Tru By Hilton Syracuse-Camillus

Breakfast was a mess. The options were questionable at best, the coffee machines were almost always empty, and the pancake machine kept refusing to work. The trash bins stayed full too. I don't think I saw an empty one during my stay. We also had to wait at the front desk for someone to come check us in. In the room, the floors were sticky, and the keys kept failing even though I kept them away from my phone.

The rooms are snug and cozy, with clean, modern decor. There's no microwave in the room, though there's one in the lobby near the breakfast area. Shopping and restaurants are conveniently close.

There were some nice parts to the hotel: it's clean overall and conveniently next to Costco, and the lobby has fun decor, a comfortable feel, and an entertainment area. Breakfast had the usual eggs, sausages, toast, and cereal. I liked the pancake maker and yogurt machine. But the room was small, and the hand soap dispenser was so hard to use that I hated it. I checked in on the app earlier that day and chose room 412 on the highest floor, away from the elevator. At around 6:30 PM, the digital key still wasn't ready, and the front desk said the room wasn't ready. They gave me 401 after I asked for a quiet room, but it was right next to the elevator. I went back down and got room 234, farthest from the elevator, and unpacked there. Then the air conditioner made a loud, sharp noise that was unbearable to sleep through. We recorded it and showed the desk, who agreed it wasn't normal, and switched us to room 202. After packing and moving again, we found that the vent made a constant tingling sound that kept turning on and off. At 10:45 PM, the front desk texted to ask if everything was okay. I mentioned the noise again, and they said someone would come check shortly. We waited 20 minutes, but nobody came. I replied to the text, and a different front desk person answered, probably because the shift had changed. At 11:05 PM, she said she was very busy. It was so late by then that I told her to cancel the request and not come up. We had to put up with the noise all night. After all the back and forth following a long day, I was exhausted and still couldn't rest.

The staff were friendly and helpful, and the room was clean and really spacious. The lobby feels comfortable and modern, like a coffee shop, and breakfast had a nice range of food and drinks. There were large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand soap, and lotion in the room, though our body wash was almost empty. The room-darkening shade was a big plus. Closing it made it feel like night even during the day. There wasn't really a place to set out luggage and open it, though, and I laughed when the view from our big picture window was the gigantic word COSTCO on the building outside. The pillows felt like wadded-up sheets and flattened no matter how many I stacked. The mattress wasn't totally uncomfortable, but I wouldn't call it comfortable either. I'd stay again, but I'll bring my own pillows.