Spark by Hilton Norfolk

The room was fantastic, with a really comfortable bed, a spacious shower, and my name displayed on the TV, which was a fun extra. The lobby felt homey and was clean, and the elevator was conveniently close. Breakfast was included too. The open parking lot was also included. After a long drive, we were welcomed by Nelly at reception. She offered us cookie choices, explained everything during check-in, and gave us thoughtful customer service. Definitely a nice place for a relaxing stay.

I had a good stay, and the staff were friendly. Breakfast is free, mostly cereal, instant oatmeal, and muffins. There's also complimentary coffee and a microwave available at the front desk, which is open around the clock. My room was clean and pleasant, with a comfortable bed and a mini fridge. The missing in-room coffee maker and microwave were inconvenient. I especially wish I could have had coffee in my pajamas when I woke up instead of getting dressed and walking to the desk. That's why I'm giving four stars.

The location worked perfectly for my weekend plans, and there was plenty of parking. The woman who checked me in was pleasant. At checkout, the employee took note of my complaints but didn't offer anything. I still enjoyed my weekend, and the hotel let me stay overnight, but I skipped breakfast because I wasn't going to eat food prepared in that building. There were few rooms available when I arrived, even though I had a reservation, so I chose one on the third floor away from the elevator. It seemed like nobody had used the room in a while. The tub stopper was off to the side, surrounded by red staining that looked like hard water marks, with dark hair around it. There was also long brown hair on the bathroom tile and an unknown substance beside the light switch. I didn't touch it. Thank goodness for the night lights. For the record, my hair is gray, so the hair I found wasn't mine.

The only things I can really say in this hotel's favor are that it's near Food Lion and CVS, and the breakfast was okay. It had no meat, so we brought microwaveable breakfast meat from Food Lion. We had a bundle deal and expected better after reading the reviews, which is why we didn't switch hotels. There were tip signs in the rooms, even though we weren't getting good service. We won't return. We stayed six days. Our first room smelled of smoke, but they moved us to another one. One bath towel had lots of hair on it, like someone had shaved over it, and another was discolored and stained. We left them on the floor to be picked up the next day. For the first couple days they didn't replace the partly used toilet paper roll or the half-empty Kleenex box, so I had to go to the desk for more. The tub wasn't cleaned after a couple of days either. There was also a lot of banging and stomping from the room above us over the weekend, around 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Two other family members were staying too, though I don't know if they'll review it.