Courtyard by Marriott Buffalo Amherst/University

Unfortunately, our stay at the Courtyard Marriott was extremely disappointing. In fact, when we arrived, there were already guests in front of us at the front desk asking for refunds, and guests behind us were also expressing concerns. That should have been an immediate red flag, and unfortunately, our experience confirmed many of the same concerns.

There was construction taking place at the hotel that woke us up, yet this was never disclosed to us before or upon arrival. Had we known there would be disruptive construction during our stay, we would have seriously reconsidered booking. Guests should be given advance notice about significant construction and noise.

The room itself also had multiple basic maintenance and housekeeping issues. There was no body wash provided, the shower drain did not work properly, and there were large, noticeable water spots on the ceiling. Neither of the bedside table lamps worked because there were no light bulbs in them.

Any one of these issues might be understandable on its own, but having this many problems in a single room is unacceptable. Combined with the undisclosed construction and the number of other guests we saw requesting refunds when we arrived, the entire experience left a very poor impression.

I understand that things can go wrong, but this room and the overall stay simply did not meet the standard I would expect from a Marriott property. At a minimum, the hotel needs to improve its communication regarding construction and take much greater care with basic room maintenance and housekeeping.

Staff was friendly, accommodating, helpful and generous. Room was clean, quiet and well laid out. Food options in cafe were very good and lots of good seating options. Hotel was off the commercial areas and set away from hubbub despite being just off highway and easily accessible.

Proximity to my destination

decent parking, clean, but room/linen smelled like smoke. market and coffee/cafe downstairs.

Starbucks

Outdoor fireplace

Pool needs paint

Terriffic staff! Scott the manager & all the managers and the breakfast staff, especially! Could not have been better for our family group!

The hotel name.

Peaceful,
Cosy
Amenities are good
Close to the airport

WiFi worked well. The electricity didn’t have any problems. That’s the list of what went well. Outer doors were not locked and secured, so anyone could get into the building without a key. Lobby water that is supposed to be refreshing tasted terrible. Fitness room water dispenser did not work. Luggage carts were barely functional and make horrendous noise when rolling. Not great when you have people using them early in the morning. The entire floor can hear it the entire time. Room heat/air conditioning was not functional. We were told to open the window. The window leaked badly in the rain. Temperature controls on the shower were reversed. Pool was too cold to use. No included breakfast available, which is ridiculous given the price for the room. (But, the bistro in the lobby will sell you $20 scrambled eggs. No thanks.) Marriott should be embarrassed to have their name on this property.

Location, quiet night, pleasant looking lobby and café. (Didn't purchase food or drink there)
Nice to have smart tv's in rooms to allow guests to use certain apps.

The staff was very friendly, nice, and accomadating. The front desk clerk was very helpful and kind as well as the morning cafe staff.

Good location

I stay here several times a year while visiting relatives. Pros are a good location, great staff at front desk and bistro. But issues with cleaning and maintenance are common, and the property isn't responsive when problems appear.
By the first morning of my most recent stay in early Jan 2026, multiple problems were evident:
>> The heating system was stuck at 74F – too warm for us! I could change the settings on the newish digital thermostat, but no adjustments had any effect on the actual functioning of the heating system.
>> There was no electrical outlet on the desk – no way at all to plug in a laptop. The place where an outlet should have been installed when the new desk was assembled was easy to see, but the assemblers hadn’t finished the job, and nobody had inspected their work and corrected the error.
>> The tub drained too slowly. Just needed some Drano.
>> No clothing hook on the inside of the bathroom door. The screw holes were there but no hook. The door had been recently painted but the coat hook had not been replaced.
On our way out for the day, I stopped at the desk and reported all these issues to the person on duty. She dutifully wrote everything down. The hotel had at least 10 full hours to correct at least some of these problems.
When we returned to our room that evening, care to guess how many of these things had been fixed?
Zero. Zip. None. Not a single one! Not even a note of apology. The management of the hotel simply ignored me.
The hotel was nearly empty, but stillwe were placed in a room that was plainly unready to be occupied.
If you plan to stay here, I strongly recommend you inspect the room carefully before you start to unpack. Demand another room if you find problems because they likely won’t fix them for you!