Home2 Suites by Hilton Anchorage/Midtown — Attraction in Alaska

Just returned home from a 2 ½ month stay at HOME2 Suites by Hilton (was there for work) and could not have met a friendlier staff nor a more perfect place to stay.

I checked in on July 28 and checked out on Sept 30. Here is what I liked best about HOME2 Hilton:

Unique shades that blacken the room completely – these remind me of the hurricane shutters from when we lived in Florida. When rolled down, it darkened the room completely. Important for those of us who have trouble sleeping, like myself.

Full sized kitchen – full size kitchen with a full size refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave. There is no cooktop but you can borrow an induction type cooktop with all the necessary pots along with it. I did not do this since it was only me and I was too busy with work to think about cooking.

Very good breakfast selection – cereal, fresh waffles, bananas, apples, yogurt, etc. – enough to make everyone happy.

Close vicinity to Costco – most of us know that food is the next highest expense (outside of airfare/transportation and hotel). However, there is a Costco within 5 miles and for those of us who are Costco members, we know that there is plenty of ready-made food (rotisserie chicken is my favorite). This Costco also had a liquor store (I purchased wine – really needed this after a long day at work). For those of us who are not Costco members, I believe there is a Sam’s close by (not a member so did not go there) as well as a Walmart and Target, all within 5 miles.

I finally met Melinda Calderon, General Manager and Jacquelyn Ahlstrand, Director of Sales, during my second to last day at HOME2. Melinda and I chatted about how the staff at HOME2 were her family (her “real” family is in the Philippines) and how special they made her feel for her birthday (decorated her office with balloons, cake).

Jacquelyn took the time to show me the King Bedroom Suite which included a separate bedroom with a king sized bed and a living room with a full/queen foldout – sleeps 4 (I stayed in the Queen Studio). I specifically asked Jacquelyn to show me this because I definitely will be returning to Anchorage – hopefully with friends and family and will need a bigger room.

The rest of the staff (“Mr. Keith”, Seta, the two gentlemen whose names I do not recall – one whose father also worked at the Hilton and one who bought me fresh caught salmon, the breakfast crew and the entire housekeeping/maintenance staff) was always friendly and courteous and always said “Good Morning” and/or "How is Everything.”

Again – I could not have chosen a better...

My family and I stayed at the Home2suites midtown Anchorage at the beginning of July for 10 days. The hotel was in a great location right outside downtown and close to Walmart. The rooms were very clean as well as the hotel. The staff could be seen throughout the day cleaning and emptying garbages. Upon checking in digitally, I received a text from Samantha and we used text message to communicate during the stay which was pretty cool (she was very responsive). Samantha was very friendly and always greeted my family with a smile when we came in.

Now... let me say that EVERYONE comes to Alaska during the summer whether on land or for a cruise and the hotel along with the surrounding restaurants are very busy. (I believe the hotel was sold out) The team at hotel was great at handling the crowds. Hilton even sent extra staff from Portland to help. Her name was Jahcey and she was awesome. She helped several times during our stay with questions. People may complain about the breakfast but the staff works very hard to keep everything clean and stocked. The amount of people that come down at times for breakfast (and what they took for “free” breakfast) is overwhelming. One thing I saw that was pretty great was that the Area Chief Engineer, Russell was helping out the breakfast staff. He jumped right in! I commend the entire staff for their commitment to the customer and being so friendly.

When you stay in a hotel for 10 days you start to see familiar faces and get to know some of the staff. There are several staff members I would like to highlight:

Reylen at the front desk on the night shift. She was very accommodating and friendly. My family and I enjoyed talking with her daily. She was one of the highlights during our stay.

Edd worked extra hard every day at breakfast. He was always so happy. He also cleaned the rooms on our floor on other days. I heard him signing one day while cleaning a room. It was great

Lorenzo worked on the floor cleaning rooms. I traveled with a dog so I didn't get room cleaning but when I saw him in the hall I would ask for items and he was more than happy to help.

Also Red was there a lot! You could see him around cleaning and making sure the hotel stayed looking nice.

Mina and Rosita also really wonderful during breakfast!

I would recommend staying at Home2suites...

I had a very negative experience during my recent stay. I arrived to an unfriendly staff, I was given a room with a giant rip in the couch, food on the silverware, and my shoes stuck to the floors. I asked to be switched to a new room and received no apology or anything for that room. They switched me to a new room which was cleaner, but later realized that there was a rip in that couch too, albeit a smaller rip. I used the laundry facilities and used both dryers. One worked perfectly, the other was making a loud noise like it was broken and it did not dry my clothes. I went to tell them about this and before even leaving the desk the agent essentially told me it was my fault for overstuffing the dryer which was not the case because the clothes were still VERY wet and it was not a partial wetness from overfilling the dryer. I asked for my money back, she couldn't do it and said I had to wait for her supervisor which was fine but then she abandoned me and I had to re-explain everything to the supervisor. Again, neither of them apologized and the supervisor only very hesitantly gave me my $2.50 back so that I could use the other dryer. The next morning at breakfast they were out of stock of a lot of items and it was still around an hour before the breakfast was set to be done. They also charged $6 for parking which was insane to me because it's just a plain parking lot with tons of parking surrounding it. It's not downtown or somewhere where you'd typically expect to be charged for parking. I filed a complaint on Hilton's website. The auto reply said that my message was forwarded to the location and the manager would reach out to me within 3 business days. I waited two weeks and never received any response. I tried to email back and they wanted me to resubmit all the information I already submitted....