I'm writing this review from my room at Sierra Suites. (A single bedroom suite)
Last week I stayed at Staybridge Suites, so this review compares the 2 properties.

I travel on business and prefer extended stay suite hotels.
Both Sierra and Staybridge are ranked #1 & #2 in Tripadvisor at time of this writing and their "top of ranking" for Parsippany is well deserved.

Either of these properties would be a good choice, so how to choose?

ROOM: Sierra is slightly better on room abience (pleasing cozy feeling) and amenities. (cotton bath robe and nice soaps,shampoos). To improve: Sierra water pressure for shower is weak to moderate, and all the main doors to the rooms have a strong (not well adjusted) spring, so slamming of doors is heard and felt.

Both properties are very new, clean and well maintained.

Both properties have comfortable beds and nice linens. The climate control in Sierra is a bit better, but I don't like either system, (Sierra's or Staybridge's) as the control is located in the main room, so it seems the bedroom can go to a different temperature if you close the BR door.

INTERNET ACCESS: Sierra is wireless. Staybridge is wired or wireless in the room and wireless everywhere else.

BREAKFAST and EVENING SNACK: Sierra provides just OK food. Staybridge is far superior. Staybridge evening meal can almost be called a real dinner. Also, at Staybridge, they have an "always" open feel where you can get coffee, tea, soda for free 24/7.

GREAT ROOM: Sierra's is moderate in size, whereas Staybridge is very large with high ceilngs. Staybridge also has a nice library/sitting room + a good business center with 3 computers.

GYM: Sierra has the best gym I've ever seen in a Suites hotel at this price range (see my video) On the other hand, Staybridge is very small (like I typically see)

POOL: Sierra is outdoors, is a nice size and feels a bit resort like, whereas Staybridge is smaller and indoors.

ELEVATOR: Sierra has only one (which can make you wait), whereas Staybridge has 2.

DVDs: Staybridge has a limited free selection, whereas Sierra has a rental machine (which is not functioning at the moment)

So which is a better deal?
Staybridge is a bit cheaper and with their bountiful food freebies and 24/7 drink pantry could be the better deal, However if your priority is room ambience and gym, Sierra is better.

Hotel is about 30 mins from Newark, and I stayed here for 2 weeks in June. Without a car though it is hard to get around, so I would recommend people to get a car if they want to go more than a few miles from here, since Taxi's are few and far between and very expensive and not always reliable (I called Parisppany taxi's and they never even turned up, and when I called back, just said, person could not come. No call , no apoligies etc). The hotel has a courtesy bus, which will take you within a few mile radius of the hotel, which means to the bus stop, and a few restaurants, supermarkets and a sears, or local offices in the area. There is also a small shop, where you can buy basic items and food. THere is a chinese and Italian takeaway place they have menus for , which will deliver to your room. Can highly recommend the chinese takeway.
Breakfast is included in the price aswell but quite basic,and evening there are some small snacks on offer, which can do you, if you dont mind a simple dinner.

Also there is a laundry where you can buy the detergeant ($2), and the washing machine and dryer cost $2 each. There is also a small gym with a Tv in there.

Room: I had a 1 bedroom suite, which was a large Room, with sep bedroom. I also was lucky enough to have a large screen TV, which I did not see in the other rooms. All have DVD player, tv in the bedrom, kitchen with stove, pots, pans, cutlery, microwave, fridge/freezer, glasses etc. Bathroom ammentities are shampoo, soap and body crea,. Also all rooms have free internet connection (which was fast).

Positive
Liked my room with the great large TV (though I dont think all had tihs big TV), dvd player and the easy to use free internet acess. I chose this hotel due to having the Laundry room. Room was very quiet.

Negative
- Did not refill my shampoo, body cream each day. Ended up having to take it off the carts when I ran out. After a week I complained, and then I started getting it again. And on one day, did not give me any bath towel or bath mat.
- On first day, bed had some hairs from someone else (ie different colour to my hair colour!), also got some bites. Not sure what it was though, but other nights, no bites.
- Unles you have a car you are quite limited due to the location, and the courtesy bus is good if you can actually get it. found it is usually not available at the time in the morning you might want it, never available over lunch early afternoon, and in afternoon around 5-7 almost impossible to get, since it is promised morning and evening to permanent indian guest to shuttle them to work (so bad luck for other guests if you need to go out that time). After 7 till 8:30pm usually not a problem
- Staff are ok, with some much better than others. On One day I asked for the courtesy bus to take me to the bus stop over lunch, and they said they would look for a driver and get back to me right away. After 40 mins , no response so I called back. Then had someone else, who said they would look and get right back to me.. After another 15 mins no resp, so I have up. If they dont have a driver, fine, but would be polite to let me know.

Overall I have stayed here a few times, and I dont mind it here, and probably this stay was the worse from 'service' point of view. With that said, I would stay again, but if you are looking for a 5 star place / service look elsewhere (possibly Sheraton next door., though I have not stayed there).

We stayed at this hotel for a week in June, 2007. The hotel itself is very roomy and nicely appointed – with wood trim, carpet and tile flooring. I liked that there were several conversation areas with comfortable seating.

