Extended Stay America – Princeton – West Windsor

We stayed here for 11 nights recently. It’s not fancy — but it was clean and the room was comfortable and served our purpose as a home-​away-​from-​home for us. The mattress was a bit too hard for us and we did occ. smell smoke on our floor. We got the bin of kitchen utensils (and asked for a non-​stick frying pan) and managed just fine cooking a few meals in the small but adequate kitchen. The room was cleaned 1x, we were able to get extra supplies from the front desk when needed, internet had no problems, washer/​dryer worked fine, plenty of parking, quiet rooms. The front desk staff was helpful… especially Manager Alicia and Cherelle. The sign is VERY hard to see coming in from RT1 — and exiting onto RT1, especially in the morning, was very difficult (wait until after rush hour and it took less time). We’d stay here again if the need arises.

I would also give it minus 5 stars. Non smoking hotel, I don’t think so, I smelled cigarette smoke the whole time I was there. The floor was sticky, plastic on the pull out mattress, no sheets and does not clean room daily. We had 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 forks and spoons only, we are a family of four. I bought paper plates and plastic utensils. No shampoo in shower, also ran out of toilet paper. Worse place I have ever stayed at.

*If I could give Minus 5 stars I would, just awful
*Downright angry and surly staff, the kitchen had zero pots and pans, they ran out of TP
*I worked in a hotel for years, I know the industry, this property shouldn’t collect money for the product and people they have. Just don’t give them your hard earned money.

I stayed here for one month, internet is slow and unstable. Of course You can pay extra money for better internet.
I think the most reason they cheap, they don’t clean your room everyday. They clean the room once a week for free, but they don’t show up at all, after I complained, still there was once they came to clean between the prior clean 11 days.
I often see different customers complained about house keeping in the front desk.
There is no gym no swimming pool, basic you only use their room to sleep. The only they need to do is clean the room on time, how simple it is!
Anyway a poor service hotel.

RAPE!!!
I am fully aware of the limitations of this chain dump and as a consultant in need of cheap housing while serving my clients I get that it is what it is.
I had an unusual circumstance in that I booked two nights at the South Brunswick location while working in Princeton. The spring rains came and flooded Route 1 making it impossible to reach the hotel as the police blocked off Route 1 at Ridge Rd. My luggage and other stuff were there from the night before, but I was forced to find a new place to spend the night. I went down to the Extended Stay in Princeton and they were happy to accommodate me for $ 100 when I normally book these rooms for $ 46 per night. Could you guys at least wear a condom when you decide to fuck your unfortunate regulars suffering an unfortunate circumstance?
Welcome to New Jersey where the men are men and boys are boys and the sheep are scared.

I stayed at this hotel from Feburary 2013 until May 2013 for a business trip.
I wouldn’t call this hotel or the entire chain extended stay. In this chain and at this location, there isn’t a full kitchen. Its the same as getting a regular hotel room with a microwave, hot plate, and larger refrigerator. There is no oven or dishwasher. The «kitchen» sink is tiny. You can’t fir the fry pan that comes with the room in the kitchen sink to wash it or let it soak. The two burner stovetop only allow one burner to be on the high setting at one time and the microwave is a 700 watt microwave without a turntable to heat food evenly. How can this be considered an extended stay when the rooms don’t have an oven?
The hotel is located next door to a dog kennel and dog training facility. Its impossible to sleep in on a day off because the barking of the dogs reaches 50+ decibels by 8 AM. My room was near the middle of the hotel near the elevators. I can only imaging how loud it is closer to the dog kennel. I actually measured it with a sound level decibel meter.
Behind the hotel is a swamp filled with peep frogs. They are those noisy frogs that make high pitched peeping noises all night. A few people enjoy the noise of them. Most peole hate them because they start at sunset in the spring and keep making noise until sunrise.
The housekeeping staff has much to be desired. if you run out of toilet paper, soap, or tissues, they don’t replace it. You have to go to the front desk to get a replacement. I ended up buying my own toilet paper, tissues, and soap to avoid the hassle of going to the front desk. Also, a few times housekeeping knocked on the door when was in the bathroom. They never came back later, so I had to request that housekeeping come back and they couldn’t be scheduled to come back until two days after they were originally scheduled. Several times housekeeping ran out of towels. Instead of coming back to the room to give me new towels, I had to go to the front desk to get new towels.
The «grab & go» breakfast consists of oatmeal bars, granola bars, apples, oranges, and blueberry muffins. If you are really lucky and wake up early enough, you might get one of the two banana nut muffins or chocolate muffins they put out for guests. The blueberry muffins are awful. The banana nut muffins are ok.
Several times during my stay, the hot water was shut off without notice. Also both the cold and hot water were shot off once without notice. The hotel staff did not have an estimate of when it would be turned back on. Apparently the plumbing sustem needs repairs.
The free hotel wifi is slightly faster than dialup. If you want useable speeds, you have to pay for the upgraded wifi. Even then Netflix is constantly waiting for content to load, windows updates take forever, and online games are unplayable. The wifi you pay for is the same speed most hotels give you for free. I had a faster internet connection in 2001 than this hotel makes you pay for in 2013.
The hotel locks the front door after dark. You either need a key card or you need to call the fornt desk from the outside phone to get in. The hotel is basically down the street from Trenton, NJ. Trenton is a high crime area, so I know why the hotel locks the front door.
There is a lack of staff at the front desk. Quite often there is a sign up at the front desk asking you to call a certain extension (extension 600) if you need assistance. Sometimes the front desk staff stay in a back office and you have to yell out to get assistance if you hear them in the back office.
There is nothing in walking distance of the hotel except for a car dealership and dog kennel. The grocery stores and shopping centers are across route 1, ut route 1 is a divided highway. You have to drive up to the next exit and turn around to get to them. At the grocery store across route 1, someone hit my car in the parking lot and drove off. The damage was a ruined front fender and damaged passenger side mirror. Apparently, I was told this is not uncommon for this part of NJ.
Many of the guests at the hotel are the rudest people I’ve met in a hotel so far. Several times I’ve had drunk hotel guests knocking on my door at 3 AM because they were out with friends partying and came to the wrong room looking for a place to crash. I won’t forget the large, loud woman in a red sequin dress knocking on my door wondering why I was in her friend’s room and her being rather loud about it. Then her friend opened the door across the hall.
In summary, its not a bad hotel if you don’t plan to sleep and you don’t need the kitchen.

