Hilton Garden Inn Charlotte Airport — Hotel in Charlotte

I stayed at the Hilton Garden inn charlotte ayrsley about 1yr ago during my visit to Charlotte with my church and that place was beautiful. Complete contrast to my stay this past week at the Hilton Garden inn airport, such a horrific experience.

During my drive to Charlotte I recieved a call from a lady asking me to prepay with her before I arrived (which I've never had happen and should have been a red flag) at any other establishment. I declined and told her I'd pay at the hotel. I was greeted by two women who seemed to be less enthused to be at work that day, one of which is Miss Washington the "Manager" which I find mind blowing seeing as she couldn't figure out how to work the card reader. So, Miss Washington proceeds to check me in, tells me the total and to insert my card and then she walks away from the transaction to tend to other things more important (I'm guessing). The card reader prompts me to remove my card which I did, and then she comes back about a min later asking me why did I remove my card!? I kindly let her know I was prompted by the card reader to do so. She tells me the transaction did not go through, I let her know it did and that I received an alert on my phone from my card company letting me know it went through and the money was deducted from my account. Of course she didn't want to hear that and insisted I reinsert my card to charge it again. I didn't want to argue and did what she said, the transaction was denied because I made sure I had the exact amount on my card only for the one transaction, which did go through. After about 45mins of her calling multiply people to help her do her job, low and behold she looks down at the computer screen and sees that the first transaction did go through.

I was given a key card to my room and away I went tired and slightly annoyed. The hotel lobby seemed to be maintained well and had modern decor. The room a bit different than the lobby. It was dated and had the hardest bed I've ever slept on in my life and the bed frame was extremely dusty which aggravated my allergies. I did like the amenities in the room and also the free parking. Disappointed aswell that there was no free breakfast. It isn't like the place is a 4 or 5 star hotel where charging for such things are to be expected!

Day 2 of my stay I realized my card was charged for the second charge and now it is in a negative of $447.00. I raced down to the front desk to let Miss Washington know which she did agree I was double charged and that after I check out the problem would resolve itself. Again I didn't make a fuss because the card I used is solely a travel card in which I transfer funds from my actual bank account to use for hotel, car rentals and flight expenses. So it isn't like I'm in a bad position as far as the money goes.

The morning of check out she again reassures me the money will be returned plus the money for incidentals. Here it is 2 days later I'm back home and of course that did not happen and of course no one is around at the hotel to deal with the matter. So now I have no choice but to contact the BBB and make a complaint and have them help me get all the money back. THIS PLACE IS NOT WORTH THE HEADACHE, SPEND THE FEW EXTRA DOLLARS AND GO TO THE AYRSLEY LOCATION! Oh yeah she tried to charge my card another $23.00 after check out which was denied...

My recent stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Charlotte Airport was, unfortunately, one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve had. From check-in to check-out, the staff—especially Catherine at the front desk—demonstrated a shocking lack of hospitality and professionalism.

I arrived at 8:30 pm to an empty front desk. After a few minutes, a staff member finally appeared but didn’t even approach the counter. She just asked, “What do you need?” There was no greeting, no welcome. I told her I was checking in, and instead of explaining hotel details, she kept insisting that I make sure I received points for the stay, despite my clear response that I didn’t care about points. She didn’t tell me my room number, leaving me to find it on the key card myself, and when I asked about hotel amenities, all I got was, “Checkout is at noon.” When I requested a late checkout, she flatly said it was at 1 pm—just an hour later, which hardly seemed worth mentioning.

When I got to my room, I realized I’d been assigned a double handicap-accessible room instead of the king I booked. I immediately called the front desk to ask about the mix-up, mentioning that I booked through a third-party service and understood there could be issues. The response was dismissive, with no offer to resolve the situation. She simply said, “It’s first come, first served,” and left it at that.

The next day, I received a text from Catherine, supposedly checking in on my stay. I mentioned my disappointment with the room type, to which she replied defensively, emphasizing multiple times that "no one at the hotel changed your reservation." I had never suggested they did, so her response felt uncalled for and dismissive. I later overheard her discussing my complaint openly with another staff member in the lobby, in front of other guests, which only added to the discomfort and lack of respect I felt throughout my stay.

On top of the poor service, the room was dirty and poorly maintained. There were crumbs and food particles between the bed and base, dead gnats in the drawers, a sticky residue in the shower, water stains on the bathroom counter, and dirt and grass particles on the floor. The walls were paper-thin; I could hear conversations, TVs, and music from adjacent rooms well into the night, making it hard to get any rest.

The only positive experiences were with Vincent and Brandon, who both showed genuine hospitality. Vincent went out of his way to bring lunch and snacks to our meeting room, and Brandon was kind and attentive during check-out, even ensuring that our meeting room was set up properly before lunch. They were the only two who made us feel valued as guests, demonstrating the type of service one would expect from a Hilton property.

In summary, my experience here was marked by unprofessional, dismissive staff and subpar room conditions. For a hotel chain that claims to value hospitality, this location fell woefully short. I would not recommend this Hilton property and certainly won’t...

Room was clean, and location was convenient to the airport and my workplace. The airport shuttle was also useful.

For those with scent/smell sensitivities there is a floral smell in the room which I assume is something they use when cleaning. I originally had a room on the first floor, and while it was not next to the pool, it smelled of chlorine on top of the floral smell so I had to change rooms. The new room on the 3rd floor still had the floral smell, but not quite as strong since the air conditioning was on full blast when I got in. I really wish hotels would stop using scented products to clean/launder. I kept the fan on the whole time and it was eventually tolerable.

Regarding the WiFi, apparently you need a code for the premium WiFi even when your room comes with it, so don't login using your room number or you'll never be able to fix it until it kicks you out after an unknown number of days. I didn't know this, and assumed it was linked to my room number, so I was unable to switch to premium. I tried the tech help line and it directed me to a website that doesn't exist to try to fix the issue, and when I called back no one answered. The hotel app chat suggested just forgetting the network but that also did not work. I even tried a few suggestions I found on the Internet but was never able to clear my devices from the regular WiFi. So little iffy on the WiFi support, but they do use a service for that. However, they should tell you the code and login method at check-in.

I paid for the room rate with drinks/snacks/premium WiFi and didn't get it the whole time. When I used the chat feature in the hotel app, they said they would bring the drinks/snacks the next day but never did. After the second day without the paid feature, I just asked in the chat that they fix my rate to the regular rate and they claimed they would. I found out at checkout that they never did adjust the rate so I had to get that fixed in person. So it seems like the people responding in chat are not actually following through.

The tub's anti-slip marks were also completely slick and I slipped in the tub and cut my foot on the drain plug. When I originally called about it the desk just told me to put a towel in the tub and asked if I needed medical attention (I didn't at the time). When I mentioned it to the desk the next day, they claimed they would send maintenance up, but I saw no evidence anyone had done anything. This was an entirely preventable accident in my opinion. I hope they fix this so others don't get more seriously hurt...