Hilton Garden Inn Ocala Downtown — Hotel in Ocala

SIMULTANEOUSLY WONDERFUL AND TERRIBLE!!

First, the good:

Location: No hotel in Ocala is better situated to enjoy an easy walk to restaurants, shops, and nightlife. Overlooking the town square, this hotel is certain to become a hub of activity for visitors and locals.

Facilities: The hotel is beautiful and looks/feels/smells new, fresh, clean, bright, and airy. It feels more grand and upscale than any other HGI I have stayed at, which is probably at least 50. The Terrace Bar is very nice with a lovely view overlooking the square. There were even servers carrying trays of decidedly tasty complimentary hors d'oeuvres beginning at 4:30 pm (I am unsure, as were the servers carrying them, whether that is an ongoing amenity for bar patrons or a special celebration for the Grand Opening Week for the hotel).

The Bad:

Service: Literally every single staff member across all groups was trying hard to be pleasant and welcoming, but none of them had absolutely any clue what they were supposed to be doing. It was not their fault or lack of initiative, they simply had not been trained. Almost every one of them volunteered with their apologies that they had almost no training and that the hotel was hastily opened prematurely. The bar was not fully stocked and had no POS machine/cash register so servers were just writing paper tickets. The front desk staff struggled with simple tasks such as checking in guests or issuing new keys when the original ones wouldn't work, etc. I actually was assisted by a member of the family who owns the hotel (and is presumably responsible for the lack of training and resulting service failures) who made no apologies and simply suggested that all new properties have issues (as if guests are supposed to just accept things like brown water coming out of the faucets in the bathrooms, door locks that don't work, telephones that don't work, televisions that don't work, and on and on.....all of which I experienced in my one night stay, because the hotel is newly built). The hotel should not receive guests until it is fully stocked, functional, and the staff have been trained.

The Ugly:

Noise: I would be willing to overlook the countless faults I experienced at this hotel, and accept management's excuse that they were all the result of just a new hotel opening, and give them another try in about six months, by which time things will hopefully be running smoothly, but the reason I will never stay here again is something they can't fix. I perhaps slept a total of two hours overnight in 10 minute increments due to the shocking level of noise outside the hotel which came into the rooms literally as if the windows were open. Blaring horns and loud exhausts and sirens, yes, but also more subtle things like leaf blowers and even conversations from people walking past the hotel could be heard in the rooms. I stared directly out of my third floor window onto Silver Springs Blvd. and I could tell what songs were playing in vehicles sitting at the stop light with their windows up! The hotel is not soundproofed in any way, is situated in the center of a very busy area, and YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY GET NO SLEEP AT THIS HOTEL! I got dressed at 6 am and went down to the front desk with bloodshot eyes (because the phone didn't work) and asked to be moved to a different room. The owner saw me standing there for a long time (because none of the front desk staff knew how to move a room in their computer) and just walked me up to the room and let me in with his master key (again, with no apology). The front desk didn't even know the layout of rooms and actually asked ME if I knew what room numbers were on the opposite side of the hotel! I eventually was moved to the opposite side but it was only marginally quieter. Bottom line: the noisiest hotel I have EVER stayed in, and I travel full time. Even Time Square in New York is half as noisy in the rooms. This is a beautiful property with very well-meaning...

