Hilton Garden Inn South Padre Island Beachfront — Attraction in South Padre Island

On a whim, took a quick trip to SPI during Off-Season. Dbl Q room w/partial view off balcony. 4th floor away from the pool noise. Requested a quiet room and absolutely did get a quiet room! Front desk very helpful during checkin and throughout stay. Room was not ready (but I was very early), checked back at 5pm and room was ready. Very clean. Plenty of shower/bathroom supplies. Plenty of towels for 2 people. TV is kinda "eh" as it's old and quality kinda "eh". Be a plus if the hotel could replace this low-quality TV in room 461. Cable TV is just ok, but it is a hotel after-all. Streaming on our hand-helds was fast plus just connect, no sign-in required. Requested 2 blankets and housekeeping dropped off one very thin top-bed sheet/spread. Requested AGAIN blankets and they dropped off 2 white fluffy blankets. Communication via text was very prompt throughout hotel concierge and appreciated. Ate a small meal in evening at restaurant, its Mexican food and the choices were good. Split a platter appetizer and it was all very tasty. We did enjoy the fast service from our young waiter. He was funny, polite, helpful and good at his job. Too full to purchase their cakes/treats but the dessert case looks mouth-watering! Gift shop was large and plenty of shopping purchases including $12 SPI T-shirts long enough to cover what needs to covered. Plenty of options outside their side door onto the beach: pool, food, chair/umbrella rentals, hard liquor, non-liquor drinks for the kids like Pina Coladas and Strawberry Daiquiris. Plenty of seating options, boardwalks that connect to the other two hotel areas, a path to the beach with a fabric on the sand to walk down the hill to the water. A long dock that extends out over the water is only reserved to one of the other hotels and it has a guard next to it, so we were not allowed to walk on it. I asked and were assured there is a City/County lifeguard on this beach during summer. Even those workers along the boardwalk who had nothing to do with the hotels were very polite, friendly, and helpful at my questions. One bartender didn't speak fluent English but she was able read English and asked me to write down my question and was able to help in that way; which is appreciated. We plan to return during High-Season and I do anticipate this remains 5 stars on the review :)

UPDATE DURING SUMMER HIGH SEASON: Everything in/out of the complex was on-point. Our only big complaint was the lack of housekeeping services the day before checkout. With a family room (read: expensive), housekeeping missed our room completely. We were out for 5 hours in the morning. Saw HK about 1pm, room not done but I didn't bother them. Left and came back at 7pm and room was a mess. We had used up every amenity in the room and was left with stinky trash, soiled towels, messy beds, no toilet paper, no paper cups for kids to brush their teeth in, nada, zip, zilch. Messy beds is one thing, but having to hunt down dry towels, t.p. and coffee cups for morning java is just enough to make anyone mad. I was pretty hot about the whole thing. We had tipped the maid this whole time. Perhaps they didn't like the cash we were leaving for the 4 people in the room. I spoke with the hotel manager about this. I place blame directly on the Top as this is his hotel and he should be more aware of his employees actions (or in this...

If you are wanting a nice hotel for quieter, relaxing beach vacation with a true ocean view room this is not the place for you! I booked a week stay in a Junior Suite with an “Ocean View” room at this Hilton Garden Inn thinking it would be a great way to wake up to beautiful sunrises every morning on a much needed relaxing oriented vacation. Well, unfortunately it was a huge disappointment for the prices that were charged. I could have booked a private condo and had a much better experience. I’ve stayed at many types of Hilton hotels all over the US, even a rewards member, so I thought I’d trust the website and photos as I have done in the past, however that turned out to be a huge mistake. I have never been more mislead and have never had such a terrible time at a “higher end” hotel.

First of, there is no longer any true “Ocean View” rooms, only partial views and if you are booking through a 3rd party like Expedia, this is not stated anywhere. This Hilton location thought it would be a great idea to do away with the main factor of why people go to the beach and started building a bar in front of the view previously offered. Now when you look out all you see is this ugly, half built building instead of the beautiful beaches.

