Spark by Hilton Lafayette South

The room was spacious and clean, and a male housekeeper was very friendly, the only person in the building who greeted me. But the body wash bottle was empty, and at 9 a.m. there was no coffee. When I asked the front desk about bottled water, they said they didn’t have any and didn’t mention the filtered fountain in the dining area. My issues came down to customer service, which felt far below Hilton standards. Spark is the more budget friendly Hilton option, and it shows. You get what you pay for, I suppose, and I don’t plan to stay here again.

The breakfast bar was empty whenever I saw it, and there was no hot water for tea. I also needed toothpaste, but they had none because it was a “busy” weekend. The bigger problem was the tub, which had bodily fluids on it when I arrived. The desk worker tried to clean it, but I spent the night wondering what else had been missed and barely slept. The hotel was full, so they couldn’t move me. I was told the manager, robin, would call Monday to arrange a refund because she was with her grandchild kids, but she never called. When I followed up and mentioned the promised refund, she hung up mid-conversation. I have photos and recordings of my conversations with staff. I’d give zero stars if I could. The place has potential, but the cleanliness and lack of customer service made this stay unacceptable.

We booked online and asked at check-in for a first floor room. The clerk said our room had already been predetermined and insisted there were no first floor rooms, though that was new to us. About two hours later, the water pressure was so low the shower wouldn’t work. The clerk said she’d been doing laundry and that running the washing machine messes up the pressure, something they need to fix. She asked us to try again and said she could move us downstairs if it still didn’t work, since someone had just moved up to the third floor. The pressure improved enough for a shower, though it was still weak, so we stayed put. We weren’t comfortable taking a room someone had just left, and I wondered why they’d moved from the first floor to the third. Also, a large group that had arrived was extremely loud. We won’t be back. I have a short video, but it won’t let me post it.

My TV stopped working, and moving me to another room would have been a hassle with all my things. Instead, the staff came up and worked together to fix it. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, and they treated me like family the whole time. You don’t find that kind of dedication and service at many businesses. I’ll stay here on my next trip to Louisiana.