Hilton Garden Inn Tampa Northwest/Oldsmar

We arrived around 10 pm and went to bed, but loud talking and laughter in the hallway woke us around 1 am. The group then went into the room next to ours through the adjoining door, and the noise kept going. We called the desk for 40 minutes, but nobody answered. We also left a voicemail for the manager. At 2:30, still unable to sleep with the noise continuing, we packed up and left. There was nobody at the desk in the lobby, just a note saying they had stepped away. On the way home we complained by message and were told the front desk person had only stepped away for a minute and had been there the whole time. That’s not accurate. Two days later, through Hilton Rewards, the manager assured us we’d get back the points we’d used for a stay of only four hours. The points never came back. Very disappointing.

I travel for business almost every week, and Hilton used to be my go-to. I’m a Diamond member, but I’ll be moving my corporate stays to Marriott. I’ve never had another Hilton Garden Inn give me this much trouble over washcloths. I expect more from this brand. This kind of thing is why I avoid Hampton Inn and pay more to stay at higher-priced Hiltons. I don’t want to be treated like a washcloth thief. I’m staying five nights alone and don’t have room cleaning, which I chose after past problems with untrustworthy cleaning staff. There were three towels, three hand towels, and two washcloths in the room. When I asked for enough to last the week, I got two more towels, two hand towels, and just one washcloth. I was told I’d have to put used towels in the laundry dry-clean bag outside my door to get the final two washcloths. Why can I have five towels and four hand towels but only three washcloths for five nights? I put my towels outside this morning as instructed and was told clean ones would be left at my door because my do not disturb sign was up. They weren’t there. The rude receptionist downstairs then repeated the towel swap rules and said they wouldn’t leave towels with a DND sign on the door, contradicting what I’d been told the night before. All I wanted were my two washcloths for tomorrow and Friday, and I had to get into a heated argument to get them. As I walked away, she said “have a good night” as indignant as ever. I also don’t like that the same man hangs around the desk whenever she’s there, listening to room numbers and customer information.

I had to move through three rooms. The first had no heat or TV, the second had only one bed, and the third finally had heat, a TV, and two beds. Still, the bar never opened, even though it was supposed to open at 4. I’m a Hilton Honors member, and most Hiltons I’ve stayed at offer a free continental breakfast. Here breakfast cost a lot, and they didn’t know how to make egg whites. The front desk also said the pool was heated. It absolutely wasn’t, it was ice cold.

The night before, Travis tried to gaslight me about the smoke detector. If it’s beeping and you fix it, fine. But fixing it and then telling me nothing was wrong makes you a terrible manager. Then the maids knocked twice even though my Do Not Disturb sign was on the door. The second time I answered and showed the maid the sign. She stood there with a dumb, confused look, like a child who can’t answer a simple question, and said “duh.” I told her it said “No thank you,” dropped it on the ground, and told her to go away. After that I got a call, the third disturbance, telling me to leave because I’d threatened the maid. Your staff are incompetent, undertrained, uneducated, and extremely rude. You can find me at the hotel across the street with my business credit card.