Tru by Hilton Baltimore Harbor East — Hotel in Baltimore

Overall, we enjoyed our stay and would come back.||ROOM|This hotel is newer and I've found that the Tru series by Hilton means you'll get a hard floor (no carpet) and a thoughtful but minimal approach to the room. I personally like this. The hard floor to me is much more sanitary than carpet. The thoughtful but minimal approach means there are not drawers and things or closets to unpack and the room is definitely "efficient" in size. However, there are hooks, built-in places for luggage to lay open and LOTS of power outlets and USB charging ports.||I found the bed to actually be pretty comfortable, I don't often find hotel beds to be comfortable. We were in a room with a king bed. The pillows of course, we the same "pancake pillows" as I like to call them, they flatten into nothing with the tiniest bit of weight, but I know that's every hotel these days. However, I had some bad heartburn one night and my spouse asked for 3 extra pillows. They brought them up to our room very quickly and that helped a LOT.||To me the clean and modern approach is very attractive. However, I think a family, especially one with small children may not find it so attractive due to the size of the room (not much space for hanging out) and the lack of liners on the trash cans. For us (a couple traveling together) we appreciate that servicing the room (collecting trash, making beds, refilling soap) only comes by every other day and the trash has no liners and has a separator for trash vs recycling since it seems more environment-aware than other hotels. And also adding to that the soap, shampoo, lotion, etc is in dispensers attached to the wall, so much less plastic and waste for one-time use products that don't fully get used.||Most importantly to me, as a hot person and hot sleeper the AC worked well in the room and would go as low as 64 and did a good job. It is loud, but I've never in all my years stayed at a hotel where it was quiet. Iwill note though, that the thermostat is one in which you cannot select heat vs AC, you only choose a temperature. For my spouse, the most important thing to him was a hot shower and that was satisfactory. Also, since it's a newer hotel it's a walk-in shower with glass door and plenty tall for us (max height 6'3").||BREAKFAST|I did eat the breakfast one morning. However, I get there so close to the end, that the attendant literally started closing up after I got my food (that's on me, but it was a shame). So that may explain why the only bananas and oranges that were left didn't look so enticing. I was able to grab the last little pre-made omelets. I'm pretty sure it was real egg and not eggbeaters, and was pretty good, it just had a few red and green peppers in it. There was also some sausage patties, I would assume probably some sausage links or bacon, but again I was too late so not sure. They had slices of bread and bagels that you could toast. With it they offered peanut butter, strawberry jelly and plain cream cheese. There was also cereal (I think three kinds) and for beverages you had 3 kinds of juices and water. Naturally, you also had coffee and tea since they have a 24 hour coffee/tea station available at all times. Last, but not least they had a neat little pancake device. You waive you hand and it dispenses some pancake batter on a thing, cooks it & delivers it to you awaiting plate in the appropriate spot. I didn't try to use it, but seemed like and efficient pancake option.||OTHER|The gym didn't look bad, but I didn't partake since it was vacay. But it was 24 hour and outside it had the ice maker for the hotel, buckets for ice, cups and a water dispenser you could use to fill up a bottle or one of the paper cups available there. This was nice and we used it to refill our water bottles during our stay. It's also conveniently located near the elevators on the first floor.||There is a little concession bar where you can buy items from the front desk person and it includes snacks, sodas, beer, wine and other food items. That's also where the microwave for the hotel is located. They even have a little freezer with some microwavable meals if you're in a tight. I like that the microwave was there by the front desk person, since I've seen them randomly be in the halls at other hotels and that made me concerned about it's cleanliness.||The lobby has various spaces to sit. Some more suited for dining, some more suited for tray table working environment. Others for socialization. And lastly there is a table shuffleboard device in the lobby. One evening in between events we hung out down there playing and having a couple drinks. They did have some children's board games but just looking at them it seemed like most of the pieces were missing or destroyed.||TRANSPORTATION & PARKING|The hotel does not have it's own parking, but there is a parking deck across the street. Right in front of the hotel they have designated pick up spots so it was easy to access rides like Uber & Lyft.||There are some areas close by that may not be the best for walking through at night, however it almost seemed like there was a different part of the city in every direction, so that was nice and during the day we walked most places. Particularly, the...

Imagine flying 6 and a 1/2 hours getting in and the only thing you can think of is getting to your hotel and laying down. Now imagine it taking an hour and a 1/2 to check in even though the lobby was empty. On December 9th I arrived at the hotel around 9 PM. I had checked in online but it asked me to stop by the front desk. I went through the normal check in process putting my card in for payment as prompted for the stay. The transaction showed approved and I removed my card as it asked but was immediately told by the front desk agent Darryl that my payment didn't go through. The next 2 attempts declined so i decided to log into my account and noticed Tru by Hilton was holding the almost $600 for the room and deposit. I showed Darryl but he could not find my payment in the system and would not check me in. At my request he called the Assistant GM Andren. Andren was very rude and not understanding. He implied that i didn't have the money to pay indicating that they get could not check me in on my word that I "allegedly" paid even though they clearly saw the money missing out of my account. Andren was willing to leave me stranded 1000 miles from home indicating he would need to speak to my bank, which didn't open until the next morning, before he could give me a room. I threatened to call corporate and grabbed the GM, Monica Rodriguez's, card and attempted to call her but got no answer. After an hour and half of sitting in the lobby with my luggage and attempting to call around and find an alternate room, Darryl finally says he called the Merchant and verified my transaction and could now check me in. Darryl was very professional and he apologized for the inconvenience and advised I speak with management the next day. My stay was ok no complaints and upon checkout i noticed my account was debited for a lesser amount than what the room was. I stopped by the front desk to request a bill and to speak to management. Monica was no more helpful than Andren. She seemed unconcerned and advised she was aware of the issue and was the one who had them call the merchant. When told about Andren, she simply said she'd talk to him but offered little to no apology and advised the lesser charge was a mistake and they would be taking the remaining balance. She said Andren offered no compensation but she'd be willing to give me points which I have yet to receive. Points won't erase the embarrassment of my card declining nor will take away the anxiety I felt being 1000 miles from home and not knowing if I would even have a place to stay. This was by far the worst experience checking into a hotel I've ever had. If you choose this hotel make sure you check in during the hours your bank is open and not have any issues that require management intervention bc management...

Don't waste your time with this or any Hilton hotel. They provide NO help or customer service if it is after midnight. It seems they won't pay any employees to work after midnight. Like I said don't waste your time and money. Like I did.

I had a terrible experience with Hilton hotels Friday night. Made a reservation in afternoon. They didn't warn me that major construction going on. Essentally construction keeps you from getting anywhere near the hotel's entrance. So if you have luggage or a car you are out of luck. And it's not exactly a safe neighborhood to walk around late at night. I was under tremendous stress and had been traveling for nearly 18 hours. All I wanted was to go sleep. They made sure that was not going to happen. Baltimore is like the murder capital of the US. It's not safe late at night. I tried to call and ask the hotel how do I get into the hotel. That was a big mistake and a waste of time. First you have to find a way to get past the computer. That took 20 mins. And calling the Hilton customer "DIS-Service" line was even more of a nightmare. They aren't open for reservations or any customer service help after midnight. AND of course the answering system was full. So you couldn't even leave a message, let alone get a room at one of the other 5 Hilton hotels in the city. Hilton hotels truely suck. So at 1 am I had to spend the next hour plus trying find another place to stay. You would think, after a pandemic, they would try to get their customers to come back. So if you are dumb enough to fall for their ads, don't expect ANY customer service if it is after midnight Baltimore time (Eastern Standard Time) or 9 pm...