Courtyard Columbia Downtown at USC

When you’re looking for a home away from home look no further! I have stayed at this property countless times and it never disappoints. From the cleanliness of the rooms to the friendly staff this hotel offers a environment like no other in the area. The Bistro serves a great place to get your caffeine fix anytime, along with having solid food offerings on their menus. Their staff members are courteous and and they make you feel as though your in a full service restaurant. Who new fast casual hotel dining would be this good? Having a hotel bar simply puts it over the top for me! You can’t ever go wrong with a good selection of wine & spirits to improve customer morale! Cheers!
*If parking is a necessity, look to park on neighboring streets. The parking garage is suitable for matchbox cars and that’s about it. However, I’m not convinced to rate a hotel according to size of its parking garage or spaces. Quit being lazy and walk a few hundred feet to park, they have ample options to pull car up front for load in/​out.

2 strikes and I haven’t even unpacked.
First of all, the parking garage is not even accessible for standard SUV’s!?! There’s a bar hanging so low upon entering the parking garage that a standard SUV such as ours would not even fit under it without scraping the top of the vehicle. We just drove 4 hours in sleeting rain and now have to park outside on the street. A HUGE strike one!
Next we arrive in our room after finding a luggage rack and helping ourselves and while it’s a nice layout, bedroom separate from small sitting area, the bathroom area is so small you can barely walk in and sit on the toilet! Forget it if your a woman who wears makeup and has a hairstyle that requires more than a shake while stepping out of the shower… and right into the toilet!
There’s a tiny bar area big enough to hold my blow dryer and makeup bag but I guess they didn’t think one needed a mirror for those tasks. We only stayed here because sorority event recommended. Never again. Not for this girl.

This hotel is totally fine. I don’t know what all the negative reviewers are whining about. Yes, the parking garage is a little tight (so what). The freight train is loud — no question about that. That’s what the ear plugs are for and that’s why this hotel is more affordable than others. The staff is very nice.

Front desk staff is very helpful and friendly. My flight was super early, and they let me check in at 10:45am! Room was clean. Wasn’t too noisy, but I was on the side of the building overlooking the pool, not the street. I guess it could be noisy in the day and evening in the summer, though. Breakfast was lame and certainly not worth paying for. The review that says they have a Starbucks is misleading. They brew Starbucks coffee, but it’s not a real Starbucks (i.e. they don’t accept gift cards).

I stayed here for 6 days while attending a PLTW Training at USC. The hotel was walking distance away from my classroom. The staff was extremely kind every time I interacted with them. If I were just reviewing the staff they would get five stars.
My room was on the ninth floor. The fan in my restroom was not working and even though I reported it to the front desk, nothing was done about it. No follow-​up, and it was not fixed. My door was not properly placed or something because it rattled and shifted every time some one walked pass in the hallway. I stuck some paper in the doorway and it fixed the problem but I shouldn’t have to do that. In addition, getting into my room was a struggle because the door light would turn green but then get jammed when I tried to open it. And now for the noise, be prepared to hop on to the Polar Express train! The train is obnoxiously loud in the middle of the night, and will wake you up.
On the plus side, there is a Starbucks, a restaurant and a small mini market in the lobby for convenience.

I love this hotel. The recent updates are great!!! Starbucks in the lobby and more food options?!? Yes please! The staff is always amazingly helpful, and manager Holly has bailed my company out assisting us with last minute meeting rooms, etcetera last winter when ice storm stranded us at hotel and all local businesses closed. During ice storm this hotel also put together special meal for all guests even though their kitchen was closed at the time. Fast forward a few months… yes, if you are a light sleeper ask for the quiet side of hotel. This place is immaculate and the team on staff has never failed me. This is the hotel that gave me Marriott status due to many a business trip to CAE and I always make an effort to book early and get in!!!

We came into town for a class reunion. We paid more than we wanted, but hey, its a game weekend. The hotel was what we expected and more. The breakfast service was good and it has a great location to the university. The hotel has been recently refreshed, so the décor is modern and new.
If I had to pick something that I did not like, it was the street noise. More than I would expect.
We will be back.

