Hilton Garden Inn Charleston Waterfront/Downtown — Hotel in Charleston

The hotel itself, rooms, lobby, free parking, shuttle to downtown, etc., is nice, but there were lots of problems/issues with our stay that really show a lack of decent management. While the staff that I dealt with were very friendly and tried to be accommodating, there were so many issues that I can't recommend this hotel to anyone else. To begin, we arrived at 3:00 hoping to check in early, but our room wasn't ready, so we decided to drive around Charleston a bit and they would call us when the room was ready. We went back at 4:00 which was the standard check in time (having not received a call), and our room still wasn't ready. I needed to be downtown by 5:00 for an event, so I really needed my room. The desk clerk called housekeeping and they had no idea how long it would be...they hadn't started cleaning the waterfront room yet. No other rooms available like that one, so after waiting another 15 minutes, they offer me a partial water view room with a balcony that is ready, and it's cheaper, so in desperation, we took that room. They also offered me a couple free drink coupons, but they were only good at the lobby bar, not the rooftop bar. In the meantime, there is another group also dealing with the same issue. Room not ready by 4:00, having to be downtown by 5:00 and no way to get ready in time. Unfortunately they didn't have another suitable room for those guests, so I guess they waited or missed their event. After that, the problems just didn't end. We used the shuttle that night to go downtown to see the July 4 fireworks, and afterwards, there were too many people for the shuttle. One guest called the hotel to let them know and they said they had an overflow plan, but when the shuttle came, there wasn't enough room and he didn't have any back up. He eventually decided to drop off the first group and offered to come back for us so we didn't have to wait another hour, but we still waited about 45 minutes longer for all that to happen. Little inconveniences like this happened all week. We never did get housekeeping in to clean/straighten the room. The first day they asked if we needed service when we saw them in the hallway around 4:30 p.m., and we said yes we at least needed them to take our trash and leave new towel....and that's all we got. This is the only hotel I've ever stayed in where housekeeping didn't make the beds or vacuum the room all week! Ran out of toilet paper...had to call the desk. Needed kleenex...had to call the desk. The extra pillows I had requested when I made the reservation...had to call about those three times. And then to top it all off, on my emailed receipt, there was a charge there for the garden bar that I didn't charge (on the day they gave me the free drink coupons that I didn't end up using anyway). I've called and the clerk was pretty abrupt and said she would take it off. I asked for a new receipt to be emailed, so I hope I receive that today. All in all, the hotel was safe and conveniently located, but it suffers from severe mismanagement. There are too many other hotels in Charleston for me to...

Given the COVID environment and it’s acute impact on the hospitality industry, it is with regret that I have to post this review - however it is only fair that future travelers are aware of the current situation at this HGI.

The Good

We arrived early, circa 12pm, and the front desk agent allowed us to check in early which I appreciated

That same front desk agent was professional and friendly, as was her colleague who dealt with a demanding guest, acceding to his very particular room view requests as a Gold member (the squeaky wheel gets the oil I guess?)

The breakfast was cooked to order and pretty tasty, though they did run out of coffee while I was there. As a Diamond, it was of course complimentary, as was parking.

The Not So Good

The rooftop bar is closed, the bar & grille downstairs has a 4hr window in the evenings (5pm-9pm) so beware if you have an F&B credit in your rate, the window to use it is small and encourages breakage.

Prices in that same bar are pretty crazy for a HGI and Charleston in general, $9+ (inc tax & tip) for a 12oz IPA is egregious. This isn’t Manhattan.

The hotel is particularly understaffed and it shows at breakfast time. If you’ve a full house then you need more than 2 servers and 1 line cook.

Overall I’m left underwhelmed. It was veering towards an unremarkable middle of the road of HGIs I have stayed in review, but a couple of things ticked me off to knock a star off; firstly housekeeping knocking on my door at 10.59am on an 11am check out (check with the front desk to see what rooms are vacant!). Secondly, it annoys me greatly to have to review a folio and point out where they haven’t made a necessary F&B adjustment for the rate I booked. I shouldn’t need to have to review and correct this. Thirdly mask enforcement is lax here, though I do have sympathy because the leisure travel crowd they’re attracting tend to be, how shall we say, combative to mask use.

There was a wedding in the hotel this weekend and the priority was clearly for guests/folks in that party. For $150 it’s a bed for the night, anything more than that look elsewhere in the brand portfolio. My impression is that if you’re a HHonors loyalist it doesn’t really matter here - choose...

Stayed here for my wedding weekend and was very disappointed. We worked with their sales team over a year ago to get rooms for all family and us, staying there and our dog. Hotel changed policy beginning this year and our contact assured us that there would be no issue and reservation would be honored. While it was honored, the front desk staff were very rude about it. I’ve stayed at other pet-friendly Hilton properties and I’m always transparent about our dog and if hotel needs anything specific from us (some places have door hangers or ask that you use the do not disturb sign when the dog is out in the room, we try and follow all their rules). When I checked it I explained we had a hired pet sitter for day of (we know even pet friendly places don’t like dogs roaming free in the room). First girl said they could add her name and print her a key when she came in- when I tried to do this the next day with the sitter they grilled me about if I’d be leaving the dog unattended in the room - I tried to explain that family would watch her but it was my wedding and my dog would be attending for pictures but I wouldn’t be able to hand off keys and I needed her to have in/out access of the room to take her out and back, and they scoffed at me. I finally got her a key but even the pet sitter who does hotel sits like this all the time commented that she’d never had staff treat people like that. Also for context this is a trained adult golden, not a puppy or some aggressive dog that I could understand hotels might be wary of. I know that policies changed and staff have to turn away new guests who want dog-friendly stays but I just wish that the staff didn’t treat me like a criminal on my own wedding weekend. On a positive note, the red hair bartender at the rooftop bar was very nice and makes great drinks. Wish they had more people like her at...