Check in was smooth. The place was clean, nicely put together, well stocked, suited our needs, and was quite comfortable. A better matress for the pull out couch would have been nice and a portion of it was at a weird angle, but my son said it was more comfortable than most pull out couches and he was able to accomodate the weird angle with the back couch cudhions. We greatly enjoyed the pool and the park across the street during daylight hours. The location was good for us and we felt perfectly safe on the premises. We did not feel safe leaving after dark however, unless we were going to someplace more in the nicer suburbs, but I'm not sure I would feel all that safe in most large cities downtowns in America. We chose valet because we didn't want to haul our stuff or feel insecure at all with the parking garage we read about in reviews. It can take a bit to get your vehicle from valet and it's pricey with tips added on top, but expected with valet. I also don't personally prefer valet because I feel like it takes my independence away, but it was the best choice with all else considered. Overall it was a great experience and we'd stay there again. The kids loved being up on the 8th floor, seeing all the fancy cars at valet, and the novelty of essentially staying in the Statler.