Homewood Suites by Hilton Aliso Viejo - Laguna Beach — Hotel in Aliso Viejo

The 2 main reasons this hotel was chosen by my party was 1) close to family for a visit and 2) free breakfast. Overall it was average at best but what made it poor was 1) parking that must be paid for, according to posted signs (more on that in a minute) 2) sub-par breakfast, and 3) no tissues "anywhere in the hotel". These may not seem like a big deal, but when you see a plastic empty tissue box holder in the room you're thinking, "did housekeeping forget to add one?" No. After a call to the front desk, they said they were "completely out, but have plenty of paper towels and toilet paper." No thanks. This was for a 3-night stay. If I were to do it all over again, I wouldn't have paid for parking. This is the type of hotel that has an open lot yet (usually free almost everywhere else) yet has posted signs that say you need to pay for parking. How? By a QR code or text to a number. Ha! Didn't say it was enforced and it sure seems like it wasn't at all. So why bother? Well, it seems to just be a cash grab for suckers. I didn't pay for it (and wouldn't have) but another member of my party did without my knowledge so they're out $15/day! But I know darn well they don't bother to employ or pay for someone to check all the license plates. And I also know it's not enforced because there was absolutely no parking when returning home after dinner one evening, so I just helped myself to a "no parking" spot that clearly wasn't a fire lane or blocking anything, unlike many others. Car was still there in the morning untouched and w/o nasty notes. Now on to the pitiful breakfast. First the hours are paltry like the "buffet" selection: 6-9 AM M-F, 6-10 AM on the weekends. My wife could've sworn she saw a "person experiencing homelessness" (they don't enforce or check cards) load up her bag full at the last minute before they shut it all down. But there wasn't much to load up on. They had a few hot items, the ubiquitous powered scrambled eggs that are always the saddest "buffet" breakfast staple, chorizo one day, breakfast sausage the next, pre-made waffles one day and pancakes the next. They had 3 or 4 cereals but the bowls were always hot out of the dishwasher, so if you wanted cold cereal, the lukewarm milk in it's pitcher would turn even warmer, and you would experience a tepid bowl of cereal. As for fresh fruit, all the bananas were always gone so you're just left with waxy apples and oranges. A few HFCS based juices rounds up your beverage selection along with big plastic warmers of coffee. And again, it was packed every single morning. Felt more like a soup kitchen to be honest. An employee shut off access to the food pantry at exactly 9:02 AM on a Friday. Show up 5 minutes late? Outta luck! But what do you expect? My experience with American hotels for decades that include breakfast at this tier has almost always been a disappoint, with the only exception being Embassy Suites, they still pride themselves on a hot, made-to-order breakfast. But again, no one in our party wanted to drive more than 10 minutes from our other family members house so this is what you get. I think you're much better off just booking a hotel w/o "free" breakfast and with better options nearby...you'll have at least a tastier and more pleasant start...

I booked my stay through my Chase rewards and paid in full a week prior to arriving. The day I was supposed to check in, the hotel- without my authorization- charged my card for the total amount of my stay plus an additional $100, despite already having paid in full prior. I immediately called and was told they “refunded” it to my account. When I arrived the girl at the front desk said she was “distracted by another customer and wasn’t paying attention” and didn’t mean to charge me, then promptly asked for the same card so she could charge another $100 security deposit. I understand that accidents happen but kindly explained my frustration and disappointment with the situation, and reluctantly paid the security deposit for the third time. Although she refunded the accidental charge, it was still pending in my account and with it being a national holiday I knew I would not see the refund for some time. Apart from that, the stay was incredibly mediocre and dissatisfactory: The showers temperature settings did not work, and was unbearably hot (we messed with it for over 30 minutes trying to adjust and no matter where the handle was it wouldn’t change the temperature- I also love hot showers but it was so extreme that I couldn’t bear it long enough to even wash my hair). The tv didn’t work. The ac was loud and would bang everytime it kicked on throughout the night, waking us up. The overhead lights automatically turned on throughout the night and we couldn’t figure out how to make it stop. Not to mention the noise from screaming children running throughout the halls, which I understand is not the hotels fault, but still disturbing. All minor things that we normally would’ve looked past, however when I checked my bank account 5 days after the “refund” was issued, it had disappeared and had not gone through. I contacted my bank and they said the hotel had revoked the refund while it was still pending. I’ve called the hotel directly 4 times since then and was told that there was no manager there that I could speak to and that I would get a call back from a manager at 9am. I then called Hilton customer service and was told that they’re was nothing they could do and to contact the hotel directly about my refund. It is now 1:12pm the next day and I have called twice to follow up with a manager, after not receiving a call back- still no manager to speak to. They had no problem taking my money so I don’t understand why they’re having an issue returning it. As a Hilton honors member, I am incredibly disappointed with the level of service, care, and communication I have received. I am also concerned for how they can charge my card without my authorization, cancel the refund and then ghost me with no explanation or resolution. I am also not the only person this has...

I’ve been staying at this hotel For 6 years; the company I work for is headquartered in the area so I generally come for 1-2 weeks at a time. We send all of our new hires to this hotel for their 2 weeks of training every quarter. Over the years I’ve seen the quality and cleanliness decline but have never made much fuss about it as the staff was generally very friendly and the convenience to my office made it worth it.

However, tonight I had a very scary experience. I was in The laundry room and a staff member came in, at first he was very helpful with a malfunctioning washer but once we got the machine working, he cornered me, blocking the door, asking for my name and phone number. I told him my name but told him no when he repeatedly asked for my number. After asking 3 times and me declining, he shoved his phone in my face. I entered a fake number, moved him out of the way so I could exit the room and got out as quickly as I possibly could. He then called the number on speaker phone and realized it was fake. He called after me as I walked down the hall and was visibly upset.

I immediately went to the front desk to report this as I felt it was not only inappropriate but made me extremely uncomfortable and unsafe. They told me they would report it to his manager.

After returning to my room and dead bolting my lock, I started to think about him having access to my personal information but, even more scary, access to me and my room. I returned to the front desk and told them I wanted to checkout. They were very accommodating and informed me that this was a newly contracted employee but today would be his last day due to this incident.

If this had been a restaurant, grocery story or gas station, I would have brushed this off as a creepy and aggressive experience but being that this is a hotel, where guests should feel safe, I couldn’t brush off this encounter.

I appreciate that the hotel made every effort to accommodate my request to cancel and handled the situation, but I feel they need to do a more thorough job vetting their employees and setting rules and policies to avoid harassment and aggression with guests. This interaction should have never happened.

I won’t be returning to this hotel and will be asking my company to rethink their corporate agreement as I don’t feel safe offering this hotel to the other...