Hampton Inn & Suites Birmingham East Irondale — Hotel in Irondale

The absolute worst customer service experience of my life from the front desk attendant named Kim.

I arrived a few minutes before 3 with a car sick toddler on my hip. My intention was to ask if we could wait inside until my room was ready, but I didn't even get a chance to open my mouth or ask a question before I was yelled at by the woman sitting at the counter. As I approached the counter she began aggressively shaking her head 'no' and SCREAMING "YOU ARE EARLY!! YOUR ROOM IS NOT READY!! YOU NEED TO GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO. BUH-BYE!! BUH BYE!!" while gesturing condescendingly to the door, and in the most demeaning tone. The people in the lobby, and even the toddler on my hip, were in shock by her outburst. She spoke to me as if I were less than human. If it weren't for my child I would've had immediate words for her. Instead I walked back to my car and cried.

Little did Kim know, and most definitely did she not care, but my toddler had been violently carsick and screaming for the last 30 minutes. I knew we were early, but not by much, and EVERY hotel I'd ever been to in my 30+ years prior had been accommodating, so I figured this Hampton inn would be the same. I was wrong.

I was so shocked by her flagrant attack that I called my husband to ask what I should do. He immediately called the front desk and asked to speak with a manager. Kim informed him there was no manager on site. He asked her (in a much more polite way than she spoke to me) why she felt comfortable talking to a guest that way. Her response was, "I'm just a very direct person." Being direct isn't the same as being abhorrently rude. As I said earlier, I hadn't even opened my mouth to utter a single word, so being "direct" isn't applicable in that situation. She didn't even allow me a moment to ask a question before she began screaming at me.

I'm horrified Hampton Inn feels comfortable employing someone with this lack of customer service skills. If there were free cancelation I would've driven somewhere else immediately. Instead, I waited with a hysterical toddler in a vomit filled vehicle. After an hour, I went back inside. Kim was gone.

Instead I was greeted by a woman with the exact opposite skill set. Bria was warm and welcoming. I immediately informed her of our encounter with Kim and she apologized profusely. Her care and consideration made the stay worth it, in my opinion. She deserves a raise, and Kim needs consequences. The experience with Kim was truly so bad that I will NEVER forget it in my entire life. I will be pursuing this to the fullest extent with corporate, and I will implore them to retrieve the security footage so they can witness the verbal assault first-hand.

Customer service aside, this hotel was beyond disgusting. Completely filthy. It was immediately obvious NOTHING has been deep cleaned in ages. Mold, dust, and dirt are present on almost every surface. The carpets are soiled and the elevators and hallways have no AC. If a clean hotel is a must for you, DO NOT STAY HERE.

Bria, you're a gem. Thank you for easing this mama's heart. If it weren't for you our night would've been much worse. I also don't blame the maids or service workers (except for Kim who clearly needs a job in any field other than hospitality). There's a very clear upper management issue at this hotel.

It's best to stay away from this...

BEWARE OF THIS HOTEL!!! Do not ever stay at this location. First when we arrived and checked in the room there was a plastic wrapper on the floor then a few minutes later I killed a roach that had crawled into my 5 month old grand baby bag that was sitting on the floor. Then the next morning I killed another roach. In the tub the water was shut off but the water kept leaking and in the sink I ran the water and it was leaking from the pipes underneath the sink and then my other granddaughter and daughter was on the pull out sofa couch and they happened to look and there was a bed bug on the couch and it was a big bug at that so they supposedly already taken off one night for the roaches but after the bed bug incident I had asked them to switch our room but they was not willing to switch our room or accommodate us in any way. and said that we could just check out but told me that with a very nasty attitude and was rude about it as well the manager Edwenda did not want to switch our room and was very rude and unprofessional and told us that she wasn’t going to do that and then she said that she would put my points back and that would take 24 to 48 hours to see and a refund would take about a week depending on my bank institution and then I asked her well can they switch us to another one of their locations and she said no it doesn’t work like that but now mine you that also earlier that day we had came to the front desk because my husband had accidentally put the key to the room next to his phone and it deactivated the key so when I came downstairs to front desk she was on the job phone on a personal phone call and made me stand there for like 5 almost 10 minutes while she holds a full blown conversation with her family or friend and I mean just laughing with them and talking to them never even acknowledging me never said hold on I’ll be with you shortly I mean nothing. once we talked to the general manager he apologized and switched our room but still took them a while to hand us the new key and then when we got to the new room first off it was a down grade our first room was a suite they switched us to a room with double full size beds and smaller size room and then when we got in the room my granddaughter found a gaderade bottle sitting on the floor next to the air conditioning unit. All together from the trash on the floor to the staff and their customers service and bugs and to the hospitality was horrible unprofessional and disgusting. I will never ever stay at this location ever again and will never even recommend this location to anyone. I wish I could give them a 0 star rating for everything from the stay at this location to the upkeep of the hotel to the hospitality and customer service because everything was unacceptable and very...

Extremely Disappointed – Proceed with Caution

Our recent experience with this Hilton location was incredibly frustrating and disappointing. We had booked a group rate while attending an event at the BJCC, and not once were we informed that the hotel was undergoing renovations or that the city had closed them down for not being up to code. One of our fellow teachers had booked separately through Booking.com and was notified a full week in advance that the location was not up to code and that her room had been canceled.

However, those of us who booked directly with Hilton heard nothing—no email, no phone call, nothing. Out of concern, both myself and another director called the hotel in the days leading up to our stay. My co-director was told they would “know before our stay” whether or not the hotel would be open. I was told I would be notified 24 hours before check-in.

Today, Thursday, April 3rd, I received a vague email from the group booking director simply asking me to call. I called at 8:12AM and was told they were “blindsided” and had no idea they wouldn’t be open. I explained that Booking.com had already notified one of our teachers, and thanks to that heads-up, our parents had already scrambled to find alternate accommodations.

Had we relied solely on Hilton’s team, our group would have shown up to a locked building with no plan B. It is extremely hard to believe that third-party platforms were informed and the on-site staff at Hilton were not. Surely someone at the location had to relay this information to Booking.com, so how were your own guests not told?

This was a huge letdown, and the ball was absolutely dropped. Trust, honesty, and communication are the bare minimum in the hospitality industry—and Hilton failed us in all three areas. We will not be returning to this location, and I would strongly encourage others to call ahead, double-check everything, or just book elsewhere to avoid a...