Hilton Garden Inn Leiden

The bar and restaurant food let the hotel down. The menu is extremely limited, and what’s on it isn’t very good for the price. I ate there once, then went out for the rest of my meals. Breakfast was fine, no complaints. The rooms are comfortable and a good size, and the hotel itself is fine. Staff and service were great.

I’m due to stay here soon for work, but the booking and customer service experience has already been disappointing. I wanted to be near Leiden Centraal station, then realized the hotel is about a 37-minute walk away. That might normally be manageable, but I have a back injury and an elbow ligament tear, so a long walk is difficult for me. My company doesn’t reimburse daily Uber or taxi costs, which makes getting back and forth another burden. I was surprised there’s no courtesy shuttle to the train station. Many Hilton hotels in the US have gone out of their way in my experience to make travel easier for guests. I’m a Hilton Gold member and have regularly chosen Hilton for both work and personal trips. Once I understood the location would be hard given my medical situation, I spent several days trying to reach Egencia and Hilton reservations to ask for help or cancel. The booking was marked “non-cancelable/non-refundable,” so they offered no flexibility. I know there are policies, but customer care and reasonable accommodation for loyal guests should matter too. It’s made me reconsider keeping Hilton as my preferred brand, especially when I’ve generally had more flexibility and customer-focused service with Marriott and IHG.

Snow canceled our flights, so our stay in Leiden was unexpected. Even though many other people were stranded too, they got us settled quickly and made sure we were looked after. They also helped with laundry. Anna, our server and bartender, and Merle, the front desk concierge, were both warm and welcoming. Thanks to them, this was one of the best accommodation experiences of our three weeks traveling across four countries and eight cities.

The location wasn’t the nicest, right beside a highway. The rooms were nice enough, nothing special. Most of the service was in English, which seemed odd for a hotel in the Netherlands.