My friend and I traveled to the Kansas City/Independence, MO area for a baseball game (Royals vs. Twins). We decided to stay wherever we could find a good deal. We landed on the Crossland because it was cheap - and since it's an extended-stay property, the room included a kitchenette so we didn't have to eat all our meals out.
I've never stayed in any kind of extended-stay hotel before. This place would be ideal for someone visiting the area for more than a week at a time, but we were only there three nights.
Because of the extended-stay nature of the property, there was no daily housekeeping. You could take out your own trash and bring your towels to the front desk to exchange them for clean ones. For stays less than 7 nights, there was no housekeeping at all (unless you wanted the "daily refresh" for $3/night). Longer stays include housekeeping once every 7 days.
The location was great - easy to get to, and there was plenty of parking available. It was also very close to Kauffman Stadium, which was why we were in the area to begin with. There were lots of restaurants nearby as well as grocery stores.
The TV was old and took a while to get "warmed up." Had to wait for about 5 minutes after turning it on before the picture would show up. In a room with 2 beds, there was only one chair and a small table. There were dishes available for use in the kitchenette, but no tissues in the entire room. Also, there was no actual closet, just a rod by the door. The dresser was small and only had 3 drawers - this would have been very inconvenient had we been staying for more than 3 nights.
The lights were wired strangely. There was a bright overhead light by the door, and another very bright fluorescent light by the kitchen/bathroom. In order to use the bedside lamps, the light by the door had to be on, which meant we had to get out of bed to turn the lights off if we wanted to read before we went to sleep.
There were ants in the bathroom.
Wireless internet was available for $5 for the entire stay. We were not told this upon checking in, and didn't know about it until the last night when my friend asked about it. Since there was only one night left, we declined.
What we found most worriesome, however, was the lack of security. When we checked in, my friend (she made the reservation) just said her name, and the person working the desk gave her a key (only 1 key for two of us). The next day, the key wasn't working, so my friend went down to the front desk to get it fixed. The worker there (different person than the night before) just asked for her room number and made a new key - no checking to confirm that she was actually staying there. All the doors open to the outdoors, not to an internal hallway, so it would be very easy for someone to get in.
Overall, it wasn't really a bad experience, but it wasn't right for our stay. The price was right, but it wasn't for us. Next time we will choose to stay in a place designed for visitors staying a few days.
- Extended Stay America Independence
