Homewood Suites by Hilton Salina Downtown

The bed gave me the best night's sleep I've had in a week. Please don't tell our kids, whose beds we've been sleeping in. The room was almost perfect; my only suggestion is to swap some of the USB ports for USB-C. The staff were friendly, efficient, and just plain nice. It's listed as pet friendly, but I'd call them pet welcoming!

The food catered for our event was superb, fresh, flavorful, and beautifully presented. The hotel is connected to an excellent restaurant, and that really elevated the event. We recently held an event at the Homewood Suites in Salina, KS, and I was impressed by the stunning property, which looks far beyond what you usually find in the area. The lobby and indoor and outdoor common spaces are beautifully designed and feel upscale. Service, atmosphere, and amenities all felt top notch. It's rare to see this level of quality in a smaller market, and having it in Salina is special. Highly recommend for events, stays, or anything in between.

I went back and forth about writing this, but the experience was so frustrating that I decided to. I booked one night through booking.com. Two days before we were due to arrive, an ice storm hit my city and made travel impossible. We contacted the hotel front desk, Erica and Mary, and booking.com. They said the stay could be moved back one day at no charge. Erica joined a three-way call, and we received email confirmation that the date had been changed. I also have a message from the hotel in booking.com and the email confirmation. When we arrived to check in, they said we'd missed the previous night's stay and charged us a no-show fee. I wondered why they hadn't called or sent a bill if they thought we'd missed it and charged us. We showed proof that the dates had been changed, but Mary and her male manager, whose name I don't know, immediately gave us attitude. They basically said we were dumb to book through a third party and that they had no record of the change, despite the email proof. booking.com had no idea why the hotel had done this and said it was alarming. The hotel refunded the no-show fee but wouldn't honor our booking.com reservation. Instead, they charged us their regular rate, twice as much. They said several times that it would cost a lot more and suggested we try somewhere else. I felt they had canceled the booking.com reservation to get more money from us, and that we were being discriminated against for using a discount site. We'd already driven 10 hours and needed somewhere to stay, so we took the room and let it go. Our cat was on the original reservation, but when the room was rebooked they didn't mention a pet fee. Then at checkout the next day, they charged one without warning or explanation. The building is very nice, the location is great, and the room was fine, but the business practices felt extremely shady. I'm a Hilton honor member, and this has made me not want to stay with Hilton again.

I've stayed at this Homewood Suites on cross-country trips to Colorado and wanted to book again for this summer. Then I saw the pet fee had jumped to $158 per stay. That's ridiculous when pet owners like me don't leave a mess that would call for such a high charge. As a HH Gold member, I checked other options nearby. The Hampton Inn in town charges $75, which is already a ripoff, while the Fairfield in Manhattan, KS, down the road charges $30. So much for my Hilton loyalty. Hilton branded hotels now seem to charge pet fees ranging from $56 to $158 per stay. I'll have to check several Hilton hotels in any area to find one that doesn't rip off pet owners. Honestly, anything over $10 is a ripoff, though for years I've been willing to pay $50 or $75. I hope every greedy Hilton branded hotel hears from pet owners who leave reviews to show our brand loyalty only goes so far. EDIT: I saw the hotel's response and checked the pet pricing in the HH app again. It still lists a $158 pet fee, so what the hotel says in reply doesn't match what the app charges when booking.