Hilton University of Florida Conference Center Gainesville — Attraction in Gainesville

We were placed here because our apartment flooded due to maintenance negligence. On November 3rd, we received an email confirmation from our landlord that they extended the stay from November 4th at 11am (originally) to November 5th at 11am to give one more day for the apartment repairs.

I was literally out all morning, returned around 11am to get in the room just fine, napped with my dogs until 2:30pm, then left at 3pm for an appointment. When I returned with tons of bags to begin packing, I went all the way up just to find I was locked out of the hotel room, dogs barking inside still. Mind you, I’m pregnant and my husband/MIL are still at work. So I did nothing towards this process. I was asked for my ID and I said it was never on file since my husband did everything. I was asked for a card to charge $250 and I told them that it had been under my MIL’s card but I had to give a new card anyways because of their error.

Initially, they were going to give me keys to a NEW ROOM despite me expressing that my dogs were locked in the original hotel room!! I had to reiterate to them that my dogs were being held hostage and I would HOPE that they wouldn’t try to give the room away with my dogs in it—they are in kennels but they could easily get out if they sense danger! The whole situation was a disasterous headache and I reported it to my leasing company in case they want to pursue it further with Hilton. What a liability and a mess!

Edit: My landlord reamed them out and demanded an apology letter or gift up to our room. I want to be clear we did NOT receive any such thing. Also learned it wasn’t one error, they have been messing up from the start by not sending my landlord the documentation to document our stay appropriately. Absolutely unprofessional experience.

We are at the No Name Lounge twice, the first time was great with a long wait (30+). The second time we arrived around 7pm and left at 8:30 so it was an exceptionally long wait, my meal was done wrong twice. First, the put the veggies on it then they returned the same sandwich to me but didn’t take the time to realize that taking the veggies off left no sauce on sandwich so I had to wait again. Mind you again, I’m pregnant so I’m literally just sitting around getting sickly waiting for food. Maybe it’s just me, but for being a hotel restaurant, I was kind of expecting at least something for the mistakes? I’ve gone to other restaurants that at least offer something whether you take it or not. They just said sorry and treated it as though it never happened afterwards. I don’t know, maybe they were just short-staffed. Regardless, my husband ate the majority of my sandwich since I wasn’t too interested once it was cold and wrong twice and had already filled up on all the fries while waiting for the sauce. It’s definitely a restaurant we’d do again if there was better service/communication (“seat yourself” somewhere?) and definitely a snack before going.

As for the room itself, it was okay? I mean I’ve had better experience at a Day’s Inn in Tennessee (I wish I was joking). The shower needs drain-o. No microwave so I’ve been eating out and eating a lot of things I’m allergic to unfortunately. I’m also allergic to detergent so sleep has been rough. My husband, one of my dogs, and I have been itchy since sleeping on the bed closest to the window. So there have definitely been inconveniences here and there but definitely livable for the short-time being. Certainly better than the alternative having been displaced from my apartment during repairs so I appreciate them making something work on such short notice, the procedure just should have been...

I am an avid traveler and I have to say I was alittle disappointed by my experience at this hotel. I stayed here one night to attend a graduation. The hotel itself was very beautiful with a wonderful location! It was clean, and decorated beautifully in full UF regalia. The front staff and cleaning services was wonderful, they were so friendly and attentive to all of our needs. But our issues began when we entered our room after a very long 7 hour drive we just wanted to watch some TV and eat room service. We began using the TV and the signal kept cutting out. We called the front desk for help, someone arrived promptly only to tell us there was nothing they could do that some rooms were having this issue and we couldn't switch rooms. So essentially we had no TV. After feeling defeated due to not having a TV I called room service to place an order and after the front desk having to redirect my call back to the room service line twice (after it rang for so long without anyone answering that it went to the front desk) I was told that room service would have to call me back to take my order. I waited over 30 minutes without getting a phone call back. So I called again, finally someone took my order and about an hour later we received our food. According to the room service Menu breakfast starts at 6am. I called at 6:15 to place my order for breakfast (since we had to leave by 8am for the graduation.) My call was deferred to the front desk, who told me they don't accept calls until 630am. But they tried to transfer me to room service anyway. Someone answered and said they would have to call me back to receive me order. After another 20 minute wait there was no call so I called back to try to place my order. I had some issues ordering, I don't know why but the woman who took my order couldn't understand what I was saying. I speak very clearly, pronounced things slowly and correctly to avoid confusion. Yet I had to repeat my order several times (it wasn't like twice it was six or seven times) until she repeated it back to me correctly. Then the food arrived about 730. But the order was incorrect. Missing more than half of the food I ordered and time was close to us leaving. The girl promised she would bring it up quickly and it wouldn't be a problem. We didn't hear from her for a while so I just tried to call down and cancel the order because I was worried about the time but she said she was going to run up to us then. But time passed and we heard from her again at 8am when she knocked on the door with the rest of our food just as we were walking out. Overall the hotel is beautiful! The front desks and cleaning staff are very friendly and always willing to help! But if you are on any sort of time restraint do not order...

Hilton Gainesville at UF…please: Clean your rooms better. The walls in the bathrooms (especially down low around the sink) are disgusting! My husband cleaned out a huge hairball from the shower/tub for you this weekend. You’re welcome! I’ll just leave it at that…I’d be here all day if I elaborated more. Just clean the rooms and bathrooms better. Do an overhaul on your a/c and ventilation system in the rooms. Unacceptable moisture, room not getting to temperature, puffy eyes and dripping eyes in the morning from the quality of air…ugh! Get better lighting in the room. Terrible! Try putting on make up at that vanity area then you’ll know what I’m talking about. Remove the carpet. Changed that out for hard floors. A makeover is much needed in flooring, beds (update to a platform bed), the desk chair…I can’t even go there. So gross! Filthy. Stock the tissues and towels better. Every time (which is a lot) there’s never the number of towels for the number of registered guests for the room. And the tissue is always two tissues from the yellow one. If you know, you know. And please figure out your landscaping. For years…yeeeaaarrrrssss, your landscape is the absolute worst. It has gone so far beyond, it’s beyond! I was staying there one time when there was a crew with a bobcat trying to tear out old landscape and attempting to make headway, but looks like it fell through. I also was staying there once when a push lawnmower was housed at the front doors behind a pillar and what looked to be a manager using it on the weeds and dirt in the evenings. I mean…you’re a HILTON!!!

Hotels are so limited near the university, so that’s why this place stays in business. They’re one of a couple of hotels that fits the bill if you want to be right in the backyard of UF. They don’t think they need to update, fix, clean, etc because they have a demand, but trust and believe, it’s for the location only. This place is gross! Do better Hilton! I’ve stayed here countless times, and no I’m not proud of it, but you gotta do what...