DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tallahassee — Attraction in Tallahassee

Summary/TLDR: Pros: Friendly staff, beautiful rooftop view Cons: Unclean, undesirable, unsafe, unhealthy I would not recommend this hotel to anyone

Further detail: Friendly staff: Polite team, focused on solutions Rooftop view: Beautiful panoramic view of downtown and universities from rooftop bar on 17th floor Unclean: Black stains/possible mold growth in toilet bowls, Hairs left in shower, Dried orange chunky splash stain on bed skirt Undesirable: Peeling chairs, rusted shower floor Unsafe: No room key needed for entry to hotel, amenities, or use of elevators and no security Unhealthy: Strong mold/mildew smell worst on 3rd floor

My family and I stayed at this DoubleTree in the past for its convenient location, and while dated, the pros had previously been enough to outweigh the lackluster appearance. However, this stay was exceptionally terrible and I will never book here again. Upon arrival, we were greeted by friendly staff and received our room keys, parking pass, and DoubleTree cookies. We drove up to self-parking on the 3rd floor of the garage and entered the hotel. We were immediately stricken by the strong odor of mildew or mold. I glanced up and saw black dots on the ceiling above the elevators and near the air vents. This should have been our sign to demand a refund and go elsewhere, but we were exhausted from the long drive and decided to proceed to our room on the 6th floor. When we entered our room, I saw that one of the bed skirts had a dried orange chunky stain splashed on one side and white stains. There was also a stain on the white curtain and the desk chair was badly peeled. I picked up the phone to call the desk to ask for a new room or at least new bed skirt, but the phone did not work. I called the hotel from my cell phone, but it rang repeatedly and sent me back to the main menu. Thankfully, I received a welcome text message asking if all was well and I informed them about the bed skirt and phone. Within 15 minutes, house keeping came up, changed the bed skirt, and made the bed over. We were relieved to see that they took such quick action. The phone was never fixed. During the night, we noticed that the floors and bed sheets felt damp and there seemed to be a mild mildew smell in this room as well. This triggered asthma attacks for 2 of us. My husband went to the 4th floor pool deck for some air around 2am and set his phone down momentarily. It was stolen and he came back to the room where I woke up and we tracked the phone walking about a quarter mile to where it had been thrown into a grass lot and we took it back to our room. This was not surprising as throughout the evening, we noticed questionable people in the elevators, outside of the lobby, and near the 4th floor pool who did not seem to be guests of the hotel. With no need to have a room key to access any area of the hotel and no security, this probably happens all the time. We awoke ready to get showered for the next day and to request a room change after. I noticed long hairs in the bottom of the shower although none of us had used it. I inspected the bathroom more closely and also saw black stains in the toilet near the rim, so we did not use the shower or sink. I went downstairs at 8:30am to demand a room change and that I be on a higher floor as far as possible from the mold that seemed to be worst at the 3rd floor, and that my room be thoroughly cleaned. We were moved up to the 9th floor at 10:40. This room did not have dampness or mildew smell and seemed to have been cleaned well. It did have a peeling desk chair as well, but that was nothing to us at that point. On our second afternoon, we went down to the pool where we heard a staff walkie talkie state that one of the guests was complaining that he'd been stuck in one of the elevators 3 times that day. Thankfully, the rest of our stay was uneventful, but I will never book this hotel again. I appreciate the efforts by staff to fix the issues that I had, but this hotel is in need of major investments to gut it, fix it, and maintain...

Most nastiest location to stay I've ever seen. Idk where to even start. Walk into a tacky environment. Customer service was ok and understandable that the front desk people and valet have to work with what they have. This by no means is a ding on customer service for the immediate face front of the hotel.

