Homewood Suites by Hilton Salt Lake City-Midvale/Sandy — Hotel in Midvale

For reference, we usually stay in Hyatt Place hotels when traveling. We travel several times a year for business and personal. This trip was a little of both and we had our kids with us and were looking for a hotel with an indoor pool since it is February. I rated this hotel at 3 stars. There was good, mediocre, and not great.

The good: I felt safe here. The pool was indoors and heated but still too cold for me. Kids loved it. There is a hot tub and it was very warm. The hotel is clean inside and out. The staff I encountered was friendly and helpful. Although the hotel is dated, you can see there has been work done to improve it. Location was great for our needs. This is the only hotel I've ever been in with the curvy shower curtain bars that actually installed it properly. Although the tub/shower is small, I did not have shower curtain touching me at all!! This was a big deal for me. I hate it when the shower curtain touches me when showering.

The mediocre: Breakfast was just so-so. Variety was decent but they definitely need to learn how to cook the meats better. They were tough and inedible for us all 3 days. The juices were highly watered down. On the website it says breakfast is served until 9:30am. Upon check-in they told us it is served until 9am. But in reality, they seem to stop putting out fresh food at 8:30am. I witnessed a guest come down about ten to 9 and ask a kitchen staff person if there were any more eggs to which he was told no. For reference, Hyatt Place hotels will put out fresh food up until they close to make sure everyone gets fresh food and as much as they want. The temperature in the room was hard to regulate. We splurged and got a room that was basically 3 sections (one section with king bed, one section with 2 queen beds, one section that was living room, kitchen). The thermostat was in the area with the 2 Queen beds. It was hot in that room, comfortable in the living room, but cold in the king room.

The not so good: This is billed as a completely smoke free hotel. As such, I expected that there will also be NO SMOKING anywhere near entrances or in the courtyard. I did not see anyone smoking in the courtyard but signage indicated that it's likely allowed as long as you "extinguisher before entering" the hotel. On one occasion we pulled up and parked but waited in our car until the person coming out with their dog and lighting up a cigarette as soon as they excited the hotel finally decided to move across the parking lot to the back grass area. On another occasion, we pulled up to see a group of about 5 people standing in a circle across the waking path a few feet from the door, all smoking. We went around, parked somewhere else, and walked the long way so we wouldn't have to walk through that. I understand people smoke but smokers need to understand other people don't and don't want to have to be forced to inhale their second hand smoke because they don't want to walk away from an entrance. There's a grass area about 50-60 feet away from the door across the small parking lot or they can walk 20 or so feet away from the front entrance so people don't have to walk through their smoke. This is a big deal thing for me and hotels should be more strict about where smoking can be done. The center courtyard should also be a non smoking area because of the proximity to entrances and the fact that you have to walk through it to get to other areas of the buildings. We were at the hotel for 3 days. The first day I took my kids to the pool. There were a bunch of people in the hot tub. Like a dozen maybe. They kept coming and going. They had both glass and canned alcohol and it smelled heavily like alcohol in the pool area. On my choice, I decided not to go to the front desk to complain and the only reason is because they were being respectable. They were not being rowdy and they cleaned up after themselves. Had they been acting any other way, I would have complained. Each other day we were there, there were people drinking in the hot tub just not as big a group. Expensive rooms....

