Hilton Garden Inn Baltimore Inner Harbor

Parking was the biggest headache. Self-parking cost about $25 a day, access is from Exeter Street right behind the hotel, and you have to take an elevator down to the lobby before heading up to your room. The garage is very tight for full-size trucks and SUVs. Ubers weren’t as common in the area as I expected, so we did a lot of walking. It’s an easy location for Little Italy and Fells point, and the building’s older but has been renovated pretty well. The room was pretty standard. I had to defrost the fridge because someone before me had turned it all the way up. The pillows were super soft and awful, so bring your own. I needed three together. There was a bit of road noise even on the 12th floor, but that’s typical downtown. We didn’t try the second-floor bar or restaurant, and the elevators were surprisingly quick. For a baseball or football game, I’d probably pick their other Hilton, Hilton Inner harbor, for the location, though it’s much louder and maybe not quite as nice as a standard hotel. For food and bars, this one is better located and has less of a big lobby bar feel.

Things were perfect when I came in 2024, but now it’s a complete mess. Unwashed reused pillows, stained linen and carpets, broken remotes and doors, and no accountability or respect from the housekeeping supervisors. They seemed lazy and not passionate. I was completely disgusted. This hotel used to be a 9-10, now it’s a 1-10. Don’t waste your money. A guy named Anwar was booking my room, but he looked really nervous and I don’t think he’s properly trained. I hope I don’t get charged twice for a mistake. The lobby staff are friendly, but the first-floor bathroom was extremely dirty and the housekeeping supervisors were rude. I even ended up walking through employee areas in the back for an hour without anyone around. Disgusted.

Sue Rich, the manager, offers special rates for Johns Hopkins patients and trains employees in specific ways to help them. I’ve been in a research study at Hopkins for 14 years and visit several times a year, so I highly recommend this hotel if you’re a patient there. This week an unexpected minor outpatient procedure meant I had to stay in Baltimore longer than planned. The front desk found me a room even though this hotel and others were sold out because of a convention. Sue understands that when you’re dealing with a health situation, extra hassle is the last thing you need. Thank you, Sue!

We slept on sour, smelly sheets for two nights, and I felt awful about the whole situation. I’d vomited on my side of the bed the first night and cleaned it up as best I could. I asked the morning front desk staff to change just the sheets that day, even offering to skip the next day’s cleaning. The woman said it wasn’t possible because they only clean every other day, then said she’d see what she could do. When we returned that night, the same sheets were still there. The following night, after we’d been out all day, I pulled back the comforter around 9 p.m. and found they still hadn’t been changed. I’d had enough and started crying downstairs as I explained it. Someone came up to change them within 20 minutes. The morning front desk staff had been extremely rude and uncaring. I didn’t want to be there at checkout in case anyone asked how the stay went, because I would’ve had to tell them about the embarrassing situation. We used to really like Hilton, but the lack of basic human decency made me feel horrible. I can’t stay at another Hilton again.