Let me start by saying I never complain and have never posted a review of a hotel before. We have stayed at many Courtyards over the year and this one definitely falls at bottom of the list.
First Hotel is under Renovations at current time. This was not a huge bother but things are definitely out of sort from what you would normally expect. I also expect Marriott to let me know this when I reserved the room.
Next our room was not up to standards. Filled out guest review cards were still in room from previous guest. The biggest problem was the shower. It was scalding or ice cold. There was no in between. We all had to take cold showers.
Third, our room was noisy. The AC unit when on sounded like a plane was landing. Out neighbor could be heard through the connecting door having a midnight jam session listening to music. The refrigerator also had a terrible whine to it when the compressor was kicked on. My biggest complaint though was the overall sound prodding of the room. We could hear people in the hall as if they were standing in our doorway. Our room was on the 6^th floor and faced Assembly St so we heard the cars on the street below. I can live with a average street noise but we heard everything. I am no hotel designer but there has to be a way to fix this through thicker glass or other material. The drag racing motorcycles, the 4 emergency vehicle sirens, and the 5 train horns during our stay were a little much and they go on all night.
We went to the front desk to check out so I could let them know about problems. When I did so the clerk was friendly and asked detailed questions which he wrote down on a sheet labeled problems. The list was quite long already before ours were added. He then said as compensation he would give us extra Marriott points. I wasn’t looking for a free room but a discount or free breakfasts would have gone along way from me being a unhappy guest.

This hotel is okay for Columbia. If you have to be here, it’s doable. I’ve stayed here on multiple occasions. Parking is horrible, and the spaces are extremely narrow and compact. The free happy hour is nice, and the hotel seems to be fairly clean. It’s a pretty good location, and the area around it is fairly safe (for reference, I’m from the Columbia area). The one thing that really made me dislike this hotel is that I accidentally left my D&G belt behind when I checked out (on September 29, 2013). I realized it the next day, as I recalled placing it on the chair next to the bed, and it had likely fallen back behind the chair. I called immediately to ask if they’d look for it. One employee told me no guest had stayed in the room the following night after I had checked out, and another employee told me someone had stayed in the room. Both employees, however, told me they didn’t see my belt. Since it wasn’t a cheap item, I guess whoever found it either decided to keep it or sell it. It’s the only belt I ever wore since it had snaps instead of a belt buckle (I had owned it for five years), and it’s been almost a year now, and I still haven’t found another like it. I realize that was my mistake leaving it behind, but I’m disappointed that I received mixed information from the staff and that I wasn’t able to have it returned to me.

Had a pleasant stay here for 5 days. Free airport shuttle — I called when I landed and they came right away. Easy return as well.
Rooms were clean and sufficient. Service was excellent, very friendly, from the front desk, to housekeeping, to shuttle driver.
Free parking garage though spaces are small (doesn’t bother me — Los Angeles is a parking battleground).
Free wifi. Comfortable lobby. Gym and pool. Great location close to the university and downtown.

It was ok. Nothing to shout about. Staff is friendly. Room had a mini fridge. It’s pretty close to nice restaurants. Breakfast is pricy, but hey, there’s an omelette bar.

I travel often for work and usually stay in a Marriott hotel and I’m usually always 100% satisfied. This hotel was definitely not up to most Marriott standards. The staff was very friendly and helpful, you can’t beat the location (lots of things within walking distance), and they have an awesome bartender.
However, they need to do something about parking! The parking deck has a mere 6′ clearance so if you’re traveling in an SUV beware. Aldo the spaces are super tight.
The rooms are spacious but super tiny bathrooms. Also, some of the wood paneling was peeling and in the middle of the night the back panel of the tv fell off scaring me out of my mind!
Also, the noise level is high. I was on the 9^th floor which helped some but nonetheless I heard lots of street noise. There’s a trsin, lots of busy street traffic, and construction. Had I not been exhausted I would never have fallen asleep.
It’s not a terrible hotel but definitely not my 1^st choice.

While the room is adequate, the hotel told us they were out of towels. About 30 minutes later they brought more to the room. It’s a good thing for them but this helps me understand why they have only 3.5 stars. My night’s sleep was restful and comfortable and relatively quiet. Given this hotel is in the heart of USC, I was grateful for that.

I have to admit, Priceline scared me when it booked this place. I checked the reviews and I was like, «UGGH, crap.»
Anyway, I was prepared for a terrible experience after reading the less-​than-​happy reviews, but it was actually pretty decent… with a couple of caveats. It’s a good value, but I think three stars is still appropriate.
1. The noise from the train is unfortunate. It’s not their fault, but it’s just a bad fact of the hotel that you’ll experience lots of choo-​choos during your stay.
2. The Priceline price was way cheaper than the list price. Use Priceline.
3. The parking lot is utter nonsense. It is so crowded and tight that I felt like applauding when I saw an SUV successfully get into a spot. (On the other hand, free parking on the weekends is great.)
The staff was friendly, the rooms clean and WiFi is free. The location is convenient to the campus (since you’re literally right on campus), as well as equidistant from the main «happening» neighborhoods that I checked out. I was also able to walk to the farmers market and the capital, so score there too. I recommend the Hunter Gatherer for dinner. It’s only a couple blocks away. :)

