Embassy Suites by Hilton Cleveland Rockside — Hotel in Independence

Upon booking, I did not look at reviews since Embassy is usually my hotel of choice. I decided to look at reviews after the fact and they were pretty concerning. A lot of similar, negative feedback in regard to cleanliness, poor customer service, run down rooms and furniture, etc. I was on the fence about cancelling but decided it would be fine for just the one night. I am very glad I decided to just go despite the poor reviews.

Lobby is beautiful and very spread out with a ton of seating and a pretty waterfall. Clean rooms, bathroom, sheets, bed, furniture, etc. There were 2 working TV's with separate remotes and both worked just fine. There are no USB ports in the room so if you need to charge anything, bring the brick that plugs into the wall. There are plenty of plugs but they are all basic outlets. The couch was clean. The one chair in the room (not part of the set of 2 with the table) was not too comfortable and did have a red/pink stain on the cushion towards the back. Not blood or anything, it actually looked almost like melted wax but wasn't sticky or hard. Bathroom was clean and there was hand soap and lotion on the wall as well as shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the shower and everything was stocked. A/C also worked very well and kept the room cool between 68-70 as we set it to. Yes some of the furniture and teeny little sections of carpet were a bit worn but that is to be expected and it is NOTHING to complain about.

There was an ice bucket with two clean glasses available for use (a lot of people said "no cups" in their review) and also a coffee pot in the with 2 paper cups wrapped in plastic. A lot of reviews also mentioned "no coffee or cups" but the coffee was inside a little container next to coffee pot you have to take the lid off and you'll find coffee, sweetener, creamer, stirrers and lids if you want to take the coffee to go. Bed was far too firm for my liking but everyone is different, and some prefer that. Beds were DEFINITELY not queen sized as description says. Sheets and blanket were soft and clean.

As far as customer service, they were super nice and friendly. Upon check-in, the guy behind the desk was very friendly and welcoming and my son was super excited. He quietly asked me if he could have a candy bar and I said yes so he gave him a full-size Reese's Cups. It was very nice of him to do. In the morning, we did go down to breakfast right at 7am and the people working the breakfast room were so sweet and all said, "Happy Mother's Day". The man making the omelets was AMAZING! He was funny, happy and he did a great job, super yummy. I will say one of the biggest complaints I have was the breakfast. The selection was very limited, especially for other Embassy breakfasts I have been to. Eggs were very dry and potatoes were super bland. Also, the area to eat in was still dirty from the night before. Lots of tables to choose from and there were still crumbs, cup rings, empty wine glasses, used napkins on majority of tables. I just found the cleanest one and wiped some dry crumbs off. Then an employee did come around and start cleaning, but it was well past start time of breakfast. He was super nice though and I did see others treating him like a personal server and asking for things, but he just nicely went and got the items for them. I think I was most disappointed in breakfast as a whole but not really anything else negative to note.

As we left, the woman behind the desk was pleasant as I turned my keys in and made sure to ask if we had breakfast before we leave, and I told her we had and thanked her. She was super friendly, in fact, I never did see a "rude" employee the entire time I was there. Location was nice, very easy to get to off highway and had several restaurants close that made it convenient to go get dinner without venturing to a busier area. Also, Top Golf is right across the road, you could walk there since this is on a back, private road so no loud or busy traffic right outside hotel either. Might stay here again if in area, just wouldn't be stoked for...

Having stayed at many Embassy Suites properties over the years, I have to report that this one, right in my home town, is a complete disappointment. I doubt I'll be able to report all of the reasons, but I'll try to list some of them (in no particular order):

• Internet bandwidth

In 2024, when you PAY an extra fee for increased Internet speed on the site's WiFi, and the best you get is 800 kb/sec, you're not getting your money's worth. $0 would barely be getting your money's worth at those speeds. I literally can get many times that on my cell phone. What did I pay for, exactly? Update your technology to 2008 levels, please. And don't charge me for it.

• Doors

How difficult is it to maintain door hinges and closers? Seriously. Not one door for my room closed or opened without significant force and noise. That's bad enough in the middle of the day, but at 3AM, it's unacceptable.

• HVAC

I'm all about sustainability, too. In fact, it's what I do for a living. However, preventing paid guests from setting the temperature lower than 72F is downright petty. Sure, you can set it lower, but it's a fictitious setpoint because the unit shuts off at 72F. Also, I know that it's not due to the cooling load because an 83F day in Cleveland is not too hot, and the unit shuts down and then doesn't come on again for 30 to 40 minutes... meaning that the unit is sized right, but the property owner is nickel and diming guests. For what I'm paying to stay here, this is just insulting.

By the way: Maintain your units. When every time a unit shuts off after a heating or cooling cycle, it makes loud noises, something is wrong. A control value or damper is malfunctioning or there is a controls issue or a bearing is bad or s linkage needs greased or the unit needs cleaned. I don't know which, but I'll bet if I had a flashlight and a screwdriver, I could figure it out in about 2 minutes. Do that.

