Daxton Hotel Birmingham, Curio Collection by Hilton — Attraction in Birmingham

Our experience hosting an event at the Daxton Hotel was extremely disappointing and not at all reflective of the level of professionalism you’d expect from a luxury venue.

We initially toured the space with Jennifer, who was pleasant and helpful. However, it became clear throughout the planning process that there was a serious lack of transparency and consistency around pricing and hotel policies. From the beginning, we were only quoted the venue rental, soft drinks (if provided by the hotel), and per-person catering costs. Only after negotiating and confirming the minimum did we learn about additional taxes and service charges. While technically in the contract, these costs were never clearly communicated upfront.

My wife specifically asked about cake cutting and was told there would be no fee—which we later learned was incorrect. We were also told that outside caterers simply needed to be licensed and insured, yet when we selected a vendor, we were suddenly told we couldn’t use them. This forced me to take time off to meet with hotel staff to get this resolved.

Later, we discovered that taxes and service fees didn’t count toward our minimum spend—again, something not clearly explained. I had also made it clear early on that we would bring our own drinks, but Jennifer later emailed saying the $5 per person fee for outside beverages would be “waived” as a favor, even though it had never been part of the discussion or contract.

There were also multiple inconsistencies around fees for outside vendors like a coffee cart and an ice cream bar. We were told we’d need to pay an additional $5/person per vendor, despite no mention of this in the contract. After another meeting with Jennifer and Caroline, it was admitted that the vendor fees were removed from the contract “by mistake,” but the hotel refused to honor that error. We agreed to exclude the hotel’s coffee service in exchange for waiving one vendor fee, but received no credit. When we asked for the second vendor fee to be waived, Caroline said she’d only agree if we forfeited the discounted pricing for children—despite that pricing being confirmed in writing in an email, just not in the contract.

Caroline also made it clear she was concerned about explaining reduced revenue to upper management, which made it seem like our event was being handled based on internal politics rather than fairness or professionalism.

On the day of the event, hotel staff failed to move furniture as instructed, which caused our soft play vendor’s setup to malfunction. The designated room was also changed without informing us. As a result, the play area had to be shut down after barely an hour, and multiple guests with children left early. This severely impacted our guests’ experience.

The most shocking issue came after the event, when Daxton charged my credit card about $3,000 without authorization—allegedly due to issues with our caterer. There was no notice, no explanation, and no approval. When I raised this, I was told the hotel “can charge whatever they want” because it’s in the contract—which is not only absurd but wildly unprofessional.

Even when I met again with Jennifer and Caroline after the event, there was no accountability. Concerns about the soft play vendor were dismissed, and I was told (with no investigation) that the caterer was lying about equipment issues, even though Caroline wasn’t at the event to observe it herself.

Overall, the entire process was marked by poor communication, lack of transparency, arbitrary fees, and a total disregard for customer experience. For a venue that markets itself as high-end, this was an incredibly frustrating and disappointing experience that I would not recommend to others. Proceed with caution and get everything in writing—because this hotel clearly operates by its own rules, not its contracts or what they verbally tell you.

UPDATE - 7/24: We have not reconciled any grievances even though they claim that in their response. I would delete this post if they addressed their issues, apologized, and refunded the...

Update:

So although we had some hiccups during our stay — Maxine made it right. I will be staying again in April and looking forward to it!

I stayed here on 01/25/2025 and I will simplify my review by subcategories. Based on my experience-- I am unsure if I would book again here. I did have another reservation booked in April-- but that may change. My husband and I were just looking for a local night away from our children and this fell short. For over $1,000 a night I would expect better. Parking: this was a nightmare. There was some event that was taking place (this part was not the hotels fault) and the road was blocked off but there still should've been some signage that said how to get to valet. As a result we couldn't get to valet and had to park in the nightmare that was the parking garage with all of these other random people. There were a ton of people and it was loud and busy with kids running everywhere. Not exactly the best experience for a "relaxing" weekend.

Check-in: This was probably the best part of the whole process. Checkin was seamless, the bell hops and what I assume normally valet opened the doors for us and we were offered champagne and water at the check in desk. I don't drink normally but after the fiasco it was needed. I will say the lobby was incredibly busy.