Upon reaching the floor I was going to stay on, the whole hallway smelled like marijuana. Granted some people like that so each chooses their own. The room appeared to never have been vacuumed. Hair in the bed. Mold on the light shade next to the bed. Bullet hole in the wall and appeared to have been painted over. Mold along the bottom of the wall lining the floor. The toilet was not cleaned. Pubes and hair were all around and on the toilet. The shower head was corroded. Rusty marks on the shower handle unless it was booty wiped marks on the shower handle. Counter tops never been wiped down you can see glass rings all around the counter tops on all counter tops. Counter tops had crumbs and dirty particles on them. Furniture was all tacky in the room. Mismatched furniture. The desk chair was damaged. The corner leather studded chair in the corner had a naked person's BUTT, male GENITALIA print, and hair all along the seam of the chair. The chair also was damaged as well. The phone in the room is outdated and nasty with what appeared to be grease marks on it. The light switch had hair stuck in the light switch. Mold and dirt in corners of the room. Horribly patched wall. This was the equivalent of a rinky dink motel 6 but with a mid tier pricing of a hotel room. Literally worth like 60$ a night stay or extended stay. Power outlets did not work. You would insert your power supply and it would just fall out. The power supplies that were allegedly plugged into the wall didn't even supply power and also had my device fall out.

Parking was horrible, do to "over" booking. The community right out front of the doors are homeless drug feans.

I booked through the app. I got to the hotel there was a large crowd of people big mad. It wasn't my business so I cannot vouch as to what happened with their case. I do know that they asked for a manager at approximately 10pm. Reply I heard was Sorry the manager is unavailable until tomorrow if they come in. I checked in went to my room found this horrible room took pictures and asked for refund. And took my business to Marriot.

When I asked for refund and to leave. The young lady was polite and issued everything to me. It was fine. The people next to me were irate about their situation and was demanding a supervisor but unfortunately the workers at the front are working with what they have and it's clear as day they are making the best they can with what they have. I've never heard of an unavailable supervisor. Or having the comment "If they show up tomorrow". That was a read in-between the lines that management really isn't there, and it shows.

Shout out to valet people out front. They are good people and very respectful. They have nothing to do with the hotel over booking and causing an over book process with vehicles in the parking garage. They are...

The Good: The room was clean, the bed was comfortable, and the staff was friendly. The TV worked as did the AC.

The Bad: This is going to be long. When I arrived, my room was not ready despite having checked in online and indicated that I would be arriving at 5pm. I was not thanked for my status, nor was I offered a cookie and had the amenities explained. I had to ask for/about everything myself. I asked if there was room service and was told that there was. So after settling into my room which was finally ready after waiting nearly an hour and a half, I called room service. The line was busy, and after multiple attempts I tried the front desk, only to be told he didn't know. So, back down I went and asked about the room service and was told, "oh, the telephone system is ancient and doesn't work, and corporate hasn't updated it." So, I figured I would just eat there since I went through the trouble. The food was awful and I only ate half which I only did because I was starving from my cross-country flight. I then returned to my room and noticed that there was a lot of needed maintenance in the hallways and elevators (as you can see in my photos). I also discovered that the closet doors creaked extremely loud and didn't sit straight, which made not use them as I was going to be leaving at 4:30 am and didn't want to wake my neighbors up - yes, they were that loud.

The Ugly: The shower was barely larger than a small closet. I get that I'm a big guy, and showerheads over 6' high are a bit rare, but not only did I have to bend way over to get my head under it, but my shoulders barely fit between the door and the wall. The showerhead was also loose and felt like I could just yank it out of the wall. The towels were not soft at all, and I would go so far as to say they were a little rough. That takes me to the light problem. The curtains wouldn't close all the way and had a massive gap around them as did the door, as did the adjoining room door. All this meant that there was so much light pouring in the room, it was hard to sleep. Finally, when I attempted to leave the next morning, the tag for the garage didn't work, and there was no "help button" for me to press, so I had to leave my car there, run to the valet, and ask them to open it for me. Honestly, I don't see myself ever staying here in the future despite being loyal to Hilton. And to further clarify, my experience wasn't unique. I had five other co-workers that were staying here as well, and while their experienced varied wildly, which also shouldn't be a thing, none of them said they were happy with their stay. One of my co-workers stayed at a Marriott property a little ways away and reported that his experience was significantly better, so should I return, I'll probably stay there instead. Hopefully, Hilton will take a close look at the property and throw some money at it to bring it up to the level...