Like most people who stay at Homestead Studio Suites, we know it's not going to be a Ritz. Rather, we're looking for an economical roof, bed and shower - and this fits the bill.

I stayed two nights while taking classes in the neighborhood. The facility was packed - which says something in itself.

I was given a smoking room - which I did not request nor prefer and was re-roomed with a simple request for a non-smoking room.

My room, though modest, was clean and neat. Plenty of hot water. Clean sheets. Great pillows. Plenty of closet space. Well stocked (utensils, plates, etc.) kitchenette. No frills - so no shampoo or hair dryer. Large, flat screen TV with plenty of channels. I also appreciated the more-than-usual number of electrical outlets in the room for charging my various gadgets.

My only "cringy" moment was on day 2 when my room key ceased working. I went to the office with photo ID in hand for a replacement. I told the clerk my room number and she simply produced a replacement key without cross-checking my ID to my face or the guest register.

Otherwise, I was very pleased with my stay, the price,location and value.

There seemed to be only one person on staff at a time and s/he was responsible for everything: checkin, cleaning, complaints, etc. Since we had no complaints, we barely noticed -- just had to wait 5 mintes for them to come to the office to check us in.

That said, the room was clean with a full complement of clean towels. The room has a full kitchen with an oven and stove, microwave and refrigerator (not the tiny barely-fits-the-doggie-bag size, but a real fridge with separate freezer!).

The bed was comfortable, pillows plentiful and firm and the linens were clean and crisp.

The hotel is located very near shopping and restaurants with many, many choices within a one mile radius. We took a walk along the "river" at Dobson Ranch (right across the street) and had a good morning of it.

We've been staying in 1-star hotels in the Phoenix/Mesa area and this was definitely a step UP (advertised as a 2-star hotel).

They've recently instituted a $75 deposit for "damage or cleaning" of the room. I wasn't charged the deposit (I think I made my reservation before they instituted it) -- just so you know before you get there.

Overall it was a better experience than the 1-star hotels we've been used to for not much more money (not even 10% more)...

Make sure not to park in the apartment complex or business parking that adjoins the hotel parking lot.

Understaffed, underequipped

This hotel has serious management problems. Apparently there is only one employee on duty at any time. I arrived at about 4:00 PM and the front office was locked. There is a sign on the window that the office is temporarily closed and the staff will return shortly. 30 minutes later, no one had showed up, so I left and ran some errands.

When I returned at about 5:30, the clerk was there. I requested a ground floor room. She said none were a available. OK, fine. She assigned me to a 2nd floor room. However, when I got to the room, the electronic key card did not work. So I returned to the office, and again, the office was locked. I waited almost an hour before she returned again.

She assigned me to a different room, and when I got there, the wi-fi was basically non-operational. Only 1 bar of signal strength, and it took 5 minutes to connect to any web site. I returned to the front office and complained, and requested another room closer to the wi-fi access point. She reassigned me to another room,, a first floor room, which she previously said was unavailable This room had the wi-fi router right there in the room, but still, only 1 bar of signal. I was ready to leave and go to another hotel but by then it was getting late so I stayed.

The next morning, at 5:30 AM, somebody fixed something. The wi fi came back up and I was finally able to get some work done over the internet.

The front desk clerk tried very hard to please me, I don't fault her, it's an ownership/management problem.

The grounds of the hotel were a mess. There was trash everywhere. All of the trash cans around the hotel were overflowing. A little picnic area was also a mess.

Get your act together!

The hotel is located near shopping and main roads, the front desk clerks are very well trained and polite (if somewhat overworked). They swapped out the mattress when I requested it the next day, maintenance was efficient after I agreed to a "small" repair which wasn't so small, they replaced the entire tile floor in kitchen and bath. That was inconvenient. I ran into a problem when I asked the $50 coupon, sent to me by email when I made the reservation be credited to my account, which they did, but it was then charged again, and when I brought bank statements, after 3 phone calls telling them they had charged my account, not credited it, the manager did not have time to speak to me. Head office did reply to my complaint promptly. It was way more trouble than it was worth.