Hilton Columbus/Polaris — Attraction in Columbus

I'm truly on the fence about this one. Because the place "seemed" really nice. They had a lot to offer and utilize. Also, the 2 people from the staff that we interacted with were really nice. But the place significantly lacked in other areas.

We arrived about 9:30pm and My husband and I just drove 6 hours through an intense snow/ice storm to get there. All we wanted to do was get to our room, unpack, get some food somewhere, and relax in the indoor hot tub/pool which closed down at 11pm. We almost completely unpacked and put away everything. But when I went to open the shower curtain to place my toiletries in the shower, the whole shower rod and curtain came crashing down barely missing the top of my head, leaving pieces of hardware everywhere on the bathroom floor. We called the front desk who told us they would send someone shortly to fix it but the clock kept ticking and no one showed up. We called the front desk again and explained our time crunch and asked when someone would be here as we had things to do. They called maintenance again and the nice man came with new rod and brackets in hand, telling us that if we didn't mind, to go do our thing and he'll fix it while we're gone. We didn't have a problem with that so we left to get food. While we were gone, my husband received a text saying they couldn't fix the shower so we had to move rooms. Ugh. So we had to cut dinner short, re-pack everything, move rooms, and barely unpack. We did this in record time because we still wanted to hit the hot tub, at least. We finally got to the pool area. There wasn't any covid protocols in place. There wasn't a limit on how many people, at any given time, around the pool area or inside the pool/hottub. There wasn't anybody there to ensure the wearing of masks while moving about and it made it hard to social distance properly and safely with a dozen kids and families running all over the place, swimming right up to you, packing themselves in the hot tub, etc.. So we gathered up our things and left the pool. Then, they have the outdoor gas fire places that we wanted to check out. But... they were being hoarded by all the smokers in the hotel. Being non-smokers and not wanting to get bombarded with unending clouds of smoke, we waited our turn to enjoy a fire. But when we finally got a chance to get close to a fire, people had been throwing their cigarette butts and trash in the lava rocks and it was just horrible. Who knows the last time they were cleaned out and it made for an unfortunate experience. Then, late that night, there were people/kids running and yelling excessively up and down the hallway (into the wee hours of the morning, mind you) yet no one from the staff came to keep their customers in check. No one said "sorry for your many, many inconveniences". Nor did we get any sort of "how can we make this better for you". Nothing. I was really looking forward to staying here. And again, although this place claimed to have a lot to offer, good luck being able to safely utilize or...

The hotel is centrally located to downtown, easy access off the highway, offers complimentary parking, the rooms were modern, the room was comfortable in size and temperature. I arrived around 10 pm and check-in via the app. I didn’t know where the elevator was so inquired at the front desk. They directed me and I went along my way with zero issues. My issue was check-out in the morning. Lack of communication and the Manager arguing later with me by phone that the Hilton “app” notifies guests that breakfast is only honored in the Executive Lounge, the stay was marked with 3-stars. The manager made it seem as if the hotel emails you and alerts you of this distinction from the Hilton literature. They do not. There is no sign in the hotel stating the executive lounge requirement. The ownership was placed on the guest to know especially if I chose to check in digitally. No one shared this, clarified or articulated this despite me visiting the front desk 3x about breakfast.

Some may enjoy the executive lounge but the food options were dismally continental and disrespectfully appreciates Gold and Diamond members in my personal opinion. Instead of contributing to food waste, I would suggest this specific Hilton honor the general US-based option and reinstate the Food/Beverage credit that the over all company has enforced throughout the country. I’ve had significantly better and complimentary breakfast experiences at International Hilton, Conrad, and Hilton Garden Inn locations that put this executive lounge to shame. My meal in the hotel restaurant was great and so was the service. I could have easily given this hotel 5 stars but 1 star was deducted for service and attentiveness to customers and the other star was deducted due to food waste and lack of communication about the executive lounge and then forcing the executive lounge onto loyal customers.

Overall, I found the stay well. I would return if I needed to for the concurrences mentioned at the beginning of my post. If I stayed here, I will skip the Gold/Diamond benefit and patron a locally owned breakfast restaurant off-sight. That seems counterintuitive to the perk of being Gold/Diamond. But this is what this particular hotel forces customers to do which contradicts all of the US-based Hilton hotel literature.

Edited Review: As the General Manager has responded, I do appreciate her efforts. However, she’s confirmed that communication is disjointed. Hilton as a company and this particular hotel have not invested time to articulate this major change to the end user - the loyalty rewards member. If the attempt is to be a resort, with a newly refurbished executive lounge, please communicate these nuances.

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Not even sure where to begin! We made reservations for 3 rooms for our family! I double checked our reservation and rooms the day before we went! The Conversation the day before took almost 2 hours, because they did not have the reservations done correctly! I was assured that our reservations were correct after two hours on the phone! When we arrived at the hotel, the reservations were wrong we had to modify what we needed for our family because we were traveling with a toddler and needed specific rooms for the safety of. eventually once we downgraded our rooms and we settled for what they had available, we had rooms and checked in. That evening there were kids that were younger than 14 running the halls, throwing golf balls at the doors and spraying cologne all throughout the floor that we were on , they were unattended by adults and the hotel has no quiet time at all! So those children ran the hallways most of the night! I am shocked that there is even a hotel out there that doesn't require a certain time frame for it to be quiet! We will then fast forward to the next morning, and our vehicle was broken into and almost everything in the truck was stolen! Keep in mind that we were one of seven vehicles that was broken into. Even though there are cameras, apparently no one looks at the cameras! The food on the menu and the restaurant food I couldn't even pronounce. if you are thinking of staying at this location or anywhere in Columbus, please make sure you take everything out of your vehicle and you book directly with someone at that hotel. They actually advised me to ask for a manager when booking. I have stayed at several hotels and have NEVER had issues like this!!!! Think before you book!!

In response to your response: your front desk person told me TO MY FACE you have NO QUIET TIME!!!!! Check who worked Saturday evening at about 10-11 pm. I also understand things happen but when I went to other hotels and they told me they personally advise every party that there has been a huge problem with vehicles broken into recently and to be extra cautious! Also, when I call your location to make a reservation- I or no one should be transferred to a reservation line that I talk to an operator to make my reservation! That needs to be changed!!!! These people have absolutely no idea what you have at YOUR LOCATION!!!!! I stay at a Hilton because I feel it should be a step above....I did not choose to stay at a discount hotel! So many malfunctions in this whole stay at your location!!!!! Maybe the issue is Hilton???? I am a Honors Member and I expect to have a...