Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport — Hotel in Irvine

Staff Service: My plane arrives 15 minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to arrive.  I waited for 35 minutes with a group of other guests who waited an additional 15 minutes before me.  In that time, the shuttle didn't appear once.  We as a group walked 0.20 miles to the Hotel with all our luggage, an unpleasant experience.  One guest fell while getting into the sidewalk - something preventable if the shuttle arrived.   When I alerted staff at check-in about the shuttle, they said that they had a luggage mix-up that supposedly took more than an hour which is hard to believe when the hotel is a 4 minute drive from the airport.

Then, my experience at check-in was less than exceptional after walking with all my luggage.  It took more than 20 minutes to get me checked in.  Part of that I expected since a trainee was checking me in, but after three or four times they had to get the help of their supervisor made the experience quite grueling. So, not only did I wait 35 minutes, walk 15 minutes, and then wait 20 more minutes to get checked in, it was not a good first impression.  I did receive two water bottles for my check-in inconvenience, but as a Hilton honors member, I'm surprised that's not included anyways since a Hilton Double Trees hand out cookies (vegan soy ones too).

Niceness Factor: I stay at a lot of Hilton chains and this room just was not as nice.  No macro mirror for faces/eyes, the digital key had a lot of issues that not only were experienced by me,  but multiple other guests, the door to the balcony only moved 4 inches while I had Hilton's at the same height that let me go out on the balcony.  My balcony door was impossible to close and whistled air through.  The room also didn't have many USB chargers, I think I counted  just one in the lamp instead of about 4 at other Hilton's.  The bartender was not the most service oriented, especially Saturday night.  I waited and the person in front of me waiting 15 minutes to get on drink when there were only 7 people sitting at the bar and 15 people in the sitting area of the bar/lounge.  Also, a compliant which other guests complained to me about, but I didn't personally experience was "a sense of stinginess with towels and robes", apparently guests who asked for more towels and robes were restricted to a limit amount per request not based on the towels and robes they needed.

Conference Services: You had to leave the session and go out into the hallway if you wanted a drink of water.   There was no mints in conference rooms, there was no pens and pads, and there were not enough seats in all the rooms.

Lastly, this bothers me a lot personally.  I pay full-price for my lunch and dinner meal (through the conference registration) and I get a special meal ticket for my Vegan Meal.  But, when they replace my main dish with a vegan dish, they did not replace my dessert.  It's not fair that everyone can have cheesecake or brownies and I can't even have a fruit cup.  I paid the same price for my meal and the meats/dairy & egg desserts are more costly in terms of ingredients, so why I don't get a vegan dessert is kind of disrespectful, especially to someone who is a honors member and stays frequently at your chains.  At other Hilton's, they have accommodated me, at this one your...