• Children

If guests with children cannot control them, them the staff needs to explain it to the parents. Having children running up and down the walkways, slamming doors time after time after time, pulling "do not disturb" signs off of other guests' doors, knocking on doors and then running, screaming for minutes on end, and pushing all of the buttons on the elevators is not acceptable in any other building. Why are parents permitted to let their children behave this way here? Unacceptable.

• Adding Nights

If I stay for two nights and then add two more nights on my own online, I should not be required to go all of the way to the front desk to simplify have my card reprogrammed. At worst, an employee should do this for me and bring me my new card. The eccentricities of your key system aren't my concern.

• TV Remote Batteries

Add a single line item to housekeeping's checklist: "Check TV remote batteries". Give all housekeepers batteries to replace if the batteries on remotes are bad. This isn't aerospace engineering. Do I need to start carrying remote control batteries with me when I stay at hotels now?

• Prices

I understand the the market sets the prices to a certain extent, but when I see dozens of vacant rooms all night long and I see that on a night when the rate had increased on my room, it tells me that prices are not being set fairly.

• "Manager's Reception"

Respectfully, I have no desire to meet your manager or drink your alcohol. Don't make me pay for other guests to do it for free.

By the way: Do the opposite for breakfast. This isn't the military or prison. I should be able to wake up any time between 5AM and noon and eat breakfast if I want to.

There are dozens more items. Here are a few examples:

•Security deadbolt screws are loose (making the deadbolt useless).

•Sound insulation is poor - you can hear people in all adjacent rooms clearly.

•Windows can't be sufficiently closed for privacy and light control.

EDIT: SEE ATTACHED PHOTO

I've cut my review to 1 star. Pro Tip Hilton / Embassy Suites - one of the nice things about AI is that it can also DETECT AI! Pathetic customer service. Can't even...

When I arrived, I checked in and was given free drink tickets. I do not drink so I asked them if they served any non-alcoholic drinks. I was told they have virgin pina coladas and things like that. I went up to my room and found two wads of chewing gum (one on the ice bucket train and one on the floor). Disgusting! I called the front desk and was told someone would come up. I then found a sticky stress ball between the mattress and the headboard. There's NO way those sheets could have been changed without someone noticing that. I called the front desk again and reported it, and explained I needed new bedding. About 10 minutes later a guy arrived with a pile of folded sheets and handed them to me... as if I was supposed to change my own bed! Really!? No. You change it. The guy said he'd make sure someone comes up. 10 minutes later two people come up and the guy says, "Okay, what do you need?" somewhat emphatically, in such a tone as if to suggest that I was the annoying high maintenance customer. I brought them in and showed them the chewing gum and the sticky stress ball. He asked if I wanted him to throw the ball away. Um... yes? He asked if I wanted him to change the bed sheets. Um... yes? He proceeded to do this. He discarded the stress ball thing and the chewing gum in my trash can (never removing it from my hotel room), and changed the sheets on only one of the two beds. During this process, there was NEVER an apology from anyone involved.

I was there attending an a cappella singing convention. We were put in a ballroom directly next to a loud party/wedding. They were blasting music which ruined our convention. This is REALLY poor planning on the part of the hotel events team. Totally unacceptable.

Now back to the drink tickets. That evening I went to the "manager's reception" to redeem my promised non-alcoholic drinks. There was a line of about 25 people, which was fine and expected. I waiting about 30 minutes in line and when I got to the front, I asked for a virgin pina colada and the bartender laughed. She said they cannot make such things. I asked what non-alcoholic options they offered and was told "Coke and Sprite." I explained that the front desk had told me I could get a virgin pina colada and she rolled her eyes and said, "I don't know where they get these ideas." No apology. So by now I was pretty upset. I went immediately back to the front desk and explained that, just FYI, this is what happened. The lady there at the desk (not the one that had given me the false info the night before) just blankly stared at me like she could care less about what I was telling her. She did not respond and she did not apologize for their misstep. I literally ended up walking away without the person having even said one word in response to me. Completely unacceptable!

Finally, to cap off the stay, the convention I was attending ended at 10 pm on Saturday night. Of course all 300 attendees flocked to the elevators so the lines were extremely long. No surprise there but my room was only on the third floor so I figured I'd find the stairs. I went to the front desk and asked if that was possible. I was told "no" I can't take the stairs. "Darn," I said, "the elevator lines are so long, so I thought I'd ask." No big deal, I started to walk away, but the front desk guy continued on, "Yeah, well they shouldn't have let everyone out at the same time!" Wait, what? Are you serious right now? I said, "Well, it's a conference. It just ended." He then responded, "Well they should know we only got 3 elevators!" Wow. Completely unacceptable.

I have no words to fully describe the unacceptable rude staff during this stay. The dirty room, the wasted time in the free drink line, and the poorly planned side-by-side conventions just added to the negative experience I had there. During this entire experience there was never a smile nor an apology from anyone I interacted with. If I can help it, I will never stay at this location again. I expected more from a Hilton...