I like this place a lot! Everything was clean and nice. What can be better Free Internet and free parking.

Where is a modern Ernest Hemingway to write the history of these weird, fey little sites squirreled away along lonely highways in the empty folds of New Jersey? ‘Extended Stay America’ –a chain of bland commuter hotels catering to embedded consultants – has one of its outposts along a bleak stretch of business highway outside of Princeton. There are no lights for miles; just empty woods lining the shoulder. You check in, work out the billing (it never goes simply) and you set yourself up in a room with a little kitchenette and a view of the hotel parking lot and a treeline about fifty feet away. This is where you’re supposed to live for six weeks. No gym, no pool, no restaurant, no booze, no groceries. No neighbors.
Who are the people that work in such a place? Who watches them; as they watch you arrive; as they mind your room and belongings while you are out during the day, as they clean your bedding? What kind of people crew a ghost ship? This was truly one of the most surreal experiences of my professional career. In Jersey of course, everyone has a car to drive them to work, to the store, out to eat, to get gas. streetcorners are miles apart. I had no vehicle. To leave the hotel on foot for an errand, or to find a bar – was unthinkable, it was over three miles to the nearest 7 – 11. In the mornings my employer would collect me, and at night I would be dropped off. What to do in Jersey when you’re dead?
Well, I’ll just go out for a brisk jog then, out-​and-​back. Must keep fit. Now there is one thing about Jersey, it is one of the last truly spooky landscapes in America. Creepy because no one has ever bothered to explore it; everyone thinks its boring. Try scouring around on foot. The hair on the back of your neck will stand on end. There are strange, secret industrial and research campuses out there. Vast parking lots and large radar dishes. I know. I saw ‘em.
But I digress. This extended-​stay hotel epitomized characterless, cheerlessness, and paucity. A twilight of service standards. One wacky incident: in the middle of wee small hours one night, when I am nodding off to sleep– the door to my room suddenly opens. Opened by someone with a key. Whoever it is just stands there in the pitch black, listening for my breathing; then departs. How about that? Burrr.

If you are planning to stay in the Princeton, NJ area I would recommend you stay away from this business. Sure they are cheap, and maybe it is worth it if you are planning to stay for a night or two, but I had a bad experience and a business with customer service this bad should not be rewarded.
First off I stayed here for 3 months so my review is based on a long term experience. There were several things I disliked about this hotel (in no particular order).
1) The internet was way too slow — Seriously, when going on YouTube I had to pause the video and let it load completely before I could watch it. It was as slow as dial up. And if you want a «decent» speed you have to pay a ridiculous amount. Not cool.
2) They make you pay for room cleaning and then they don’t show up — So I had to pay $ 120 for cleaning (which sucks because for $ 120 I could have forced myself to not live like a pig for 3 months…) for cleaning once a week but during my first 2 months there they only showed up like 4 times. I went to complain and they said the maid was «busy» and that she would come the next day but that was complete BS. I complained again and again but nothing happened other than the same old excused. Very not cool.
3) And then when checking out they tell me I owe $ 20 for some «fee» that they didn’t charge me when I checked in. Because I stayed there for 3 months I got a discount if I paid in full at check-​in which I obviously did. Then when leaving they said I owe them money? When I asked what this fee was the guy there couldn’t tell me. All he said was «the computer says you owe it so we have to charge it». SO DAMN NOT COOL.
Dear Extended Stay America, you suck.