Home2 Suites by Hilton Garden Grove

Getting back out onto the busy street was the one tricky part. Otherwise, the front desk staff were welcoming, and the room was spacious, clean, and comfortable. Breakfast had lots of options and tasted good. It’s a newer hotel and sits near a freeway. I’d come back.

The billing mess continued even after we checked out on December 14th. We found a $250 stained-sheet charge, and John first told me a replacement cost $22 and that he’d remove the charge while housekeeping tried to get the stain out. The next day, he called to say several sheets were stained and couldn’t be cleaned. He said the general manager wanted $250, but he pushed for us and said we’d agreed on $100. In the end, the general manager charged my mother’s Navy Federal card the full $250, $150 more than that, and also put another $115 on my husband’s debit card. We’ve repeatedly asked the general manager to call about both the charges and the housekeeping problems, but no one has called back. Housekeeping was already a problem from the start of our week-long stay. We arrived at 3:00 PM on Sunday, December 7th, and waited several hours to check in because we were told the staff were behind. Two other families were waiting too. We later heard that one family got a night comped by the general manager for the delay, but nobody offered us anything. A room letter said there’d be no cleaning the first day, light service the second, and a full cleaning on the third. That full service never happened. My niece had gotten sick and vomited on the fitted sheet, but I hadn’t reported it at first because we were expecting the scheduled cleaning. When I spoke to Savannah at the front desk that evening, she agreed it wasn’t acceptable, offered clean linens, said she’d alert the general manager, and confirmed we were on the list for the next day. Day four came and went without service either. The trash was piling up. I called, and another staff member found Savannah’s notes and agreed the room should have been cleaned. He offered to take the trash and said he’d leave another note for the general manager. On December 12th, day five, I went to the desk and spoke with the manager on duty. He said at first that he hadn’t heard about any complaints, then found the notes after I gave him our room number. I used to work at a Hilton front desk, so I know managers should review guest concerns each day. That made this even more frustrating. For a trip to Disney or Universal Studios, I’d strongly suggest looking at an Embassy Suites or DoubleTree instead. The poor housekeeping, lack of communication, and unresolved charges made this stay extremely frustrating, and it wasn’t the service we expected.

We’d stayed here before and had an excellent experience, so this visit was a real letdown. The room wasn’t the one we’d been promised, and the electronic window shade didn’t work, which affected our comfort. After a long drive, we arrived on time for check-in but were told the front desk was short-staffed. We waited about 20 minutes without anyone checking on us while the receptionist helped another guest and nearly forgot we were there. We had to remind him. The hotel website says Silver members get two complimentary bottles of water. When we called room service to ask, the staff member didn’t know the policy or give us a clear answer. That left us with little confidence that the advertised information was being shared with staff consistently. I’d recommend confirming room details and member benefits with someone knowledgeable before booking.

We’ve stayed at Home2Suites for years, so we thought we knew what to expect. This time, I left feeling we probably wouldn’t come back or recommend it. We were there over Christmas with our grown children and had two suites. We gave the unsmiling staff and overflowing trash near the elevator a pass because it was the holiday and a note said housekeeping was off. But our suite still had an old drink and hot sauce packets in the fridge, so I threw them out. Breakfast felt different from what we’re used to. Instead of the usual sausage and bacon, we got fried chicken one morning and sausage more like kielbasa the next. At the start of breakfast, there was no silverware out, we had to ask for serving utensils, and someone nearby had to ask for the oatmeal. In our bathroom, paint seemed to be peeling by the soap area. You have to step into the shower to turn it on, and my husband had trouble getting in and out because the door wouldn’t open all the way. There was no shampoo when he went to wash his hair, and it was still empty even after we requested light service. We only ran into one issue in the kids’ room: half the power was off. A quick trip to the front desk got the circuit switched back on. I feel bad listing so many things that weren’t right, but after years of staying here you come to expect a certain feel. My husband put it simply: if this had been his first visit to a Home2Suites, he wouldn’t return.