Room Layout/Condition: We booked the terrace king suite. The room architecture was nice, but I was a bit underwhelmed for the price. There was a separate seating space from the bedroom that also had a tv, stove top, small refrigerator that had a bit of a smell, a sink (there were draining issues) and a small area to hand coats and place shoes. The bedroom had ample storage and was laid out nicely with a tv, shelving for storage and a place to hand items as well. I've attached some pictures of the carpet that had a spot in the living room and the couch that wasn't cleaned. Also the patch job that was done on the wall in the bedroom. The terrace in our room was beautiful but there was snow all over so we couldn't really enjoy it. They did have blackout curtains which is also a nice feature but usually standard. The bathroom had a soaking tub and walk in shower (exclusive to the suites from what I am told) and the lever broke on the tub when we tried to turn it on. Maintenance had to come up and revealed it was simply glued on and he would have to re glue it.

Amenities/Offerings: They do have a pantry for guests to use-- but there wasn't much stocked in it. I saw apples, tea, newspaper a few bags of chips, and water. Also, we had to ask twice to get a room service menu because they kept telling us there was a QR code but there wasn't one anywhere in our room. Also we had to ask for face towels, tooth brushes and toothpaste. This should have been something that was already provided. They did provide shampoo, conditioner, body wash and a bar of hand soap.

Room Service: The breakfast (brunch) offering was incredible. Literally everything we ate we loved. It tasted fresh and not processed which is really important to me.

Checkout: The checkout was a mess. Breakfast was included with our rate and we got charged for it. The manager Latrice was ok and tried to refund but there seemed to be issues when I asked for a receipt to be printed. This left us waiting for a while and we were simply offered an apology. We sat at the checkout desk for 20 minutes waiting for her to reverse and print me out a copy of the receipt because she was having a hard time finding the Food and Beverage manager.

I did attempt to bring these issues to the staff and was simply offered an apology. They didn't really rectify anything and you can tell there's no client retention whatsoever. It's not that I was expecting anything for free-- but there should've been something done especially considering the rate. You pay a premium to get better and while it says 4 star hotel, I...

Everyone is talking about how great the Daxton is, there’s a few reviews from people about stolen items, but never in my life would I think in 2024 Discrimination would still be lingering but this place is located in Birmingham, where Caucasian people stare at you for getting out of your car. My stay at the Daxton proved to me that humanity has no way. I booked a room for two, and had my boyfriend check us in while I went to work. When he went to check in, amazed by the room he invited his friend to see the room who left at least 20 mins after even arriving, when I finally arrived I was barely greeted, in fact instead I was glared at by everyone like I didn’t belong, I had to find the front desk on my own, but I digress only an hour or two into being inside the room myself someone called the room and asked me to change the card on file for the incidental fees. I asked was I being charged, and was told “No it’s just an authorization, in case something happens” I walk out to the cold and headed to the parking lot to get my card, once I made it back the woman at the desk took my card and then handed it back to me explaining that the card did not go through. I asked what I was being charged for and was told because of an odor inside the room. I smelled no odor , but another man said something about having an “officer” go up and do a search with us. I said that’s fine, thinking they would call the police, instead he went over to another regular looking associate (the original person who caused all of this) and they followed us to the room. While one went and search the room the other searched the other end of the room. Signs of smoking include, smell, ash, and burning. NOT TOBACCO BEING IN A GARBAGE CAN that is not a sign of smoking, might be a sign that someone rolled a joint but there’s no way anyone smoked in the room. The smoke detector is right above the bed. The first guy found nothing and as soon as it was about to go back to normal the other guy finds tobacco in a trash can, not ash, not weed TOBACCO guts. And to them that’s a sign of smoking, but to me I’ll tell you what it is exactly. The white guy smelled smoke on my boyfriends friend and assumed because they looked young that that’s exactly what they were going to do, and he wanted us out. This excited him, so like the predator he is he wasted no time to jump on his prey, it’s 2024 everyone smokes, I can’t control the fact that someone smoked in their car and smells like weed. There were no signs of smoke in the room, instead of being granted to stay I was forced to run around and find an ATM 8-9pm so that I could pay rhe $750 and everything be squared away. By 10pm I returned to Daxton and was told my room was terminated, they didn’t even want my money. My boyfriend and I were escorted to our room with three African American guards like we were the aggressors, and then those same guards walked us out the building. I didn’t end up finding another hotel until 12am, if you ask me the Daxton is upscale for no reason, they have no kindness in their heart, and only cater to the demographic that they are used to in Birmingham. If you book here make sure your credit score is 850+ and God forbid you have on ripped jeans you’ll be looked at like you’re a delinquent. It’s luxury but doesn’t have anything to show you what you’re paying for on the website. Even BMW allows you to see all the perks before you purchase. My boyfriend was even charged for valet that we never used, I’m 26 going on 27 I never would’ve thought I would be on the receiving end of...