It was like a hotel from Silent Hill! My husband and I drove to Detroit not knowing which hotels were good or bad and didn't have time to look at trip advisor. When we drove up to the hotel it was night and didn't get a good look of the outside; walked in and seen men in "pimp" suits wearing "pimp" hats like right out of the movies; And they were playing dominos probably waiting for their "girls" Anyway we walked up to the check in counter which was cracked and big pieces of it missing and I hesitantly checked in! the place smelled like smoke and dirty carpet! The elevators were scary, when we got off at our floor we walked down the ugly hallway wishing we were in a better place! We walked by a room with the door wide open and a man sitting there watching tv and smoking, mess all over the room, it appeared he was living there. We didn't make it to our room, we looked at each other, turned around and checked out quick!! Drove back to Windsor and checked into a clean comfort inn.

The hotel looked like it used to be nice.

This is a cheap and great place to stay if you are partying at City Club or the Labryinth (Clubs downstairs). Ok, so it's not the cleanest or nicest place to stay, but if you ask for the city club rate you will get a deal, and if you are going to party until 4am at City Club, it is really nice to go upstairs and crash instead of driving home drunk.
The Leland is not for everyone, but if you are into the Club scene, can mind some of the dust and decay, it is better than a DUI ; )

The hotel lobby is beautiful and represents the hotel in its glory days. The rest of the hotel and stay, however, left much to be desired. The service was horrible. Every person we spoke with at the desk had a "don't care-don't want to be here" attitude and none were very helpful. There was no heat in our room (1154). One out of six elevators worked and the doors closed so quickly I have bruises on my forearms from trying to catch it. The phonebooks are over 2 years old and the desk attendent acted inconvenienced when we asked for a new one. Our room was decent and the rate ($80) would have been fine had the service and climate-control been 100% better.

The club (City Club) was great, as always. It's a lot of fun if you enjoy the industrial-underground theme. I, personally, love it and am always thoroughly entertained. The drink specials are great and the atmosphere the same. The diner in the bottom corner of the hotel is very satisfactory as well. The service is great, very friendly, and the food was fantastic. The prices were very reasonable, too. They have the best nachos! :)

Overall, I wouldn't even refer my most annoying in-laws to this hotel.

This is a very old hotel with a lot of history, but it is no longer fit for people. It's dirty, old and dangerous. Do not stay at this hotel if you are on vacation or for business. The Leland, as others have mentioned, is not just a hotel but also serves as housing. The lobby is beautiful and so is the ballroom, but this hotel is an overall dump. In most major cities, there are nice spots and bad spots. This would be considered a bad spot. The surrounding area isn't very safe. (I've seen a knife fight in the diner next to the hotel and homeless will come out by the parking lot.)
The basement of the Leland serves as a goth-industrial club on the weekends.
Often, friends and I attend the club on Saturdays and my brother won a free room from the club. This was about 2 years ago. We went inside the room and it was just scary. Everything was 1970s, falling apart and just completely ghetto. We ended up just using the room as a hang out. Nobody stayed the night. This place is way worse than project housing.