Second, all the suites face the pool area, no matter if you choose “pool view” or not. So you will be hearing the party going on all day till 11pm every day no matter what. You can not even hear the ocean over the music from the dj’s and bands they have. None of this is described or mentioned on their sites about all the suites facing the pool, so if you’re into the party scene this is for you, but relaxing beach trip, not so much.

Third, even though they boost about being “dog friendly” there really isn’t anywhere to take your dogs to do their business beyond tiny sporadic patches of grass in the parking lot. It’s really inconvenient especially in the heat of the day trying to take your pet out without burning their paws in the parking lot to let them go potty. The only other location we found of what they may consider a “dog run” has openings leading to the construction and debris under the boardwalk that leads out to the beach. There’s lots of signs about “picking up” after your pets, but no waste stations to dispose so lots of gross pet owners leaving poop everywhere, so watch your step.

As an added bonus, be prepared to have management and cops constantly intervening on the premises. One evening we had management knocking door to door to see who smoked out the floor with weed. Another night there was cops on the beach with lights beaming into the rooms for an issue. Several times we would have numerous cops rolling up to the property rushing in to solve an issue.

I’m not a person to usually complain about a stay, but when you are paying over $350 per night for a room at what’s supposed to be an upscale “Hilton” beach vacation to only have the most disappointing experience ever, I had to speak up to keep another person from making my mistake of booking here at the Hilton Garden Inn SPI Beachfront. If you have kids or looking for more family time, this is not the place for you. If you’re wanting to party like it’s spring break then...

It was a horrible experience from the time we arrived until we left the next morning and on our anniversary, too! We were planning on a 5 day stay. We were told a couple of weeks before when I called that we could request the top floor but they could not promise that. But then I was also told and suggested that if I call the day of our arrival they could reserve a top floor room and when the people checked out, housekeeping could clean that room so they'd have it ready. Well, we arrived at 1:30 and the room was not ready. So we said okay, but they would text or call me when ready. So we waited in the bar area and we could see the check in counter. Time passed! No notification. 3:00 (check in time) came, got in line to check in. Room is not ready. It'll be 30 minutes! At 3:30 room still not ready, maybe in an hour! At this point my significant came up and was furious. "Get us a manager now!" My significant slapped his hand on the counter, get us a room now. Manager came out, offered us a late checkout, like that was suppose make everything okay. Whoop-de-doo! Finally found us a room but had 2 queen beds instead of a king and we were okay with that, and top floor. We would have taken the 2 queen beds if offered earlier. By this time it was 5:00. Met 2 couples at the elevators and they were just getting their rooms after waiting since 2:30. Plus, only 1 of the 2 elevators worked, the one we were told has not worked for months! The room they took us to was freezing and thermostat did not work, so maintenance was sent. He spoke no English. I went downstairs, front desk said he was going to meet another maintenance and was going to come too. Told us to turn the heater on to fix the problem but that did not fix it Or, we cover up with more covers and clothes! Unit would not cut off and the up/down arrows did not change the temperature! Partner again for the 4th time said the thermostat is broken! They both walked out. Manager called us. Found another room that she would check out before we moved. They called. Turned the heater on to help the next room. She said that the way their AC units work is NOT like normal AC units-if you want it not so cold one must turn on the heater. Never have we heard such nonsense! We told the manager we will be checking out the next day! We never even got into a room long enough to get into our swimsuits and enjoy the pool or beach! Never again will we stay at this hotel. We expected so much better from a Hilton Hotel! The next morning at 8:30 we decided rather than driving home for 6 hours we would go next door to the Marriott Courtyard since my significant is an awards member. The hotel is fairly new. Audrey at the front desk said "she could get us an ocean view room 5th floor. When the people occupying the room check out, housekeeping would clean the room and she would text us that the room was ready." She did what she told us she could and would do and followed through, and it not as expensive as the Hilton and much...