I very much enjoyed staying with Southwest Suites in one of their corporate apartments in…read moreAlbuquerque. I was here for a 4 months temporary work assignment, so I got to know the neighborhood, apartment and the staff well. I would recommend staying with them any time. Though with my job assignments, I will probably only be back in Albuquerque for a few days or a week at a time.
When I contacted Southwest Suites, and another rental office looking for temporary housing, I was impressed by response time from Southwest Suites. The website was pretty clear to navigate, and once I sent a response form reply, I was contacted within an hour with a list of apartments, with attachments of photos or a web link to the apartments. The options were a wide range of locations across the city, and amenities, from fully inclusive to totally unfurnished. This period of time between sending an email and receiving a response was the norm; the other rental office would take up to a day or two to contact me.
Once I selected and apartment, I stopped in the office to pay my deposits and fees, and the staff were really friendly and outgoing, and professional. Working for the federal government, I had to wait on my Per diem and housing allowances to work right when paying my rent. The office was very accommodating when I had a delay on my government credit card for payment.
I had some maintenance issued with needing light bulbs replaced. The apartment I chose had 10-12 foot ceilings and I was provided a two-step step stool to try to reach these fixtures. If I have a complaint, it would be about the maintenance call. Southwest Suites, is linked to a nation-wide corporate rental/management company. My maintenance person had to come back to the apartment twice to resolve my issue. The first time was them showing up without a ladder, and not knowing what kind of bulbs were needed. A nation-wide company should be able to have a list of simple things like light bulbs and fixtures in each apartment. In addition, they should provide maintenance with a truck that is equipped with large ladders and bulbs and the like.
This part of the review, is for your information about Albuquerque, and East Downtown, and is something to be aware of, and nothing that Southwest Suites can control. The apartment I selected is on Copper Avenue NE. This is located one block off Central Ave, and Broadway. It is across the street from the old Albuquerque High School, now townhomes and rental apartments. The location is very good. Several restaurants of great quality are almost across the street. There is a small grocery in walking distance, and Smith's (a Kroger Company) grocery store is a mile away. Downtown, with movie theaters, shops and other amenities are a couple blocks away. This part of town is up and coming and changing, so I did see some transient people, but the usually ignored me, or would say hi or good evening and nothing more. The neighborhoods in the High School, and house owners were very friendly, the residents of my building were not unfriendly, but never spoke to me. The one drawback is the parking in this neighborhood can be hard to find. You might have to walk a few blocks. I would recommend if you are there any length of time, like me, that you get with the city and rent a parking spot in the nearby parking garage. The apartment is also near the hospitals, so there were a few times the emergency helicopter noises got to be much, but there were very few sounds from ambulance arrivals.
The apartment itself was great; it is a small studio and just the perfect size. Again, the noise factor was there. The building is fairly new, but was not insulated between floors. So I had a heard of elephants quite frequently visiting upstairs; which is funny since I saw the resident couldn't have weighed more than 90 pounds dripping wet! The amenities are very comfortable. I especially liked the fact that it was a Temperpedic bed, which I have at home! I did have to re-arrange the furniture in order to watch television comfortably, but having wood floors that was easy to do. The silverware provided is cheap, so I had trouble getting ice cream out of the container without damaging any of the spoons. The dishes and pots and pans are nice quality, but are showing their age and starting to scratch or chip. The color is definitely dated. There are some spots where the white primer is showing through. It is about time to get rid of the bright-burnt umber color. I did not inspect the apartment before I went shopping, and that was a little mistake, I bought more than I needed. Many things are provided, so if you are in for a short time, you only need clothes and your food. If you are staying long-or-short term, like me, here's somethings I found missing that you will need. Garbage bags, the company only left what was in the cans. Dishwasher machine soap, again they only supply two. Cleaning spray or wipes, for the entire apartment.
