Graduate by Hilton Providence — Hotel in Providence

I stayed at the Graduate in Ann Arbor maybe 2 years ago and I loved it! This location is very much giving janky version… parking is a mess. You park in the garage down the street, not connected to hotel, no valet, AND you pay $34 per night. No signs I could see about where to park outside the hotel which means you must find a place in the one narrow lane in front of the hotel to park, check in (hopefully) and then be told oh yeah you gotta go around the corner to park and drag your bags back in. I asked if it was possible to bring our bags up before dragging them a block down the street and the front desk person said definitely. But if you don’t ask, you wouldn’t know because I saw many people dragging their bags from down the block.

Rooms are nice… but I don’t understand the lack of conveniences. I get it’s supposed to be a quirky, off brand hotel with a college aesthetic but also merged with contemporary design… so then why are there very few places to charge anything… why minimal light in the bathroom area… it’s so dim in there, you cannot see to get ready.

Coffee pot is not a coffee pot but a pot to boil hot water so you can make instant coffee….

And then finally, the front desk needs much better coordination. If I call the day before and say hey change of plans; I’m checking in tomorrow as a heads up (for 4 nights I already paid for two weeks ago through the Hilton app) why are you all still trying to give my room away by labeling me as a no show despite telling me you would not? Not to mention the front desk unilaterally changed my reservation for a 3 night stay but I paid for 4 nights and also snatched my points and hotel nights…

It’s too chaotic and that alone is a reason I wouldn’t stay here.

Update: I called the Hilton Honors number this morning to make sure I received points for the nights I paid for (per John at the front desk’s suggestion) only to be informed that this property charged me a $291 no show fee. This was charged despite me calling twice and speaking with Sierra both times who assured me I would not be marked as a no show. She also never indicated nor did they at check in that they would charge me a fee.

But honestly, Sierra seems nice enough just young and perhaps not confident enough in her job, that I can take.

What is offensive is the on site manager, Mara (sp?). The representative on the phone also suggested I speak with the front desk because they were told no one was on site with authority to waive my fee… so I spoke with Mara who told me the notes said to charge me and she’d “ask” the other employee but not much she could do now. She also so kindly offered to simply change the label from “no show” to a regular stay charge. Ma’am, that is more the cost of the room per night that I paid — and I shouldn’t owe any fee because I called and they confirmed I was all set.

Mara was dismissive, rude, unapologetic, not willing to offer any meaningful solutions and she smirked most of the time during our exchange. I asked what was funny and she told me “I can smile.”

Please don’t stay here, You can see from the hotel’s reply and the other reviews that mention issues with the front desk that this isn’t a one time occurrence. Makes sense when you realize Mara is one of the managers and this is the way she chooses to “lead.” No wonder some of the reviews about staff and management are abysmal. I’d suggest more time training and less laughing. But...

Disappointing from start to finish.

TLDR: AC broken-No one cared or offered any real help or solution. Hotel run down, Not worth the money.

Start with the major issue: AC not working. We arrived and all was good. Checked in, left the room and came back to a musky and hot room. Providence was in the mid 90s so this was just miserable. I spoke with the front desk and they said they would send a maintenance tech up. 2 hours later someone came and worked on some things (This was at around 11pm). Said they would be going to the roof and would report back. They did not. We dealt with it-saving grace being they had a ceiling fan. Next morning, we had a very early start. I went to front desk and told them that it was still HOT. They first said we cold just open a window. I said that was not a solution--as 1. it is in the middle of a loud city 2. It is hot outside too. 3. The room is not inexpensive and I just want air. Not asking a lot. They said a maintenance ticket was out but they didn't know when it would be fixed. I asked if they could move us to a room upon return and they said they could. Upon returning, we checked the room and it was still broken. Asked to be moved. And they said they were full. I told the girl, the person I spoke with this morning said there would be a room for us when we returned. After going to speak with someone, she said they did have a room but they needed to see if that AC worked. She told us to go to our room and pack and wait for a call. After 1.5 hours, no call....I just called down. Magically, we had a room. But we needed to come down and get keys---no offer to bring them or help move. Went down to get keys, waited in a long line and finally moved---this had been a good 2 hours from initial conversation. BUT....NEW ROOMS AC ALSO DID NOT WORK. At this point, we just dealt with it as we were leaving in the morning. The next morning, I did go tell them and to ask for some sort of discount. The man ahead of me also had the same problem. They told him they could not refund or offer any discount because he had prepaid in full (as did I). So now we are being penalized for paying it all up front. Thankfully this man was a little more forceful and asked for a manager (that never came out). But , the front desk did say they would give him (and now myself who had joined his conversation a whopping 15% discount). Which is laughable. I am waiting to see if they actually do anything as all he did was ask for our room number and wrote it on a random piece of paper (not our names, contact info...nothing else). All this to say, not once did anyone proactively offer a discount, offer to help, offer even bottle of water for our inconvenience. Nothing. Maybe had they pretended even slightly that they cared, I wouldnt be so angry about the whole experience.

Now to add to that: The general look of the hotel is old. The bathrooms are DATED and dirty (like moldy caulk), scuff marks all over every wall from hallway to rooms, ceilings peeling in room, paper peeling off mirrors. Even leaving the AC portion out of this, it is NOT worth the...

We stayed here in late July, and I really, really wanted to like this place - unfortunately, we will not be going back or recommending to others. It started with our journey to the hotel - we were running a bit early, and needed to be checked into our room and off to a family function by 4:30pm, so we decided to call the hotel to ask if we could possibly get an early check-in (3pm). We started calling the hotel around 10am and continued to receive nothing but an answering service! We tried leaving several messages, but not one phone call returned! Not one person answered their phone between the hours of 10am and when we arrived at 3:30pm! We were greeted by 2 women at the front desk, and neither of them were extremely pleasant. When I explained that I had been trying to contact them, and asked if it was policy that they don't answer their phone, I was met with a scowl and told that they were extremely busy. Our room was a suite, and for the most part, it was funky and very cool looking - but it SORELY needed updating! The bathroom was disgusting, and the shower tile and shower head were filthy. Not to mention that whatever silicone they used 50 years ago to seal the bottom of the shower door, has completely deteriorated, so the entire bathroom floor flooded with water while showering! We had to use every towel just to sop it up! The air conditioning in the bedroom was a super old wall unit, with no ability to regulate, and pretty much stayed at a tepid temperature the whole time. The hotel itself has no place to purchase snacks in the evening, or water, except for the 7/11 across the street! But the best part was after we checked out and headed to our family function in a nearby city - I realized that I forgot my toiletry/makeup bag in the room. Again, I tried calling the hotel for HOURS, to no avail! My husband filled out a form online for lost and found (which he found out we had to do only because of a recording on an answering machine) - but because we were still in town (and flying home the next evening), we wanted to know if they found the bag, and could we drive back to get it. It wasn't until the next morning that we finally got an actual human being on the phone from the housekeeping department, who finally told us that they did indeed have our bag. So we made the trek back to the hotel to get our items, and again - were met at the front desk by the same woman who checked us in - still very unfriendly. I read another review on here that tells people to "ignore all the negative reviews." Well, I have this to say - believe them when they say the place sorely needs updating; believe them when they say that the air conditioning isn't working; believe them when they comment on the attitude of the front desk personnel, because we experienced the exact same issues. This hotel could be a very unique, stylish hotel - but it definitely...