Read EDIT at the bottom too

The location is the only good thing about this place. However, parking is a nightmare, there is hardly any parking at the hotel itself, and if you miss it you've got to navigate a bunch of one ways to try to get back to the tiny lot where it costs $23.90 to self park in this tiny, open lot. I confirmed on check in that our stay included breakfast and what the breakfast hours were and had to ask for our waters. The whole stay it was apparent that they are super understaffed and everyone is overwhelmed. When we got up to our room, the blackout shade, which is supposed to be a power shade, was sloppily rolled up and jammed into the window at an angle so that it would stay up. There was only less than half a roll of toilet paper, no spare. The hand soap dispenser was half hanging off the wall as the dry wall anchors had pulled out of the wall. I didn't make a fuss because I'm really not one to complain (unless you really deserve it) and we were really just there to sleep; the location is super convenient as you can walk to all the restaurants and shops and we just wanted to drop our stuff and go out and enjoy ourselves rather than deal with the hassle of changing rooms. When it came to bed time, as others have mentioned, the music on the 2nd floor patio bar is very loud. I wish I'd read that before as I would have requested a room on the other side of the hotel. Still, we were on the fourth floor. Ridiculously loud. My biggest gripe came at breakfast the next morning. There was only one waitress and it took 10 minutes just to see her and get our coffee. She was very sweet, but again, overwhelmed being on her own. When she brought us our receipt she said we could leave our tip on the receipt and she would make sure they checked that our room included breakfast and that they would not charge us for breakfast, just for the tip. When she finally came back and took the signed receipt, we tried to get her attention a few times before we left to make sure we were ok, but again, she was busy and we just figured it would be taken care of. Well of course, I check out and then get an invoice and a charge on my credit card which included the charge for the breakfast I shouldn't have been charged for. So I call the hotel and no one answers. I call again and no one answers. I call again and someone answers after 4 or 5 rings and puts me on hold and then hangs up. So I call 1-800-HILTONS and they cannot see the receipt yet, so they call the hotel and they can't get anyone to answer either. So while they are still trying to call, I again try to call and finally get someone to answer who said they just spoke with the lady from 1-800-HILTONS (after she called four times without answer) and told her they would check the receipt and see if the room included breakfast and then would correct it. He basically berated me for expecting to receive customer service when he had 4 people in line and everyone else called out and he was alone. He ultimately told me he could not help me, a customer, with my account until he finished with his customers. When I asked how will I know this has even been taken care of, he said to call him. How can I call him if he won't answer and won't help me, A CUSTOMER, because he has customers? Overall it was just a hugely disappointing experience.

EDIT I received the email screen shot attached that my review had been responded to. I clicked on "See full reply" and see a nice long, personal reply specifically addressing my concerns. A few minutes later I look again and the reply has been changed to some generic, canned response. I'd like to know why the response was changed?? Don't you think your potential future customers would rather see that you care enough to respond personally and sincerely to negative reviews? This seems...

I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Ocala for a work trip. While there were a few conveniences, my experience left much to be desired. Simply put, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Luckily, you won't have a second chance to take advantage of me like you did during this visit. This location is the worst Hilton hotel experience I've encountered, and I am a silver member, so I travel quite a bit. Things didn't start well. Upon arrival, it became clear that normalcy had checked out and left the building. The check-in process was not straightforward, to say the least. Unlike traditional hotels, the lobby is not on the entrance floor; you must take the elevator up one floor to check-in. Of the three available baggage carts, only one had a bottom that supported the luggage without causing them to fall through. The situation was made worse by an employee who thought it was acceptable to smoke cigarettes in the area, creating a foul odor. After dealing with high room rates, they further compounded the issue with parking fees—$22 per day to park outside the hotel. However, there's a catch: parking is first come, first served. If you pay for a spot and then leave for dinner, there's a good chance someone else will occupy your space when you return. This forces you to either pay for another spot or risk getting a ticket and having your vehicle towed. A parking garage across the street charges $10 per day, but it is incredibly inconvenient, and the spaces for Hilton guests are limited. It feels like someone is benefiting from those parking fees. Then you wake up the following day looking forward to breakfast that shockingly has $20 fee associated with it or you are to exchange points for a credit to be issued. Never mind that every other Hilton I have stayed at provided breakfast at no additional cost. With excessive fees like these, we elected to local small businesses rather than the money-hungry corporate scum. With all of these exuberant fees being applied, it is clear what the focal point of the management team here is. They would rather take the consumer for every dollar and not provide a balance of service for that dollar being taken. The room and hotel were relatively nice, but the conveniences you usually receive at other Hilton locations are a premium here, requiring payment and/or points to surrender to ascertain that same level of service. If you are going to reach deeper into the pockets of your patrons, I would highly recommend consider a balance with service, maybe consider changing course on the $20 breakfast or improving the overall cleanliness of the hotel, including the carpets leading to the room; they were unacceptably dirty. Additional concerns we encountered was the thermostat mounted on the wall was non-functional, so any adjustments to the HVAC had to be made at the window unit. The noise level outside of the hotel is excessive whether it is an exhibition of speed or someone revving their engines to the blairing of loud music to the wee hours of the morning. Oddly enough there is ear plugs provided which should have been a clue to how things were going to be. This is only the first night of my stay. We are pondering whether we should cut our losses and go...