Homewood Suites by Hilton Palo Alto — Hotel in Palo Alto

We stayed here twice within the last 2 months. The first time was in March. Except for the pool, we had a wonderful time. We loved the two TVs in our suite with the selection of 4 different Disney Channels (with Disney Junior being our kids' favorite), the hot buffet with fried whole eggs (not scrambled), the gym, full size refrigerator, the proximity to Palo Alto/Mountain View, and the friendly staff.||Now the not so good: we were really looking forward to using the pool during our first stay, but it was not maintained. There were lots of leaves and debris in the pool, and we were told that the pool was not heated. It had been raining a lot in the area recently so we understood that maybe the pool was temporarily down, and we really wanted to come back a second time to use the pool. Our kids are young so the small pool at the hotel would have been great for them.||For our second stay, we called the hotel the night before to verify that the pool was in operation. We were very excited to come back when we were told over the phone that the pool was back in operation and heated. However, nothing was further from the truth. When we arrived, we saw that the pool was still dirty (the surface had a layer of white particles, and the bottom had leaves and debris--although it was slightly cleaner than during our first stay), and the water was cold.||We stayed anyway in spite of the pool. We bought some food to keep in the refrigerator since our kids really like having late night and early morning snacks. But the next morning, we discovered that the refrigerator was broken. It sounded like it was working, and the temperature setting was at "coldest", but it was not cold and all our frozen food thawed and refrigerated food spoiled. Between the pool and the spoiled food, our second stay was not pleasant.||We don't know if we would come back again. Although the broken refrigerator was unfortunate, not getting the right information from the hotel staff about the state of the hotel facility we so looked forward to using was worse. Had we known about the pool, we could have changed plans and come back to the hotel later when we knew it...

Location; great, rooms; great, but when we initially checked in, the clerk didn't know how to explain where our room was and when we could have easily just entered the elevator 5 ft away to go up to our rooms and to the right, but instead said the entrance was also on the other end and she wasn't quite sure. So we ended up trekking 5 large suitcases, accessory bags and 3 tired kids through a maze of staircases Because we couldn't locate any other elevator except near the front lobby! That evening we took our kids down to swim and as soon as we walked out we were hit with a cloud of weed smoke from this woman smoking right next to the entrance. Then when kids got in the pool, they fished out cigarette butts out of pool. There was a couple smoking cigarettes in the "designated smoking area" 5 feet away from the pool water!!! So we're surrounded by nasty smoke. Who puts the smoking area right next to the pool!? Then the lady originally smoking weed at the entrance behind us proceeded to light the fattest, biggest joint I've ever seen. She started hacking and coughing. I politely asked if she could move at least to the smoking area and she gave me an attitude and she said, "I'm leavin' it's a' aight", and I said, "No, it's not all right, my children are here", and she gave me more attitude in which I ignored after that. My boyfriend walked in to tell the hotel clerk and she apologized and said she can't do anything about it and he asked for a manager and there was no manager on the premises. Later a really nice maintenance man , short, Hispanic with curly hair came and asked if we we're ok, took out the cigarette butt from side of pool and listened to our gripe He said that African American woman who was smoking weed was a regular there. He profusely apologized to us.

The mattress although quilted was pretty hard. I'm a small woman and my hip felt sore from lying too long in one spot. Very clean...

Pushy staff insists you sign up for a rewards program and then implores other aggressive and deceitful tactics when you politely decline. After giving my card for collateral charges and getting my key, the Hilton Honors 'Champion' pushily stuck a post-it note right in front of me, supplies a pen, and insisted 'okay, the last thing I need is your email'. I knew the only reason they would request this is for a rewards program, which he did not mention the second time he pried for my email address. I then reiterated that now is not a time where I wish to sign up for a rewards program and they finally conceded. I strongly suggest that the Hilton revises and monitors the tactics they promote at their facilities.

Was 5 stars now 3 due to the extremely pushy staff. The staff knocked on my door and let themselves in despite me yelling "one minute". This happened EVERY HOUR during the morning of my last day. This started at 9:30 AM until checkout at noon. It was pretty annoying, consistent, and obnoxious. The first fellow came to ensure I was checking out at noon. There was no reason for repeated visits. Maybe try coordinating things better among staff better. I assume this is due to a lack in communication on the hotel's end, otherwise it is pretty rude to harass patrons every hour to rush them out of their room. These tactics made me feel like I was being rushed out of my own room hours before checkout and likely would not choose to stay here in the future if I knew this. Next time I am here I'll opt for one of the much cheaper motels down the street.

The breakfast was decent considering it was included with the cost of staying there.

Plastic water bottles are $3 which I find ridiculous so definitely...