Home2 Suites by Hilton Merrillville

I'm usually cautious about hotels and can feel anxious staying in them, but I felt the opposite here. My family came for Christmas, and the staff were so great that I kept telling my wife how awesome they were. Yvette went out of her way several times to make us feel welcome, and Kevin always seemed to be there picking up whenever there was a small mess. I've never seen a cleaner hotel. The outdoor fire pit was amazing. Breakfast was awesome too, especially the biscuits and gravy, yogurt, and sandwiches. I didn't try many of the other choices, but what I had really impressed me. We already booked for next year. Good job, Home2 at Merrillville. You've gained a lifetime visitor whenever I'm in the area.

The room looked very clean, but a big dark bug either jumped or fell from the ceiling onto my laptop while I was in bed on the second night. I'm afraid of most bugs, especially big ones, and couldn't look closely. I threw a hand towel over it, hit the towel with a shoe, then carried the whole thing outside my door. I was exhausted, so I waited until morning to tell the front desk. The woman said she'd email and tell the manager. When I checked out on day four, I asked for the manager. She knew about it but hadn't been told my room number. She said she'd find out what she could do to make it right and contact me that afternoon. I never heard back. She gave me her business card, but I shouldn't have to chase them for follow-up when I'm the guest with the complaint.

Everything seemed fine at check-in, but when I moved the pillow to get ready for bed, I found bed bugs. I showed the photo to the front desk woman. She was friendly, moved me to another room, and said she'd let the manager know so I could hear the next day about possible reimbursement. It's been two days and the property manager still hasn't contacted me. This was the worst experience.

I've been here almost two weeks for work, and while everything else is clean and good, the dryer has been out of service since I arrived. I'm working seven days a week, and after a full day I shouldn't have to go to a laundromat because a huge company won't spend a few hundred dollars on a working dryer. The laundry situation ruined the rest of the comfort and has left me irritated. On top of that, the kids in the room next door run up and down the hall and jump around all day, sometimes until 11 p.m. or midnight. I'll go back to the hotel I stayed at last time I was here for work. I didn't have to deal with this there.