From the first night this hotel was a nightmare. 1- it’s in complete disrepair 2- it looks and feels like you’re in the movie ‘the shining’ 3- it’s shaped like a rectangular letter C where the front desk is on one end and you need to walk all the way around just to get to it. Sounds like no big deal until you’re on the opposite side of that C and the two ends do not connect. 4- the staff writes down your complaints and then completely disregards them 5- don’t ask about your bill to the front desk. They don’t know, don’t care, and if you call you can expect to be hung up on. Should you go into the hotel to confront the front desk about why they hung up on you, they will embellish to the general manager so as not to be reprimanded for their terrible service. And yes, the general manager will believe them and throw out all your complaints. Welcome to Utah where no one cares that you’ve stayed at their hotel, received terrible customer service, asked the maintenance man not to go into your room when you’re not there and he does it anyway. Oh hell, let’s go through the list of how this hotel is falling apart. On the first night the ac didn’t work but the fireplace sure did. Did they turn it off? No. They were on a coffee break, flirting with a not really impressive blond guest and making a line of people wait, or hiding in the back office bc everything feels like they’re being attacked (don’t ask about if they have water. That’s an attack too) all the Fossetts in the room, kitchen and bathroom, sprayed everywhere when turned on. The toilets needed to be plunged in both bathroom weather or not they were used every day several times a day. Don’t open the drawers in bless you want the drawer face to come off. Not even gentle pulls. Expect your door to your room to look like the swat team kicked it in so it doesn’t close properly. Since they don’t care to turn off the fireplace because you don’t have the option of doing it yourself, expect to boil until they can be bothered to come in and do it. Oh and my favorite part., before the front desk hangs up on you be sure you listen for the part when they tell you that you’re just complaining bc you can’t afford to pay your bill and are just trying to get something for free and the only thing you’re going to end up doing is leaving a bad review anyway. Is this person who said these things still employed? Of course they are. Ready and waiting to great you. And considering that the general managet, Heather, must be in cahoots with her staff bc she believed his sob story without consulting a camera feed or the guest, expect your complaints to not only be ignored for a month, but completely thrown out. It must be nice to be so close to the boss. Biblically it would seem bc I don’t ever go over the customers head with absolutely no proof at all. Not to mention that I was staying in the largest most expensive suite in the hotel for a month. Really? The best put down you could come up with is that I’m trying to get something for free? That must be quite a biblical experience those two are having. So, yes I am leaving a bad review because they deserve it. I almost forgot to mention the fire someone started. My husband is a severe asthmatic who had to go to the hospital from the smoke of that fire. Can you guess what their response was? ‘Not our problem.’ Be safe and happy trails if you stay here. Don’t say you weren’t warned. And in case that isn’t bad enough this general manager works against Utah’s own filming laws that say you are free to video record anything you want as long as one person involved knows that it is being recorded. She does not allow the use of your camera phone in the hotel but you must be recorded on theirs. Is Hilton even aware that their own general manager is impeding Utah state law? Or do the rules just not apply to this establishment? What’s next? No freedom of speech? I wish we could all make up...

0 stars- such an unpleasant stay at the Hilton Homewood Suites Midvale, for a 10-day work trip. I booked a King Suite, with fireplace and refreshments, since I had a longer than usual stay. I did not receive what I reserved. I made an exception the first night for a Double full bed room and was assured the following day around the same check in time, my reserved room would be ready. The following day I packed my bag so that when I returned from work I could grab my bag and go. The same attendants that I checked in with the previous day looked surprised and as if they weren’t expecting me when I returned to get my reserved room. He gave me a room, next to the elevator, I requested another because I’m a light sleeper. The second room given I was told would be much better location, only to arrive to a room with double full beds again, I return to the front desk, and share that more than anything I’d rather have the king bed. Finally, I get a room with a King bed no refreshments, no fireplace, that's fine. Only to settle in and realize I had no towels. They bring me towels. 1 wash cloth, 2 bath towels, no hand towels, and I questioned whether the bathroom had been cleaned. But I had no more fight in me. At this point, only night 2, I have gotten too familiar than I’d like with the front desk staff. I’ve also gotten my steps in going back and forth to the front desk. The staff assured me he’d s let his manager know and that he’d be reaching out to me on tomorrow. Never heard from him. The breakfast was disgusting, not to mention the fermented Apple Juice. After the first morning, I never ate the breakfast again. The elevators have been filthy and stinky every day. I also understand short staff, limited housekeeping, and getting the room clean upon request. I’ve requested my room to be clean 3 days in a row to return each day from work to an untouched room. You’d think after the first time, they’d make sure my room was on the list the next day. No, customer service is clearly too much to ask. So the next time I gave them a heads-up the night before instead of the morning of, that I wanted my room clean. The next morning, I toss all my dirty towels on the floor, thinking I know they got me this time to return to an unclean room after requesting it again, housekeeping staff just so happened to still be in the building. I planned to freshen up before dinner and couldn’t because I’ve tossed all of the towels. Housekeeping brings towels, towels that looked like rough cleaning rags. I asked if they were bath towels and she says I’ll bring you some more, I asked about the room being clean, and she asked me what I wanted clean, and I said um, the room. She assures me the room would be cleaned that night. She goes to get me better towels, at this point I’ve decided to skip freshening up and just leave so they could clean my room. I returned to my room after dinner to fresh towels on the dining and an uncleaned room once again. I complain to the front desk, the girl (same girl from day 1 is apologetic, I can’t help but think aren’t you tired of apologizing, I take the opportunity to explain how my stay here has been so inconvenient from Day 1. She states she’d let her manager know directly, and via email, she that should be making notes, and that he'd be in touch. Again, you’d think the next day you’d make sure my room was clean. I still called to request my room to be cleaned and I return again from a long days work to the front desk staff and manager sitting on a bench outside having a smoke. I walked by and said I’m crossing my fingers again that my room is clean. They both said I think it is. UNTOUCHED. AGAIN. I am beyond unsatisfied, this hotel will not meet...