Hilton Vacation Club Varsity Club South Bend, IN — Hotel in Mishawaka

I am giving ONE star based solely on the front desk staff. I hesitated to rate so low because the facility itself is quite nice, but the staff were so awful that it definitely impacted the stay. We travel a lot, easily staying in 40+ hotels a year in various states. NEVER have I been spoken to in such a rude and condescending way. Tammy, who I assume was the front desk manager, was the worst at this. I know this hotel is affiliated with Hilton Honors, of which we are members, and I highly doubt they would approve of the way she, and other staff, speak to guests. Outside of the condescending tone and lack of respect, they arent welcoming at all. I walked through the lobby 4-5 times each morning and never did anyone smile or offer a greeting. The food was mediocre at best and they charge for it. We were offered waivers for breakfast as part of the agreement we made when booking, but I feel for guests that are expected to pay for that. At another point in our stay I asked if I could receive change for a larger bill, and the staff said "we arent giving change at this time" which is par for the course with how they speak to guests. There was no "We are sorry, but..." or "I apologize but I am unable to help at this time". Just a "we arent giving change at this time". Its basic customer service to speak with kindness and at least ATTEMPT to be accommodating and helpful when the position you hold is a customer service position. I said I would be willing to purchase something from their small store attached to the front desk (snacks, small incidentals, etc) and she told me no. At this point in our stay, it honestly didn't surprise me. I would never recommend this hotel. I am so incredibly disappointed with how we and all of the other hotel guests were spoken to and treated. The only staff we interacted with that were kind and helpful were the people running the breakfast area in the morning and one African American woman who worked the front desk at night. I am sorry I didn't catch her name in order to share it here, as everyone else working there could learn from her. There is great potential for this to be a fantastic option for people to stay, families and couples alike, but with staff that treat people that way, it only poisons the foundation...

Let me start by saying the hotel itself is really nice. Awesome sports decor and the rooms are spacious and we loved the mini kitchenette in the room. Which is why I even gave it 1 star.

BUT, if you are team manager considering staying at this hotel, I would NEVER recommend it. The hotel boasts themselves on being a "Sporty" hotel, (Varsity Club of America????) You literally cannot breathe at this hotel and are monitored by a hired security guard company that walks the halls all day and night. It is absolutely ridiculous!! Why would they take ANY reservation as a hockey team coming in for a tournament, if they were going to lock us down on having any fun. Here are just 3 things on the 2 page rule list when you check in. NO, running, shouting, slamming doors, standing in hallways, stairways, elevators, or other areas of the hotel. We ask that conversation be conducted to staff or other visitors no further than 10 feet distance from one another. Inside Voices! Hotel Curfew - 10PM - all athletes in rooms by 10PM. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! We all understand that there are "common sense" rules. But come on. There were several families that got warnings from security guards, for literally doing nothing. In fact, there were dads were in their rooms with the door shut and the security was just randomly knocking on doors to see what people were doing! Isn't this an invasion of privacy. They threatened a $100 fine or kicking us out of our rooms! We are all respectable families that spend a lot of money on travel hockey and to take their families out of town for these tournaments. The hotel has our credit cards on file for any major damages that happen, so the fact that they treated us as if we were all children and needed to be monitored, was the worst I have ever seen. If they want a certain clientele to cater too, that's fine. Then don't allow sports teams to book there. This was a major let down for all of the hockey families that attended this...

we stayed here for six days recently. First we would like to thank the wonderful hotel staff from the front desk to housekeeping to maintenance to the people that were serving us breakfast they all were excellent hosts! within minutes of calling the front desk for towels or maintence- they were at our room door. breakfast was wonderful, pancakes ,waffles gluten-free muffins ,danish, eggs, bacon, sausage, lots of choices of cereal and juices and great coffee. Our suite was extremely clean and well stocked. The bed was wonderful and very comfortable. The king size suite was very surprising. It's very large with a nice size kitchen that is pretty well stocked with dishes silverware paper towels soap even hand towels for the kitchen. There is a microwave and a small refrigerator. The bathroom area has a large separate vanity area with cabinets beneath and a nice large sink. Inside the bathroom there is the biggest tub we have ever seen. There is lots of storage throughout- a large closet and dresser for your clothes. they even have laundry facilities there and the first night the front desk clerk gave us some soap for our laundry which was extremely kind. there is a small patio with two chairs and a little table and a sliding door that you can sit out on. The pool is a nice size and the pool area is very clean. Courtyard is great too! The only negative thing I have to say about our stay is that the couch and chair that are in this beautiful room we're terrible. The couch has stains and has seen better days, it's pretty much shot. It's a hide a bed but it is very uncomfortable to sit on. Most likely because it is so broken down. The oversize chair that is next to the couch is much the same. They just simply need to...