe we paid $ 8 per night).
Our room had two queen beds, and an additional roll-​away, and yet there was still enough space to walk around the room without feeling cramped. The bedding was comfortable and the sheets were clean. As well, the bathroom was pristine. I cannot think of one critique (except maybe the parking should be free for all guests). Otherwise, we had a great stay at this Courtyard Decatur Downtown/​Emory and it proved to be the best value for our time spent in Georgia.

We stayed here for a wedding and were truly blown away… what the hell is this place doing in downtown Decatur??? Looks like a midtown/​downtown hotel on the inside. Very swanky… I almost felt uncomfortable it was so fancy.
I was told they recently refurbished the whole place and I believe it. Both my wife and I were amazed at the décor for a hotel in this area… The rooms, the lobby, everything has been redone! They have an awesome bar in the lobby along with cubby-​holes to duck away in. Lots of sitting areas everywhere and the openness of the lobby makes the place feel huge. I’m a really big fan of what they did here…
Rooms are adequately sized… we had a nice King sized bed and had plenty of room to move around in. Bathroom was kinda small, though. Maybe it was just our room but it seemed the pillows were for a little kids room. I want big open pillows not 2 little dinky ones. I think our room got the short end of the poo-​stick on that deal as others said they had full sized ones… I know, its’ not that big of a deal but I like to sleep well when staying in a hotel. Bed was comfy except for the miniature pillows.
We were not sure about the parking situation. It was kinda strange; they have a parking deck but it’s $ 10 a day to park there. However, we were told we didn’t need to pay it and could just pay $ 5 for each time we needed to get back in. We didn’t leave but once and I couldn’t tell if they actually charged my room the $ 10 a day or not… be sure to ask. You need your card to get out of the parking deck so I guess they keep track that way. As with parking in Decatur, you’d be better off to use the deck or find free parking. The enforcement officers will get ya if you don’t…
I will totally recommend that others stay here when in town… with it being right in downtown Decatur, 10 minutes from the Highlands and pretty fly, you can’t beat it.

The Courtyard Marriott on Clairmont is an excellent location for a room block when you are throwing a wedding reception at the Historic Courthouse on the Square. The hotel is newly renovated and they did such a good job with the décor and amenities. The rooms are quite comfortable. The customer service by the floor staff is amazing. Normally a hotel like this would get five stars from me.
I knocked off two stars because of Whitney. If you’re a bride you’re gonna want your mother or mother-​in-​law or a wedding coordinator deal with her.
Again, late to post… but here you go.

From what I heard this was a remodeled hotel, to the fact that I couldn’t tell is a positive. I travel quite a bit so consistency is always a plus. This Courtyard does the chain proud.
The best part about the place is the location, right off of MARTA and walkable to many restaurants and stores.
The only negative was that the sound was not all that good, but if you ask for a room away from the main atrium, I am sure it’s fine.

The old Holiday Inn in Decatur closed and was renovated turning into a Marriott Courtyard opening in March of 2012. We stayed there for a wedding weekend and had a nice room, comfortable bed, extra towels when we asked for them and peace and quiet. I recommend getting rooms that are NOT on the inner courtyard that is now a closed in gathering area and you can hear all that is said drifting up to the 5^th floor.
The parking garage is old and tight so be careful. It is within walking distance of many nice shops and restaurants and about 15 min drive to Emory’s campus if you are visiting the school.