Our room was the studio queen, with a queen-size bed and pull-out sofa sleeper. The kitchen was small but adequate – full size frig, half a stove, coffee maker, microwave, etc.

What I enjoyed about the hotel: great swimming pool and spa, adequate breakfast (good bagels but the eggs and hash browns were stale and cardboardish). What I didn’t like: warm rooms, inaccessible from some highways.

On our second day, we had problems with the AC and called the front desk to check it. The hotel engineer was still looking into the problem when we left around 4 pm. We came back to our room at 11:30 pm and the hotel had a portable AC unit hooked up to the window and blowing on our son’s would-be bed (the pullout sofa). My husband complained and they transferred us to the room across the hall that night and the next day we moved our belongings. They did resolve our problem and treated us professionally.

My husband is somewhat particular about the hotels when we travel so I research hotels to limit the surprises. Two of the areas that he is most particular about is room temperature and shower flow. (Also, bed comfort, lighting and room layout which were all very nice). The showers were low flow and seemed to water limp out of the showerhead. And the room temperature – horrible.

Although each room has a thermostat and guests can adjust the temp, it did not seem to work adequately, even in the second room. The thermostat senses when the guest is in the room and adjusts to 74 degrees if you are out of the room. However, at night we set the temp down to 70 degrees, then 68 degrees, then 66 degrees and it didn’t get very cool. Sixty-six degrees felt like 71 degrees. At my work, we have thermostats in offices that are like props and only affect the system by +- 1 degree. I think this hotel’s thermostat system must be similar.

In addition, one of the problems with the design is that the vent pushes the cool air into the main room and the bedroom area of the room is almost in a cubbyhole on the side. However, my son was in the main part of the room sleeping on the pullout and slept with a sheet and a light blanket and didn’t get chilly. In fact, all of use were somewhat warm at night.

The entire first floor of the hotel seems cooler then the second floor, where our room was.

Secondly, although it is easy to get to the hotel from I-287 North, we were unable to get to the hotel from I-287S or from I-80E. It is very difficult to get to the hotel. We asked for a map and directions to various places, but they didn’t have a map and the staff weren’t able to provide directions.

And finally, the hotel has nice wide hallways and must have a huge footprint. There is only one elevator in the center of the hotel and the housekeepers must share it with the guests. That’s not a problem (except that it is slow!) because the hotel has at least four sets of stairs that are carpeted, nicely lit and clean. We used the stairs almost all the time but be warned if you have a disability or don’t want to walk far.

We used the laundry facilities, which were expensive but clean and quick. The gym had a couple of treadmills, among other equipment and a TV. The business center had three working computers which were slow but adequate.

All in all, this was a great value if you are not picky! We will not stay here again though because of the warm rooms.

DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL. I stayed there for a wedding recently and it was one problem after another. They were not apologetic, they were rude. First, I was not given the wedding gift bag that was provided by the bride and groom. They spent a lot of time and money on the gift bags and I was not given mine, yet there were a bunch of extra ones just left behind the counter by the hotel staff.

The next day the bride had to hand them out to any guest she could find that hadn't gotten theirs. This is totally unacceptable. It's her wedding and she should have to do that. Especially when it should have been very easy for the front desk to do.

The Sierra Suites was supposed to provide bus and shuttle transportation for everyone going to the wedding I was going to. They were grossly under prepared for this task. We were downstairs waiting for the bus at 6:30pm when we were told to be there so that we could make it to the 7pm cocktail hour. The bride had requested continuous bus and shuttle service. The first bus and shuttle left and did not return to get the rest of us. Instead they went to shuttle a different wedding. We didn't get picked up until 7:35pm and didn't get to the cocktail hour until 7:45pm. So we missed 45 minutes of the very expensive cocktail hour. I estimate it cost the bride's family $2,000-4,000.

If the Sierra Suites has more than one wedding staying at their hotel and they promise transportation for all of them, then they should make sure they have contracted enough transportation to do so.

Then after the wedding we were supposed to have continuous bus and shuttle service between 11:30 and 12:30pm. It started too early at 11pm (before the cake was even cut) and then the last bus said it was leaving at 12pm. When the bride told the bus driver this was not what she had agreed to, the driver was rude to her.

The bride had to hurry all of her guests onto the bus, but it could not fit everyone, so the bride and groom, their parents, the bridal party and others were left behind. The bus and shuttle got lost, so they didn't end up getting back to the reception site to get the bride, etc. until 1am. These continuous mistakes by the hotel and the transportation that they contracted and were therefore in charge of made the wedding extremely difficult for the guests. Instead of enjoying her day, the bride was running around trying to fix the hotel's mistakes. She and her family will never get that time and money back.

We paid good money to stay in the hotel and we missed parts of the wedding we had traveled so far to attend. When we brought this to the attention of hotel management, we were treated rudely. They did nothing to rectify the situation and acted like it wasn’t their fault since they had “contracted” the transportation. There are plenty of hotels in the area. Don't take a chance at disaster by staying here.