When I am in Columbia my main stay is the Hilton Downtown, however this time one of my coworkers was staying here, so no biggie.
Actually, this Courtyard reminds me of the old Holiday Inn style hotel. Square room, a little paint, and bam! Even with the Bam you can still feel the past with the noisy A/​C unit, a bathroom that is made for a person about 5 foot tall, and some old décor that just states «I was at a Holiday Inn last night»
Even with the above it was not too bad. The largest turn off for me was the parking. It is covered (Good) attached to the hotel (Good) but tighter than a cats ass. Frankly, if you are not driving the new Smart car (You know the little golf cart that takes 91 Octane and averages less MPG than the standard sedan) you might as well forget it.
Back up, go forward, back up, squeeze in, nope not in, backup, try again, yep here we go, darn my ass is sticking out, back up squeeze in, here we go! Crap! I can’t open the door!
Would I stay here again, yes. However, I will be back to my Hilton as the first choice.

I stayed at this hotel for the SC State Fair. Here is my list of things that i noticed:
Pros:
The view! My room had a amazing view of Columbia.
The location was key if you wanted to go see the city because the hotel is in the city!
The room was very nice and housekeeping did a good job of cleaning our room beforehand.
You could rent movies on your TV that were in theaters 4 – 5 weeks before, though it is a little pricey, the movies being $ 5– $ 20 for 1 time watch.
The modern lobby really has that Marriott touch. From the fireplace seating area to the Business/​Computer center, this lobby is amazing and unique.
Cons:
The noise at night is not good. You can hear cars and train horns at 2am. Not a fan.
I couldn’t find any more cons because, really, there really isn’t a lot of bad things about this hotel. It’s a Marriott hotel, it’s what you expect. I liked this hotel, and I would recommend this hotel to anyone who doesn’t mind noise.
This hotel, for the most part, is great.

This was my favorite Courtyard that I’ve stayed at. I liked it because it was different from the other traditional Courtyard’s, it has more of an upscale hotel feeling in the lobby, don’t get me wrong. It is still a Courtyard, just felt a little more upscale.
I had a nice and clean sized King room with a pull out that overlooked the pool. The pool area was a bit loud until 10PM then it was fine. You will hear the trains in the early morning hours, but it did not bother me. The bathroom was also clean, the area where the shower and toilet was a bit tight but serviceable.
Breakfast was just okay, limited buffet choices. There appeared to be an omelet station but I never saw anyone working it.
Small bar but it was a nice change from the typical Courtyard lunch counter. You will not find those uncomfortable media pods. I appreciated that the Sam Adams was $ 5 instead of the $ 7 that they usually cost at the other Courtyards. During our stay there was complementary Beer/​Wine and Hor Dourves for two hours.
There are tons of great places to eat all within walks distance.

We stayed here for the week we were visiting Columbia, nice place, and a decent value. Good location. Good coffee. Comfortable beds. I would stay there again if I had the chance to go to a Carolina game.
Go Cocks !!!

Considering that the Courtyard is the mid-​to-​upper pier of Marriott’s business class hotels, (just above the F airfield Inn and a step below Residence Inn) this was a pretty shoddy experience for me.
Despite the friendly staff, the rest of the hotel was not up to Marriott par, and J.W. would take a rage dump if he saw this franchised location. Where to begin…
My room was on the fifth floor and despite this, I was kept up all night long by constant train horns, and road noise. Every-​time a car made a turn on to the main street, streams of headlights would light up the room despite having the blinds and drapes closed.
No hot water in the shower in any of the rooms. (My group had three rooms spread out on two floors, all had the same complaint) No glass wear. The separation between the bathroom and main sleeping area was a half-​height partitioned alcove that reminded me of my office cubical. I should mention, I could barely move around in the bathroom.
Hell, there was not even any glassware for the bathroom/​sinks or living area. (F airfield usually has plastic cups while Courtyard offers glass) It’s great you have a modern lobby, but the rooms were dated!
Then to add insult to injury, you have the gulls to charge for parking! I’ll pass if I ever end up in Columbia again on this property.

This place is not a 4, but I almost want to give it one to balance out the other reviews. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my stay, so I’m not sure why the service has been so terrible before.
I arrived and checked in with ease. The hotel staff were friendly and attentive. Like many Courtyards they had a happy hour from 5 – 6:30 during the week and offered free wine and beer as well as cheese and crackers. Some Courtyards serve more of a meal and not just a snack, so I wasn’t too impressed with the food. They raffled reward points to Marriott club members, and that was new.
That night when I wanted to try a close by restaurant the shuttle took me there. It took a while to be picked up, but that’s because there is only one shuttle driver to make the airport and hotel runs. I had a car, but the parking lot is super, super tight. I would suggest walking or shuttle.
All and all I had a pleasant stay literally right on South Carolina’s campus. You can hear the nearby train, but I think that would be the case with any hotel in the areas. Trains are loud…