Homewood Suites by Hilton Newport Middletown, RI — Hotel in Middletown

This was a disaster of a hotel experience. I do have one caveat that makes this a two-star review rather than a one-star. When we called the make the reservation, Andrew went above and beyond in helpfulness to us. It started our trip out on such a good foot that he worked to find us a reservation that fit our time and room needs. He was professional and kind and went way more than the extra mile, and I’m sorry to have to give this place a poor review because of this shining star. In fact, most of the staff were very communicative and accommodating our time there.

But in the end, wonderful service couldn’t save the sub-par facilities. We had to pack all our things and switch hotels after a week into an extended stay, because the bottom line was that their WiFi was not working consistently. All week, it kicked us off at hour or so intervals, extremely frustrating when trying to work from a hotel room, but the last couple days, there were huge chunks of time it wouldn’t work at all. When I called to inquire if they knew why, the front desk gave me the number to their IT support line.

I called that support line and spoke with a man from their ATT help desk who told me that the hotel had not paid to update their equipment, and known errors had been occurring for 27 days. I inquired as to whether it would continue on as it had, or get worse, and he advised me it would likely get worse, and would not be a quick fix once the hotel decided to give it attention. Having a month yet to go in our reservation, we chose to leave the hotel, causing major inconvenience because the hotel’s internet, a necessity for work, was not in working order. This is completely unacceptable.

From check in day, there were other issues in our room and around the hotel, but the unreliable internet was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I’ll chronicle here all the other poor experiences we had, in hopes of steering you away from the Homewood Suites, especially if you’re in the area on military orders and will be here for a month or more.

Cleanliness: •Upon arrival, I found hair in all drawers, on the lid of the ice bucket, on a pillow (and I don’t mean one stray hair, but quite a lot easily visible, which indicates things like the drawers had just not been opened or wiped clean at all). •Later that night I noticed a dried up contact on floor (neither of us wears contacts). •Under the sink area was dried food and bits of trash. With so much dirty that was cleanable, it makes you wonder what, if anything, they did clean. Aside from easy-to-wipe places like drawers and cabinets and floors, adding to the general rundown appearance, there were stains on ceiling, sofa upholstery, and even on items that would be easy to replace like the “hang your towels” sign in the bathroom.

Ill repair: •The knob in the shower wasn’t afixed well so the mechanism, and therefore temperature, slides the entire time you’re in the shower. You’re forced to set it completely upright (so that it doesn’t slide down, but that’s the “cold setting”) or hold it in place the entire shower in the middle so it doesn’t droop down causing you to scald. •The laundry facilities—I tried both dryers and on different settings and they never dried completely. You’re left to hang damp clothes around your hotel room after having paid $3.50 for a very small load. •Grab-and-go breakfast. Instead of the common individual boxes of cereal you’ll usually find, they pour for you a small amount in a styrofoam cup. The first day I got cereal, it was stale beyond recognition. Makes me wonder how they had been stored in bulk and for the freshness of other foods.

Staff: •Housekeeping service is on an as-needed basis. They ask that you call by 9 pm if you’d like service for the following day. I called to request service for the following day at 4 pm. The entire next day went by without service. When they did come the next day, they failed to leave things that were clearly almost out, like soap and toilet paper, considering they’re asking you to go multiple days...

Chris at the front desk was very helpful in leading us to parking places around the cliff walk. While they have a shuttle, they charge $7/pp for the ride and because the reviews said you’re stopping and picking up/dropping off people along the way it can be time consuming, we opted to drive in. We had a problem in our room and maintenance immediately came up to address and correct it, so that was a plus. The room was clean and the only complaint we would have is in the living area the TV is at a 90-degree angle if sitting on the couch and prone to neck issues. If someone were at the other end, they were not able to see it. A better place we felt would be on the wall opposite the couch, by the dining table, but I suppose there’s a reason for this. Anyway, the room was quiet and with a full-size fridge it was great for leftovers. Oven, microwave, toaster also provided. At the time we were there, housekeeping was every other day which was fine, but if we needed anything in the meantime, to ask the desk and they would provide it. Shampoos, soap and such are in dispensers in the shower. Tiny, tiny issue, there was no soap dish by the bathroom sink for the bar of soap provided, but all in all a delightful stay and location. Applebee’s, iHop, etc., across the street, Newport Creamery within walking distance on the same side of the street, and Baja a walk across the parking lot. We thought it was a great location, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Newport and about a 10...

We were in town for a family wedding and had reserved three rooms/suites for the weekend. I have to say that it was the best hotel experience our family has had in years. From the welcoming check in on friday, Nov. 1st to the checkout on sunday morning it was an excellent stay. The staff at the hotel are super efficient and friendly. The breakfast buffet was really good, especially the coffee! As per usual at hotels, I knew to asks for gluten free bread/bagels and the kitchen staff was very helpful with my request. Overall, the hotel is super clean and our rooms/suites were so clean we thought it was a new hotel. The location was perfect and the nice part was that the building sits back from the road so that it is really quiet at night for sleeping. Our adult children were also very pleased with their rooms as well. On Sunday morning over breakfast with family friends we started discussing coming back to the area again for a girls trip and you know where we will be staying! I don't usually submit reviews for hotels but this one was outstanding and well worth coming back to. Whatever the management is doing -keep it up! We had a very busy weekend with travel out of state and the wedding activities which unfortunately kept us from trying out the gym and pool due to time constraints so I cannot review those parts of the hotel. I can say that we noticed the gym is well stocked with weights and equipment (as our family uses gyms at home I feel that we our assessment of that area is...