Homewood Suites by Hilton Oakland-Waterfront — Hotel in Oakland

No one should stay here. It doesn't even deserve to be a Hilton branded property. Unhoused persons were allowed to stroll in and out of the lobby and parking lot, creating a real concern for safety. Throughout the property, the carpets are stain and have threads ripped loose. I booked a 2 BR suite. The connecting door wouldn't even lock. The windows in all 3 rooms wouldn't close and since the room faced the highway, it was very loud in the room. The heater, which had a broken outer, only worked in one BR so the entire suite was freezing in the morning. One toilet wouldn't flush at all. The towel rack was bent. The tile is cracked. The furniture was worn out and appeared to be 4th hand. The veneer was often chipped or coming off in chunks. The pots, pans, and other dishes resembled the old and beaten up pieces I sent off with my son to college until he got his first place. Nothing matched, the plastic utensils were melted, the metal ones were corroded with rust, the plates chipped. Only one bathroom contained hygiene products and they were not Evelyn & Crabtree brand but some generic brand that smelled of filler and artificial chemicals. The bed in one room was concave as though a grizzly bear had been sleeping in it for over a decade. The duvet was stained near the top, which they attempted to hide by placing pillows over the stain. The pillows were flat and lumpy. The hallways downstairs smelled of urine while the hallways upstairs smelled of cheap cleaner that resembled the perfume, cool water. This is a clear indication the hotel isn't using Hilton approved products anywhere in the facility. I'm sure there's more but it's been a couple weeks and at first, I thought customer service knocked it outta the park when they relocated me to union square. However, they placed me in a room with only 1 bed. My guest was never able to stay with me for 3.5 days. Customer service assured me that as I had prepaid for my stay, there would be no charge for union square plus I would receive a refund. After several maddening calls, Hilton has decided not to honor their agreement. It appears that they advanced me several thousand credits to cover the stay at union square and are saying that the issuance of such credits is the end of what they need to do to resolve the issue. I wasn't seeking a refund, just a relocation to a safer location, and they offered the refund. As it turns out, my room at union square was only half the cost of the 2 BR suite at Homewood and since my guest was never able to stay, they essentially ruined a key part of my vacation. Finally, I saw breakfast being prepared in a filthy kitchen area and not one person was wearing food safety gloves. I grabbed a yogurt container only to find it expired. The manager at Homewood had the audacity to acknowledge that their property was due for an upgrade all while charging me full price for a location you couldn't pay me to return to. This entire experience has me considering booking Marriott and Hyatt locations and burning my...

We checked in to this hotel on Friday, 2/2/24 - 2/3/24 around 9 PM and we thought it looked so nice outside. Inside, not so much. If any Hilton hotel is in dire need of renovation, it is this one. The carpets were very stained and dirty. Hallways are pretty narrow. Our first room 149?, was super small, toilet handle was broken and microwave "start" button does not work. The first Front Desk, Shay, responded to this by saying she'll get back to me. I contacted her at 9:24pm, didn't hear back until I reached out about the microwave issue at 11:15pm. Elena was able to move us to an upgraded room on the other side of the hotel, which was bigger, but hallway carpets were stained as well. I noticed Elena didn't write the room number on our key card, and while we were there, she had forgot to swipe the room key for another guest. So, there's very little to no attention to detail.

Later, I messaged Elena what the cost would be for us to stay Saturday night. She gave me the details, then I messaged her and said I will get back to her if we decide to extend. Then I asked if we can get a later check out Saturday at 12 pm since we were there for a vball competition at 1 pm. She said okay.

Monday morning 2/5/24, around 9 AM, I noticed I was charged twice from the Homewood. I called them and Connie(?) answered. I just began to explain to her about the charges when she said hang on a moment, and then left me on hold. A little rude. After awhile, she got back on and I explained to her what happened. She told me that I stayed at the hotel for Saturday so my total stay was over $300. I told her that is incorrect, I stayed there Friday night and checked out Saturday afternoon. I have the messages of my conversation with Elena that I'll let her know if we extend, which I did not because we decided to leave. I also asked her for a 12 pm checkout so why would she think I'm staying for Saturday night. Connie continued and said she doesn't know because she didn't do it, "I'm just at the front desk?" She told me to call back since management wasn't in and if I want to call back before 11 AM. Mind you, it's around 9 AM so I'm confused why she said that. I told her to just take my info down and please hand that to her manager when they get in. It's after 1 pm now and still no phone call.

As someone who has hotel experience, this is not how you should handle this kind of situation. I suggest they train their staff in professionalism, communication and speech, telephone etiquette, problem solving, and attention to detail. The front desk is the first line of defense of the hotel. They set the entire mood and impression of the place, they're resourceful and can handle difficult situations. To say, "I'm just at the front desk" tells me this person may not have a strong understanding of what this position entails.

I'm giving them a 2 as the front desk staff are nice, but clearly needs more training. I am still waiting for a call...

While I would give the hotel credit for cleanliness, and even points for cosmetic appearance (except for the rusty water stains running down the side of the building from the air-conditioning units). The functionality of the unit was nonexistent. When we arrived after bringing our stuff in and unpacking, the priority for us was food. The burners didn't work. Then, the light bulb for the desk was burnt out. My husband went down to get a new lightbulb and to ask about the burners & was told maintenance already went home and that they were full for the night, so we could not be moved until tomorrow. Then, we found out the bathroom fan was not working. The bedroom window would not latch and the sound from the street was like it was open -unlike the other window in the room. The bathroom sink was missing the plug to hold water in the sink. Some of the dishes were not clean and so we put them in the dishwasher and the container for the detergent would not latch. We had to get up very early to attend a competition our students were in at UC Berkeley. We went to turn on the shower and the knob just went round and round. Luckily, my parents had this problem at one time in my life and I had a tiny screw driver with me. It was enough with a little work to get the shower turned on and try to find an appropriate temperature. We were gone all day at the competition and returned too late to make it worth moving to another unit since we would leave in the morning. |We received a text as we were vacating the room, asking how our stay was from a Hilton representative named Layla . My response was a 2 out of 5. I received a text asking if "there was a convenient time to give you a call?" When checking out, I asked the front desk if Layla worked here and she said I’m Layla. She asked, what do I want? I said, you text me that you wanted to talk. She said that it was just an automated response. She seemed to back away from taking ownership of the text as if she didn’t text me. She jumped to defending her attempt to solve the burner issue without asking what else was wrong. She assumed the two burners was it. When I said there were several other issues her attitude and tone led me to say but if you don’t want to hear about it I can just leave! She said "OK!!!!" When I said that is poor service, she asked what else was wrong? She tried to justify that it was our fault for the inconvenience because she could have moved us the 2nd day of our 2 days stay. I explained we were at the competition all day. Eventually, she listened to what the other issues were and wrote them down on a sticky note. I presumed she was going to inform her supervisors of our issues & I would be hearing from them. So...