Embassy Suites by Hilton Austin Downtown South Congress — Hotel in Austin

I just checked and, yes, the cockroach is still twitching in the bathroom garbage can.

If it were just a matter of a single cockroach, I wouldn't write a review. Raise your hand if you've never had a cockroach in your own home. It happens.

But walking into the bathroom and seeing a monster cockroach ambling about was the last straw in a hotel experience so bad it's almost comical. Let me walk you through the timeline:

Night 1: Flight delayed, I arrive at midnight. The desk guy tells me the water is off from 12-6. "Sorry. We have free bottled water." Okay, fair enough. It's not the hotel's fault, right?

As I grab my room key he says, oh, to get to the 9th floor you have to take the third elevator, because the other first two elevators don't go up to the 9th floor. Okay I'm thinking, it's one of those situations where they have certain elevators that go to certain floors. When I get to the elevators I'm expecting a separate button for the third elevator to go to the 9th floor. But in fact, there's only one button for all 3 elevators. I push it, and the 2nd elevator door opens. No way to open the third elevator. Hmm. Maybe I misunderstood. I go back to the front desk. He's apologetic and explains that, if the wrong elevator opens, you just send it up to a different floor without getting on, then you push the button again so you can get the third elevator to the 9th floor.

Ah, of course, brilliant workaround. So I go back and press the button. Second elevator door opens. I send it up to 8. Then I press the button again. Dang, bad luck -- first elevator door opens. No worries, I send it up to 8 too. I press the button again. Second elevator again! It had made its round trip just in time to get back to ground level. I send it up to 8 again and try to move fast back to the elevator button. Finally, I get elevator #3 and make my way to the 9th floor.

I get into the room and look around for this free bottled water I was expecting. Nothing. Not even the usual complimentary bottle of water. Okay, I probably misunderstood and was supposed to pick some up downstairs? Well at least I can call the front desk and have them bring some up so I don't have to navigate the elevators again. I pick up the phone -- no dial tone. Hmm. I trace the cord and find it's not plugged in. I dig around and find the plug. Call the front desk. No answer, on hold several minutes. Losing hope. So I grab my cell phone and call the main number. There too I wait on hold and lose hope. Finally I just decide to go back downstairs and get some bottled water so I can brush my teeth.

Day 2 morning: I wake up greatly looking forward to my shower. Not excited about the shower design -- the floor from shower into bathroom floor is flat, which is probably going to let water onto the bathroom floor, and there's only a curtain rather than a door -- still, I get in, grab the showerhead, and am pleasantly surprised to find good water pressure and temperature. The holder for the showerhead is kind of low, so I'm not going to be able to stand under it, but that's okay. I put the showerhead into the holder so I can soap up. Whoa! Holder is so loose and water pressure is so good that the thing flops all over the place. That's not going to work. I turn it off to soap up. I pump the shampoo. Hmm, nothing coming out. I pump again. Nothing. I pump furiously. Not even a drop. Whatever. I washed my hair yesterday anyway. I use regular soap for the rest of the job and get out of the shower. [I exceeded word limit, so click on the screenshot in photos if you must have the rest of the story. TL;DR = the staff were nice, which gets them...

I suggest staying elsewhere. This team is fairly incompetent and it seems like no one knows what's going on half the time. Plus, it's gross.

1. Checking in, we were given a room that wasn't fully accessible (key only worked for 1 room, other was not cleaned). Had to wait for another floor to open up.
2. 3 other patrons throughout that first day were also having issues with their booking.
3. Rooms are pretty gross. Very humid and moist, with a moisture smell. Rotten/moldy doors. Unkempt furniture. Leaking faucets. Bugs. AC didnt get cool. The whole 9. This place is so old and hasn't been upkept.
4. Overheard many other patrons having booking issues as we walked past the lobby.
5. Day 2, our doors/keys stopped working, locking my suite mate out of his room in the middle of the night. Engineer couldnt fix it and gave up, said hed bring a stopper and didn't. Next day, my key locked me out as I was in the middle of changing clothes for an event - so I couldn't access my room - had to get new keys made and my suitemade had to sync up to swap out. Was late to my event, and there was a stopper inside the room so they came in and presumably were fiddling with shit to make my key not work anymore.
6. I had upgraded my room and purchased late checkout a week before - they still charged me a $35 late checkout fee. Lol, at a point of where they should be refunding me for their terrible hotel, they instead charged me extra. People barged into the room 3-4 separate times, unannounced, and never said a word. No calls. No texts. They obviously had my number because they texted me about the late fee. So this person(s) were walking into our room as we were getting dressed and packing and walking out without acknowledging the situation. Total violation of privacy.

Cost me like $1,200 for 3 days and was a terrible choice. I was very polite and understanding at the start, but by day 4 I was over it, and them sending me a text (after barging in the room unannounced MULTIPLE TIMES and uninvited without calling, texting, or addressing us in the room) saying they're charing a late checkout sent me over the edge.

Stay far away. And to management, you need to host some internal meetings and get your shit together.

In my eyes, you owe me a refund but I'd argue your team is too incapable and ignorant to even know how to start that process. In addition to this review, I'll be calling to leave a complaint. I'm far from a Karen but you guys need...

The actual hotel was nice and I would come here again (if Hilton fixes the following situation.) The area could be better but it had what I needed. The following post is about the people standing in their lobby pitching “free points” if you talk to them. They’re with Hilton Grand Vacation. Save yourself your sanity, time, and money and walk away! Make no eye contact!

I’ve always liked Hilton and I’m a loyal Hilton Honors member, which makes this even more frustrating. My experience with Hilton Grand Vacations was awful, possibly illegal, and extremely sketchy.

In the lobby, there was a guy at a table offering “free points” for just talking to him, with the classic line: “there’s no catch.” Obviously, that was a lie. I can’t believe I didn’t see it, and I feel stupid for ever talking to him. Talking to him turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made while traveling. He pitched a discounted vacation package and made it sound like a great deal. It wasn’t until after I paid the down payment that I realized the whole point of it was to push a timeshare presentation. He mentioned an “event” I’d have to attend, but never once explained it was a timeshare pitch or what I was really signing up for.

I realized it quickly and tried to cancel the next day. That’s when things got worse. I hadn’t signed anything, hadn’t received a confirmation email, and had every right to cancel. But instead of helping, a rude customer service rep named Marco talked over me, refused to cancel it, and argued with me the entire time.

Since then, it’s been a nightmare. Hilton keeps saying I have to call to cancel. When I call, it goes to voicemail. Emails get nowhere, even though I sent them a signed cancellation letter from me. I’ve done everything I can to cancel something I never even signed for, and they’re still holding onto my money.

This experience has completely changed how I view Hilton. It feels deceptive, unprofessional, and like a total scam. I just want my money back and for someone to actually treat me like a human being instead of giving me the runaround. I’ll be warning everyone I know to avoid Hilton, Hilton Grand Vacations, and this predatory setup. Definitely not what I expected from a brand I used to respect.

I used to actively look for Hilton for my travel hotels, and now I will be actively avoiding...