How Many Old School RIs Are Left?
 

I'm currently staying at the Residence In Valley Forge and it is still one of the original style with the two story cluster of buildings with exterior doors. I thought that all of these had been sold off or converted to Sonesta Suites. I am in a studio and it is huge and very nicely updated. I forgot how big that they were inside.

Does anyone know what others may be out there? The last one that I had stayed in prior to this was in Oklahoma City about 10 years ago and that property has since been converted to a non-Marriott property.

I figure that it is also safe to say that these are the only exterior corridor Marriott properties left.

1. Too many, IMO. I'm glad you found a nice one, but the ones I've had the misfortune of finding have been dumps.

2. There are other Bonvoy properties with exterior corridors, though some that come to mind are not corridors in the traditional sense but rather outdoor facing doors that are theoretically accessible to the public, like the St. Regis Bahia Beach, the Lodge at Sonoma, etc.

The ones I've been to that still exist include:

• Residence Inn San Diego La Jolla
• Residence Inn Las Vegas Convention Center

I haven't been to them post-covid, so don't know what they are like now, but were perfectly serviceable ~5 years ago. It probably helps that they're both in climates where the weather makes it easier to maintain (no snow, etc).

There are lots of properties with exterior corridors.

off the top of my head:
westin Hapuna
Mauna Kea
Courtyard Waikiki
Ritz Carlton Bali
Le meridian Chiang rai

Old school Residence Inns were not "sold off" by Marriott. Although Marriott owns the Residence Inn brand, the actual properties are franchises.

The Residence Inn brand was acquired by Marriott in 1987. Initially, the brand standards were for clusters of residential buildings with outside doors, 2-story penthouses reached by exterior stairways, and no elevators. Around the mid-1990s, Marriott changed the standards. New-builds would have inside hallways and no 2-story penthouses.

Older properties can keep their Residence Inn branding if they are properly maintained. Marriott is not kicking them out. When a Residence Inn property has exterior entrances and 2-story penthouses, the Marriott website shows it. Often these older properties are well located.

Service Properties Trust owned a lot of Residence Inns. In 2020/2021, Service Properties Trust reflagged them to Sonesta ES and reflagged other Marriott Bonvoy hotels in their portfolio to other brands of Sonesta International Hotels.

I stayed in one last weekend, San Francisco Airport (San Mateo). Pretty well maintained, just fine for a one night stay.

Four others that come to mind are Residence Inn Santa Fe, Residence Inn Boulder, Residence Inn Fremont Silicon Valley, and Residence Inn Hartford Windsor.

You can tell it's an old school Residence Inn if the gallery of room photos on Marriott.com includes a "Bi-level Loft" or a "Penthouse Suite" — which are two different names for the same thing.

RI Silicon Valley I and II.

There is one in downtown Denver Colorado

That took me back nearly 40 years ago to my college graduation at Michigan State University...put my folks/brother up at the RI near campus. Doofus brother was playing basketball in the sports court and dislocated his shoulder the evening before my graduation...that evening they spent a couple of hours at Sparrow Hospital (he'd been having trouble with it and ended up with repair surgery the following December. Madder than a wet hen, I was...how dare he take the focus off meeee!

I’ve not seen one that’s still flagged as a RI in a few years. Most of the ones I’ve seen are Sonesta’s or other extended stay brands. However, I’ve got so many experiences in these things. When I was a kid and doing travel sports and regional drum line, they were always where we’d stay. They were cheap, could fit a parent(s) plus at least 2 teenagers. Sometimes my parents and other would stay in 1 2 room suite, and then 4 boys would stay in their own suite. To say that was fun was an understatement.

Lots of nostalgia for those old RIs. I remember traveling with young kids and booking the bi-level suites.

As long as they're maintained, I don't mind them at all. The only real issue would be in areas that get a lot of snow.

Stayed a few years back in Sacramento on Howe Avenue. Not sure if still there but it was very og.

Residence Inn Sacramento Cal Expo on Howe Avenue is still there and still branded as a Residence Inn by Marriott -- complete with exterior entrances and Penthouse Suites.

I love them and have stayed in quite a few in the Northeast in snowbelts (Albany, NY / Binghamton, NY). Providence, RI, Central NJ just come to mind. Hope they are still there. Also one around PHL that could well be Valley Forge (inside an industrial park). Used to be extremely common to get the penthouse as an upgrade.