Embassy Suites by Hilton Cincinnati Northeast Blue Ash — Hotel in Blue Ash

Do NOT stay here!||- Security -||On the first night of our stay, this hotel and 3 other local properties were hit by some criminals who busted windows out of over 60 vehicles (15 of them at this hotel). ||Since there were NO SECURITY CAMERAS on the property, this was an easy target for the thieves. ||The hotel should have security cameras outside to help provide a layer of crime prevention instead of several signs that say there are no cameras. According to front desk staff, the back parking lot has some security camera coverage from another building so at least park there until someone decides to do the right thing and add security cameras on property! Other Embassy Suites hotels that I called in Cincinnati and Columbus all said they have cameras on property, but Blue Ash did not.||- Leaking Roof -||It was raining when we arrived, and there were many buckets placed all around to catch the water.||- Manager's Reception - ||The Manager's Reception in the evening was a big disappointment. Instead of anything hot and delicious, it was a bowl of potato chips, a bowl of corn chips, and a small vegetable tray. At a previous Embassy Suites, we had a wide selection of items including trail mix, chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, and other items. We were only allowed 2 drinks and were the only hotel guests attending at that time. It was rather underwhelming for what it is promoted to be.|| - Staff - ||The staff on duty was very polite and professional, but they seemed to be fairly unaware of most issues when I brought them up at checkout.||- Elevators & Stairs - ||I was hesitant to use the elevators because most were out of order and I didn’t trust the safety of them (see reviews from other guests with the same recurring issue!), but the stairwell was in deplorable condition. The photos provided show the stairwell by the fitness center on the north side of the building, which is also where you will see photos of bug-filled light fixtures.||- Room Issues - ||The cabinets in the room for the sink, fridge, and microwave were falling apart. See the photos of the now-exposed wood due to excessive moisture exposure.||The hotel was nearly empty when we were there, but they placed us in a room next to a crying baby. It was too late to move by the time we realized this, but if there are only a few people in the hotel, they should space guests out more. ||The pull-out sofa mattress was the worst mattress I have ever seen. There is no way someone could actually sleep on that with barely anything covering up the mattress springs, it was extremely uncomfortable. The couch was long enough that my son just slept on the couch cushions, so don't plan on more than one person sleeping on the couch.||Our door wouldn't shut unless we pulled hard on it to close, this could be a safety issues if someone isn't aware that the door didn't shut properly.||- No Response from Manager -||I left two voicemails for the manager (Jason) but he never returned my calls. I then submitted my complaints to Hilton including photos, and they said the manager would call me back, but...

Our family stayed at this hotel because it was the host site for our family reunion. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve had in a long time.

Check-In Issues I booked two rooms—one for my father-in-law and another for my husband and myself. Despite explaining to the front desk that my father-in-law was listed as an additional guest on the second room, the agent checked us into the wrong room. This was eventually corrected after returning to the lobby, but I had to swipe my card for the second room at check-in even though I’d already checked in via the app. This detail became relevant later.

When my father-in-law arrived, he was unable to check in because their records showed us already checked into his room. Although I'd confirmed with the front desk that he would have no issues checking in, I had to return to the lobby again to resolve the problem.

Room Functionality Problems Later, our room keys stopped working and needed to be reprogrammed because the hotel was updating its systems. Upon returning to our room, we discovered the TV in the bedroom (Room 205) didn’t work—we couldn’t change inputs or watch anything. Alongside this, several lights wouldn’t turn on, though I didn’t investigate whether it was a power issue or just blown bulbs.

Plumbing Failure and Slow Service After a long day, my husband tried to take a shower, but the tub refused to drain. We followed a tip from the front desk to fix it ourselves, but it didn’t work. They promised to send maintenance immediately, but after 35 minutes, no one came. After multiple calls, someone finally arrived, but the situation worsened: the tub kept backing up with unpleasant debris.

The staff initially blamed our “do not disturb” sign for the delay. If maintenance can’t enter because of the sign, this should be communicated upfront or followed up with a call—not simply ignored.

Final Resolution and Additional Frustrations After repeated requests, we were moved to another room, as requested, on the same floor (which was important since our family was nearby). It was inconvenient that they even considered moving us to a different floor given the circumstances.

To add to everything, I was also charged for my father-in-law’s reservation because I had swiped my card earlier, even though this should not have happened. By this point, I didn’t bother fighting it and decided to settle it between us privately.

Lastly, my father-in-law was locked out of his room once as well—this after just two nights at the hotel. Overall, the stay was a complete disappointment.

No discount. No refund. No complimentary upgrades were offered for any of this...

We just returned from a soccer tournament in Cincinnati, and the stay here was the worst. At check in, the Front Desk manager (Regina) complained to us about all the problems they had with teams who stayed there the previous weekend and put us on notice that our kids would only get "2 strikes" before we're thrown out of the hotel - literally this was our greeting! Other parents in our group remarked that they'd received a similarly hostile greeting as well.

There were MANY more issues throughout our stay including: At check in we were only allowed room keys for guests 21 and over. Yes, at 18 you're old enough to serve in the military but you can't have a room key at this property. I've never before encountered a property that would not allow me to get a room key for my teen daughter. It was emblematic of Regina's obviously hostile attitude toward teens. I completely get that they've likely had some bad experiences in the past but perhaps they should reconsider hosting so many sports teams at once if they're going to have such a hostile, unprofessional attitude. HORRIBLE wifi (when I called the front desk the person told me it was bad before they were fully booked so I should just not expect working wifi). I used my hotspot the entire stay. Stained mattress and sheets. I so wish I'd taken pictures. It was truly gross so I put double sheets on the pull out sofa and used blankets from our car and our own towels. The entire property is old and musty. The hotel is designed around a large atrium area (which looks quite nice) but it's very noisy since everyoe is concentrated in one area and there were many different sports teams there. They seemed to be a host hotel for multiple events, but they weren't appropriately staffed or resourced to support them in my view.

When I checked out, two women were in front of me in line. The first was getting a replacement room key. When the guy working the front desk asked her how her stay was going, she paused and responded, "I'm hopeful." The second woman came down personally to ask that someone repair her shower drain - she indicated she'd called about it the day prior but no one ever came. We'd had similar difficulties getting a response when we called to report a problem so I certainly wasn't surprised.

In contrast, we stayed at the Embassy Suites Knoxville West and had a great experience - pleasant and professional staff, beautiful modern space, no issues whatsoever. In my view the Blue Ash property has horrible management and it shows up in ways large and small...