Hampton Inn Petersburg-Southpark Mall

I’m a Hilton Honors Diamond member and love Hampton Inns. I stayed here last year for a big IHRA race and loved it, so I booked again, but this time I was really let down. There wasn’t any coffee all weekend. The TV in my room didn’t work, and after I called about it, I never saw a repair person. There was no shampoo in the shower and only one towel in the room. Come on, guys, this was ridiculous.

After 16 hours on the road, my husband, daughter, and I got here around 3am, all exhausted, with my grumpy baby. If you’re stopping for sleep, I would not come here. The desk guy quoted $155 for the night, which surprised me since I’d been staying at a cute luxury inn for $140. We were tired and gave in, then saw my card charged $195 “because of fees.” The hallways and room stank. The deadlock was broken, the room was humid, and then we noticed bugs. The TV kept cutting in and out, so we gave up on it, and the loose outlets wouldn’t charge my phone. We were next to the stairwell, where employees talked and laughed loudly and kept slamming doors for about an hour and a half between 3 and 4am. The noise shook the whole room. Even my grumpy one-year-old behaved better. The provided breakfast looked and tasted gross. While I was making a large waffle for the three of us to share, the kitchen woman came over and rudely asked, “why are you using two????!” They provided cups of batter mix, and I used one and about a quarter of another. She kept trying to talk to and touch my daughter, who looked uncomfortable, so we went back upstairs. Passing the pool, we saw an oily film on the water. The gym looked dirtier than a rat-filled gym in my dirt-floor basement, with humidity visible on the door and windows. Almost $200 for this? Save your money. Your car is probably more comfortable and definitely cleaner.

I’m a preferred Hilton rewards member. After a 12-hour drive, I arrived to find nobody at the front desk. A gentleman checked me in after five minutes, but the key didn’t work. When I went back downstairs, I found I’d been assigned an occupied room. They moved me to a different floor, where the room had a funky smell. Two men and two women were outside in the parking lot yelling until 4:30 AM. It didn’t seem like a great neighborhood. Very disappointing.

Housekeeping banged on my door in the morning while I was on a conference call, even though my Do Not Disturb sign was hanging on the handle. That was the cherry on top of a terrible hotel stay. I was charged almost $200 for a Thursday night in early March, then another $5 for parking at a random Hampton Inn off I-95 with not much around. Why? They’d run out of Diamond member waters, and apparently couldn’t use my $5 parking fee to buy a case. There was no laundry bag in the closet, either. There are lots of choices in the area. Don’t choose this one.