Hotel Residence Inn a Box Elder

By far not a “bad” hotel but was disappointed. I travel A LOT across all brands and typically a Residence Inn is one of my favorites. But this location falls short of my expectations. …maybe because it is next door to a water park and instead of business clients, it has more families and vacationers (the place was packed with kids while we were there)? The facility is nice- what you would expect from a Marriott brand. However, a few minor things were noticed. Most nice hotels have now gone back to daily housekeeping- this location has not. We could have requested service during our three days but did not. Not a big deal, but noticeable. Second, the mirror in the bathroom is damaged. Certainly not a big deal, but noticeable. Trust me, I know the brand standards for breakfast service and standards were offered — just without any extras or common sense or attention to detail. Scrambled eggs full of water content (from being microwaved). BUT the container of salsa was there but no cheese like most properties. Bread, English muffins and bagels were there but no danish or nutra-grain type bars common at most locations. No waffles, no Nutella (for bananas) but they did have the standard peanut butter, oatmeal was empty two out of three mornings. Standard orange and apple juice but lacking the usual cranberry at most locations. Temperatures were in upper 90’s in Rapid City but no urn of ice water infused with lemons or cucumbers in the lobby. But hot coffee is yours for the taking. I just left a Townplace Suites by Marriott earlier in the week. There for breakfast each morning, you had two kinds of waffles with a rotating fruit compote (strawberry and blueberry), chocolate sauce, whipped cream and sprinkles were also offered. In addition, there was a rotating egg choice (scrambled egg, omelet style with cheese on the mornings I was there PLUS rotating protein (bacon, sausages etc), Plus an entree choice that also rotates (quiche, ham and Swiss croissant, sausage biscuit while we were there. Cranberry and chocolate milk. Now back to the Residence Inn: Again no quiche, biscuits, or step up offerings but today instead of scrambled egg, they had round eggs (think McDonald’s egg McMuffin style) which would have been fine if I could have made my own, but the only protein was long link sausage— so no muffin sandwich for me (bacon or Canadian bacon or patty sausage would have worked but oh yeah no cheese at this location. Of course none of this is really a big deal in itself but it falls short compared to other Marriott experiences.