Like many recent Hilton hotel stays, this is a tale of 2 hotels. I stayed here for 2 nights (Tues/Wed) in early June 2025 due to business meetings in the area. I am Hilton Diamond honors’ status.||Good:||-Hotel is incredibly convenient to SNA airport. Directly across the street. Easy/quick hotel shuttle to/from the hotel takes 5-10 minutes depending on traffic. ||-Check in was great. ‘Ha’ who was working the desk when i arrived was one of the best front desk representatives I’ve experienced in a LONG time. She was VERY welcoming, provided clear explanation of the hotel features, recognized my honors’ status with an upgrade to the 10th floor (which in hindsight didn’t really feel like an upgrade). Just a very friendly way to start my stay.||-The lobby, lounge, and restaurant area felt big and bright, nice and clean. The area especially around the lounge/restaurant felt like it was recently refurbed. The gentlemen who worked breakfast were very attentive. Bartender in the evening was also very good. One item of particular note in the lounge area was the TV set up behind the bar. This is one of the 1st hotels I’ve stayed at where the lobby lounge TV’s were wired for surround sound. I caught part of the Stanley Cup game Wed night, and while this may seem odd, the sound from the TV’s was fantastic.||-Area around the hotel was well side-walked and safe for a morning or evening run/walk. The hotel gym was small but basically adequate. ||-Pool area was clean, and the pool was LARGE. It even had a deep end 8 feet deep. Haven’t seen this in a hotel in a long time. There was also a nice outdoor courtyard with furniture, fire pits, tables, etc. good for relaxing at the end of the day or evening. ||-housekeeping staff did a nice job keeping the room clean, bed made, towels refreshed, etc. ||Bad:||-My room was old and tired. This hotel needs to pay attention to the room quality. Furniture was damaged, drawers wouldn’t close all the way. The bathroom was NOT good and only lit. Old shower curtain (you need to upgrade the shower) and it didn’t even have a curved bar? ||-The nightstand lamps had outlets and USB ports but….the placement of the plugs on the lamp made it impassible to plug a charger in. And the USB ports did NOT work. They would not charge my devices. The same holds true for the lamp on the desk - the USB ports did not work. This was a major fail for a hotel that likely caters to business travelers. ||-Watch the service change on anything you get from the lounge or restaurant. An automatic 20% is added to your bill. And this was NOT for room service. I was actually sitting AT the bar and ordered a beverage. 20% was auto added to the bill, and there was also a line to add additional gratuity. Fortunately i saw the auto tip and didn’t double tip the server (i added a couple extra $$ for good service). I’m more than fine with tipping for good service - always at least 20%. But i find it a bit disingenuous and shady when an auto tip is hidden on the bill. Also, i understand auto-grat is often included for larger parties, but i was here by myself. Even though this was a business trip and I am able to expense majority of the charges, i didn’t appreciate this ploy...

Stay away!

Reposted from my partner

Hilton name on this hotel seems deceitful. I made the mistake of thinking this place would somewhat stay true to the Hilton standard. Frankly, calling this place a hotel itself is a stretch as the quality and conditions are far below most Hampton Inns or even a Motel 6. I guess there are two tiny “conference” rooms with no business center, so I cannot imagine a reputable company conducting business here.

I had extended my work trip in the area and made the mistake of checking out from the Marriott my company booked me to here for my personal days to save a few bucks with HH points. My partner, travels for work, (I say this so you can imagine the number of hotels he’s stayed in) joined me. He claims that although there have been a few worse hotels than this, this is the absolute worst “Hilton” he’s experienced. I agree with most that $39/nt for parking seems unreasonable, which for me was not even the biggest issue here. Due to conditions, I was unable to sleep at all at night and our vacation was spoiled. We initially had a room on the 8th but the spot where a fridge clearly needed to be was missing (just a hole), so for $10/nt they upgraded us to “executive suite” which the name is beyond laughable. At least it gave us something to laugh for a few minutes once we entered.

Side not: Since the BO smelling sheets at the Palmer House in Chicago and this place, Hilton has lost our trust with declining quality. We will avoid their brands moving forward.

Below are some of my complaints: Noise: Clearly hear next door guest urinating -every drop! Expect to hear planes, but to be fair it is by the airport.

Condition pretty ghetto, don’t trust the pictures! They are not wrong, but in the best angles and light possible. Beyond being outdated, lamps in hallway have holes in the shades that havens been replaced. Furniture worn out, patio furniture ouside are severely ripped and worn out Whole place smells musty and wet due to old carpeting, in addition, the 3rd floor reeks of heavy pot, cigarette and cigar smell. Dirty Phone yellow beige ones from the 80s Main floor lamp not working AC - thermostat on the wall was really a thermometer and it’s those units you control the temp on the wall ac unit. Haven’t seen one of these in over a decade, maybe last time in a motel.

Beds and pillow so uncomfortable and lumpy, can feel the metal springs could not sleep for longer than 3-4 hours.

Service Need to check out pool towels at the front. I guess this is a place where they need to monitor the cheap, ragged pool towels. People that stay here leave plates of food and garbage behind, no one cleans it up. Trash and trays of food witnessed at 9am on the patio was still there at 4pm. Don’t expect designated lines at the front based...