Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta - Buckhead — Hotel in Atlanta

Good help is hard to find. I am a Hilton honors member so I frequent the franchise and various locations. Upon arrival I was greeted by the most unprofessional valet staff. One of the gentleman had a chipotle bowl in one hand and a fork in the other trying to explain to me valet prices. I was told that if I valet with the hotel I would be charged $40 and it would come out of my deposit. The other option I was given was to park in the public parking deck which gives a set rate based on the hours reserved. Due to the fact that I was looking for convenience I opted in for valet. “Mr. Chipotle” told me to leave my keys in the vehicle and I would receive a text message to communicate with valet whenever I needed my vehicle brought up front. Hesitant I left my key fob behind and went ahead and checked into my room.

Check in was seamless. Be prepared to pay additional fees more than online quotes.

My room was spacious. Microwave fridge nice comfortable bed. The only complaint was that the floor mates were rather rambunctious throughout the night.

I never received a text message from valet from the time I checked in,3PM) until the morning of my check out day. I had to go downstairs and request my vehicle in person each time as I did not have a text link to use. The valet staff stated they were backed up but assured me that I would receive a text message.

Once I arrived to my event as I’m getting out of my vehicle I noticed a set of keys were lodged on the side of my seats with a pair of attached AirPod pros. These keys did not belong to me... it was apparent to me that Valet left another guests keys in my car. This was a MAJOR safety concern for me and to be frank very careless of the hotel staff. Anyone from Atlanta knows Atlanta (IYKYK) and this could’ve ended very bad for all parties involved. I did not want to attend my three hour event with someone else’s keys so I ended up leaving my event to return the car keys back to the hotel and ended up missing my event. Upon arrival “Mr. Chipotle” and another gentleman were frantically searching for the keys that were in my possession. I returned them without as much as a thank you for saving my a**.

The MORNING, after my initial check in, at 738AM I received a text message link from valet to be used to request vehicle pick up.

Due to the inconvenience and unprofessionalism of the valet process, I requested to speak with hotel management who was not available for the entire weekend (LOL) so I spoke with the valet supervisor Kayla and the front desk clerk Ebony. Both ladies heard out my concern and provided feedback. I requested my full $40 refund from the valet services due to the carelessness from the staff. I was told my refund request would be honored. It was not. I reached out to follow up with management and again they were not available.

I say that to say this; Don’t let the Hilton Buckhead fool you. The evening staff is some of the most unprofessional group of team members I have ever encountered. There was no structure, no leadership, no accountability. I simply asked for my refund for lack luster service and I am getting the runaround. Hopefully my review will be enough to get some resolution and hopefully served as a warning to future guests. Do not use the valet service at the Hilton Garden Inn Buckhead unless you want your vehicle at risk of being stolen. Take your chance and park...

We prepaid for a deluxe room, 1 king bed with sofa bed 9/24-9/26. Check in is at 3pm. We arrived at the hotel approximately 3:20 pm. We were told housekeeping had not had a chance to prepare our room, and that it would be ready in 25 minutes.

Fast forward to 4:30pm and we tried again. We were told the room still was not ready. I asked if they could check the room and provide us with more details. A employee returned to tell us the real reason the room was not ready. The previous guest had abandoned the room, and left all their belongs behind. They said they were unable to check out the guest in that room because that guest could accuse them of stealing their belongings.

They asked if we would be ok with a two double bed room. I said no. Eventually they found the “same” category room for us. We agreed to take it. The hotel needed a credit card for incidentals. I put it in, and as soon as I noticed it was for $400 I immediately yanked it out. The room was prepaid. The hotel employee apologized for the mistake of double charging me, and assured me it would be taken off my credit card.

Side note on the credit charge they ended up charging us close to $400 four times. How is that for incidentals? Or even for payment? They have refunded 3 of the four charges. I have a dispute in with the credit company over the fourth unauthorized charge that was not refunded.

We get in our “same” category room to find out it’s just a standard king room. I go to turn the desk light on, and it starts strobing. Honestly my wife and I just started laughing at that point. I went downstairs to tell the manager if they can’t accommodate our booking we want our bill to reflect it (I’m not paying for the deluxe room and staying in the standard).

The manager was good and did her best. They comped the first night. Granted it took over an hour on hotels.com hotline. That said they charged our card so many times I’m not sure it truly comped yet.

This bring me to the other aspects of our stay.

The hotel advertises room service and breakfast. I read from previous review that room service was not offered due to COVID. I was not aware that breakfast was no longer available either. The least they can do is update it on hotels.com so expectations are met.

Normally I would recommend using the valet (I used to be one in college), and if you have a slow car I still would. That said if your car is quick or expensive you might have to way those risk. On multiple occasions the valet talked cars with me. No big deal. Until he started talking specifics of my car. These aren’t direct quotes but they were among the lines of “your car is really quick,” “when you floor it, and it shifts to second it really throws your head back.” If your going to rag my car out don’t tell me about it.

The last thing I would like to say is I’m so glad we didn’t bring our children with us. In the lobby I heard a women with young children getting off the elevator say “F* that b”. My wife heard a woman saying “I can’t f** believe they made me check out”- (it was her checkout day). Lastly a woman on the elevator told us and another pregnant couple that “she needs to stay away from us so she doesn’t catch the disease.” Not the atmosphere I would expect of Hilton.

Pre covid I stayed at hotels 30+ nights a year. Honestly this his been my worst stay at a hotel. Avoid...

My to star rating takes into account that this is supposed to be a nice hotel for business travelers. It isn't a low-end "budget" hotel so the expectations are a little higher.

Overall, I had a poor experience. A hotel's primary job is to take care of physical needs including sleep, nutrition, and sanitation. I believe this hotel did a poor job in all these categories.

I was there for corporate meetings and the hotel was making a large sum of money off of over a hundred attendees for a whole week.

There was an overall level of grime/dirtiness. I place this at the fault of management. It seems that nobody is doing inspections and giving feedback for improvement.

Only two elevators exist and one would consistently be broken. So, really one reliable elevator for the whole hotel.

The bathroom next to the meeting rooms only had one working sink, the trashcan would overflow, the soap would run out, and the paper towels would run out. Meanwhile, there would be more than one employee chatting at the front desk. A good hotel will know what meetings are going on and where. It should monitor meeting breaks and the supporting bathrooms.

The rooms had a poor setup. Light pollution through the door and the window. The drapes should have gone in the opposite direction to eliminate the window light pollution. The bottom door jam could have been fitted to eliminate the majority of light pollution from the door.

The rooms were not kept at a high cleaning standard. There were unrepaired holes in the wall, the bed was uncomfortable, and the pillows were all small. There was no body sized pillow for varied sleeping configurations.

The food was sub-par. Chicken was dry and chewy, etc. It was a while since I stayed there and I forget more of the specific failures on the food. I apologize for that miss on this review.

The gym was atrocious. I should have taken pictures. It was in the basement and seemed forgotten. Machines were completely broken, it had stains, pieces of ceiling were missing, and the tv remote didn't work. It was just very sad as a gym is concerned.

No mini fridge nor microwave even on the room floor. You have to go to the lobby to use...