This hotel deserves its ranking and its few (so far) glowing reviews. While it won't wow you with a fabulous lobby or trendy decoration, it meets and mostly exceeds the expectations of even the most seasoned travelers.
Room - Not fashionable but clean, comfortable, featuring everything you need. As with any Residence Inn, the kitchen and sitting area turn out to be more useful than you expect.
Service - Love those Marriott smiles! Very attentive, too.
Continental Breakfast - Much better than average, with some hot entrees to go along with a great selection of bread, bagels, cereal, juice, etc. Seriously, this is one of the best "free" breakfasts I've run across in years of business and leisure travel.
Evening Reception - Enough to make a meal out of, and different each night.
Overall atmosphere - Pretty relaxed, but must get a little wild during spring training.
Location - Very accessible part of NW Phoenix Metro/Peoria/Glendale/Sun City, though you'll need to leave pretty early to get your flight out of Sky Harbor, especially if it's A) Rush Hour; and B) You've rented a car from their inconvenient, far away rental car center.
Overall, this property epitomizes the usefulness - and dual nature - of the TripAdvisor rankings. As with most places, top-ranked hotels are a mixture of awesome luxury properties and clean, friendly hotels that fulfill their promises and don't piss you off. The Residence Inn Peoria is firmly in the latter category.
