Hilton Garden Inn Detroit - Southfield, MI

The people were excellent, from the front desk and maintenance to the restaurant. Everyone I dealt with was friendly, professional, and helpful. Still, the property feels dated and below the Hilton standard I expected. I left early for the Marriott down the street, which cost the same and felt much more modern and accommodating. I’d been excited about the complimentary upgrade as a Hilton Diamond member, to an Executive Suite with an attached board meeting room. The meeting space was generally nice, but poor lighting, a scuffed folding table, and dated chairs brought it down. The bedroom was comfortable and clean, though my side of the king bed had no table or outlet, which was inconvenient for charging devices. On the third night, I got back from work and my key didn’t work. I waited in the hallway for maintenance to arrive. The next morning, the room phone wouldn’t connect to the front desk. I won’t stay here again or recommend it until the property gets major updates.

The one good thing about this hotel was how friendly all the staff were. The rest was hard to believe from a Hilton-branded property. We had more than 30 rooms for a work trip, and over half of us got only 3-4 minutes of hot water with decent pressure. My room also lost heat overnight in below-freezing weather, and the thermostat showed an error. Staff didn’t know how to reset it, so we waited several hours for maintenance. When he arrived, I asked what to do if it happened again, and the reset was so simple that I couldn’t believe the staff hadn’t been shown how. One of the two elevators kept going out. The lobby had no heat the night we arrived because of a burst pipe, which was unfortunate and unusual, but a hotel in a freezing climate should have enough backup heaters. If Hilton won’t invest in restoring the property, they should sell it and let it be the motel it currently is.

The hotel has nice decor, a convenient location, and a daily happy hour in the lobby. The $16.99 breakfast buffet is optional. In the middle of winter, though, the parking lot wasn’t plowed. Room 517 needed attention, and I’d already told management that repairs were needed.

The decor has been updated, but the place was dirty. There was feces on the toilet seat when we entered the room. A man at the front desk helped resolve that, thankfully, because the woman who checked us in said I’d have to hold questions and requests until 9 a.m. and talk to someone else. During our three-day stay, she was there each time I went to the desk, and I couldn’t get our issues resolved. The thermostat showed “ERR” and couldn’t be adjusted, and the shower turned ice cold after a few minutes. I wanted to add another night, but the same woman again told me to wait until 9. I asked for a late checkout instead so I could move to another hotel, then went to the desk at 9 as directed. She denied the request. Common-area tile needed regular mopping, and the carpet in my room needed cleaning too. I’d never recommend staying here.