Hilton Garden Inn Charlottesville

I try to stay loyal to Hilton as a Gold member, but I won't return here next time I'm in Cville. They charged $115, including state and occupancy tax, for early check-in so we could iron a suit for a wedding. The front desk was curt. A woman behind the counter, who I assume was Manager Dawn, wore a bright blue tshirt and had her back to me, leaning on the counter. She didn't look at me or welcome me. The room wasn't clean by my standards. The dated furniture was torn and badly needed updating. There were dried boogers on the comforter and stains on the walls. On the positive side, I didn't see or smell any mold on the AC, as previously mentioned. For less than 24 hours, the $400 I paid wasn't worth it. There are much better hotels around that cost less and offer more value. Being a Gold member meant nothing here. In response to the manager, the day staff didn't listen to my concerns and were curt when I asked questions. Around 1p, there was no one at the desk when we left for the evening to ask. We got back very late and didn't want to deal with it. The young woman at the night desk was friendly, and I could have asked her for a new comforter, but I didn't want to wait 30 plus minutes for someone to bring one up. The stains and ripped chair weren't new. Blaming guests for your shortcomings is poor business practice.

The restaurant staff were great, but seemed overworked. One person was serving the whole room on a weekend when the hotel had two wedding parties booked. My room looked out at a roof and AC unit, despite the website showing lush green trees for every view. There were rarely staff at the front desk, housekeeping came only every other day, and we got just two tiny towels for a double room with two adults. Breakfast wasn't included except with a special rate, and service stopped at 10 am even on weekends. The hotel felt overpriced for what we got, wasn't near anything, and was very disappointing for Charlottesville. I won't stay there again.

After speaking with General Manager Ron Williams, I'm happy 😁 to say he made every effort to resolve the issue. I deeply appreciate that and look forward to using my Hilton Honors account for future bookings. It seems the problem and its escalation came from Booking.com not providing customer service or following through on resolving customer issues. Before that, this was by far the worst hotel experience I've had. I didn't get the room type I requested, which I reported to both the hotel and booking.com. The room also smelled weird and had broken or malfunctioning equipment, again reported to both. I spent hours contacting people, and nobody wanted to take responsibility or fix things. The hotel and booking.com each blamed the other for not responding. For the second night, the hotel moved me to a clean, working room, but I still never got the room type I'd requested and paid for. I was deeply disappointed in everyone involved. Based on that service, I wouldn't use or recommend Booking.com or Hilton Gardens.

I had no complaints. The rooms were clean, the gym was accessible and had all the amenities, and the food was good. I've stayed here at least 10 times over the past year to get to the local hospital for work, including when weather kept me from making my usual commute.