Homewood Suites by Hilton Huntsville-Downtown, AL — Hotel in Huntsville

Pluses-location and the guests services at the morning breakfast were supreme. We were booked for 45 days, but only stayed 2 wks. While some front desk staff were extremely nice, others were extremely rude. Everyday we smelled marijuana up and down our hall. When we worked, we didn’t have to smell it constantly, but on Saturday 6/3/2023, it seemed every hour a new one was lit. If you’ve never smelled it, it is distinct and smells like awful body odor. I also have asthma and certain smells can trigger an attack, so I was unsure about being continually exposed. By 4:00, I had a raging headache, my eyes hurt, I was nauseous, and a bit dizzy feeling. I called to the reception to report it and asked if they had a HEPA filter we could borrow. The “lady” at the desk was audibly annoyed. She huffed and said, “No one else has complained, except for you.” She claimed housekeeping hadn’t reported anything. I told her she could come up and smell for herself, as you could smell it getting off the elevator and besides recreational use still not being legalized in this state, this was supposed to be a non-smoking environment. She said they could ozone the room, but I would have to leave, or they could move me to another room. I replied, “Ozone treatment sounds like a temporary fix and it is happening daily. If smoking is permissible here and you just move me to another room…” and she cut me off and replied, “You’ll just find something else to complain about.” I said, “Excuse me, we’ve been here 2 weeks and haven’t complained about anything. We’ve smelled it daily, but when I work I don’t have to smell it all day long. Today, I’ve been here and they’re lighting up repeatedly. I have gotten an awful headache and I called to seek help. If ozone is a temporary fix and you can’t do anything about the smoking in a non-smoking environment, I was asking if you have some type of HEPA filter for our room, so we didn’t have to keep being exposed, not to mention there are children on our floor as well. Instead of answering my question, you rudely SUGGEST that I am the only one to COMPLAIN and if I were given another room, ‘I’d just find something else to complain about.’ That’s extremely rude and non-professional.” She huffed and said, “I’m the only one here and if I were to call my mgr, she’d say the same thing. I offered ozone treatment or to move you. We don’t have HEPA filters and if you want one, that would be on you. Housekeeping hasn’t reported any issues or we would charge additional fee for smoking. If I went door to door people would just deny it and I’m down here by myself anyway. I cannot do anything about adults doing what they want to do, so I don’t see what you think I could do about it.” What I thought was she could have been respectful of the entire situation or apologetic about the repeated exposure. Instead, she was rude, condescending, apathetic, and argumentative. I told her I would discuss the limited options with my husband when he returned and thanked her for her time. We checked out the following morning. Like I said, the service staff at breakfast were a joy to see and talk with daily. The service and mgmt team at the desk we’re alternately nice (certain individuals throughout the whole stay) ) or extremely dismissive and rude (seemed like depending on who the guests were). I would not recommend this hotel or ever choose to stay here again. I can overlook certain individuals, but the smoking was happening the entire stay and those certain disrespectful attitudes and non-professionalism are what keeps it permissible. You either like it or leave....

Our stay itself (overall) was very pleasant. Though most of the staff was very friendly, several were absolutely amazing. However, we have been APPALLED by management’s handling of a security concern that we encountered as we ended our stay. Some cash was stolen from our room; we reported this first to the hotel assistant manager, then HPD (my husband who used to work in the hospitality industry insisted on this because he’s seen mismanagement before. However, this degree of mismanagement and disregard is mind blowing). Not only did the GM never contact us after I reported the incident to the assistant manager (I was assured the GM would at least call us and they would investigate), but she did not cooperate with the police investigator who was handling our case. While the manager did not blatantly “refuse” to turn over names of those who had entered our room, according to the HPD investigator, she acted surprised that they would want to speak with hotel employees and offered excuses as to how difficult it would be to catch the thief. And despite two requests by the investigator to submit names, the manager never did submit them. The investigator had to call to tell us the case is on hold because the hotel has still provided no information. Also, a lesser but odd concern: we reported this to Hilton’s corporate office (and I only posted this after receiving an email describing a very passive response to my initial report, we’ll be contacting them again to ensure they understand the level of our concern for the safety of guests) AND we contacted our insurance agency (because they’d been paying for our room since we were staying there because of losing our home in a fire!). After speaking with our insurance agency, they called the hotel to discover that they NEVER checked us out even though we had checked out 10 days prior! We reported the money stolen as we were leaving the hotel! They had to run the keycard to make sure we hadn’t been there those 10 days before agreeing to issue a refund to our insurance. It makes one wonder, even if there was a misunderstanding, would they have not noticed a completely empty, very tidy room for TEN days? Plus we interacted with the staff and management all the time since we’d been staying there so long! Most everyone was so nice! We felt this was bizarre. We weren’t after revenge for the stolen cash. We didn’t even expect to see the money again, nor did we expect the thief to be caught. What we DID expect was that by reporting it, someone would think twice before stealing. We did NOT expect management’s gross mishandling of the situation and dismissal of a crime. At this point, the stolen cash seems petty compared to a much graver issue that management would disregard the security of their guests and dismiss local law enforcement in order to cover for an employee. Perhaps that’s not what the management was consciously thinking, but that’s what...

Typical modern Homewood Suites, which is one of my favorite chain hotels. This one is very busy due to its location 1 block from Huntsville Hospital (according to the front desk staff, they are almost always sold out). Because visiting families often overstay their reservation, our rooms were switched from king studios to double queen 1 bedroom for the same price, but unfortunately one of the switched rooms was designed as handicap accessible, which we had to get them to change (with some resistance) as it was unacceptable. My room (209) was fairly clean (a couple missed item – e.g. dirty washcloth on shower rod, something on bathroom mirror) however, they were rushing to prepare the room as I arrived at 11am, so it was understandable. Note: due to high occupancy, don’t expect a room if you arrive early. The bed was comfortable (so I slept well), plenty of room, great wifi, good temperature control, and overall I was very satisfied with my stay. However, there were a couple minor issues: 1) the alarm clock was 1.5 hours early and could not be corrected. 2) the shower head was bad – the water stream was very narrow and under high pressure, so I could not stand in front of it – it felt like needles piercing my skin. 3) you could clearly hear the TV from the units on both sides of me, so not very sound proof. The breakfast and evening reception was subpar in terms of the quality and different types of food compared to other Homewood Suites I have stayed at, but what food was available was quickly replenished and staff managing the area were excellent. Typically, for the evening reception, you can usually make a meal of it, but not here where it was just snacks, with beer and wine. Note: evening reception is only Mon-Thurs. Parking is free and in a parking garage next door, shared with a Publix supermarket. There are a couple restaurants (Ruths Chris, Cajun Steamers, Taco Mama) within less than a block walking distance. We ate at Cajun Steamer and it was good. I did not use the business center or other exercise facilities, so cannot comment. Overall a good choice when visiting...