DoubleTree by Hilton Madison East

The staff were the best part of the stay, polite, professional, and helpful, and there are plenty of places to eat nearby. I also liked the pool and workout area. My room was clean and functional, but plain, more like a typical Holiday Inn or Hilton than a luxury property. There was nothing distinctive in it, and I expected complimentary breakfast at this level but it wasn't included. Some sort of vent or the refrigerator made enough background noise to be bothersome. It was a decent stay, though it didn't feel like a four-star hotel or meet my expectations for one.

For the roughly seven hours we were there, my spouse and I were very pleased. Breakfast was good, and the servers were surprisingly attentive. The room was clean and well appointed, and the person at the front desk around 1AM was cheerful, courteous, and helpful. The place was clean and fairly impressive for what we paid. Our evening flight out of Madison had been canceled after more than six hours of snowstorm delays, leaving us needing somewhere nearby to stay. We picked this hotel on a whim and arrived in a sour mood. It turned out to be just the oasis we needed. I'd stay here if visiting the area, or if I were stuck overnight again after a canceled flight.

We really appreciated how the second front desk employee handled the problem. She was kind and professional, came to our room with fresh blankets, and the replacements looked perfectly fine. She said it might be the filling inside the bedding, though to us it definitely looked like mold. Her respectful effort to fix things was the one bright spot. We stayed in mid-October during college homecoming weekend. At first the bar area seemed nice, the room was decent, and the pool was warm and clean. Then, as we got ready for bed on the first night, we saw under the light that the sheets were discolored and looked as if they might have mold. The woman on the night shift was extremely rude on the phone: she interrupted me, said, “I know, ma’am, you already repeated yourself,” laughed, and hung up. When we went downstairs to show her the blanket, she stayed dismissive and unprofessional. We never learned her name, but she was an African-American woman on the night shift that evening, and we saw her working the following night too. That behavior was unacceptable, especially at a Hilton where we paid close to $1,000 for two nights. I hope management addresses it. Guests spending that much deserve better.

I stayed in room 643 on the morning of January 23-24. Everything was fine until breakfast, when my girlfriend and I asked to swap scrambled eggs for sunny side up because the eggs tasted like cardboard. The older man serving our table was rude and unsettling about it, and treated my woman disrespectfully. I was angry and upset. We even offered to pay for the exchange, but he made a needless scene and embarrassed us. I still tipped 20 for the exchange and more than 10 on the table for cleanup. I'm very disappointed and still upset. Lucy Dennis, my contact information is in your system. I want a full refund and would feel better once I receive it.