Hilton Raleigh North Hills — Hotel in Raleigh

I wrapped up Summer courses in graduate school and my husband suggested we visit museums in Raleigh.

On Friday, July 29, we headed out and began to look at hotels in that area and decided to stay at Hilton North Hills. Hilton is known for bringing their best to customers, and we trust the brand for a wonderful customer service experience.

When we called your hotel to set up a reservation the phone must have rang 40 to 50 times before someone picked up. After they picked up there was an immediate drop in the call. I attempted again and no-one picked up at the hotel again.

So while my husband drove, I called Hilton Honors to make the reservation and as a Google guide I’m accustomed to price matching. The reservation department transferred me to the matching department but the woman who picked up had no idea how to do it.

I was transferred to your hotel and no one picked up again.

I finally stopped at a Hampton Inn in Carey Raleigh area PNC and Devon in the sales department placed a call to your hotel and again no pick up. She tried again and was finally successful and ask for a manager. After several attempts we were finally told there is no manager available for the day. Devon from your sister company Hampton Inn called Hilton Honors & the lady quoted us $211 for the night. But when we went to pay it turns out she quoted us for the wrong night. Actually quoted for Saturday. We decided to book the room & correct the price when we arrive at Hilton North Hills. We had made the reservation but it was for the higher amount at 299.00 and when we got to the hotel we told the person at the front desk (we will keep the name out of this) and he matched the 211 but the frustration with us was evident. Please keep in mind we had just spent two hours on the phone trying to reserve, reach someone at the hotel and we were the ones that should be frustrated.

As we were handed our keys, we were told breakfast wasn’t included, but when I said well… considering what we have been through it would be awesome if you could include it? The person seemed even more frustrated with us, "huffed and puffed" and gave us a handwritten voucher for the breakfast.

It was downright humiliating to be treated like that.

We made no issue of it, politely walked away thanking the guest services person.

We promptly wasted no time to get to the local museums because two hours had been wasted in the process of securing a room at this hotel.

In the morning, my husband made us coffee in the room and it wasn’t very good at all.. had no flavor. We both poured our cups out and we ventured down for breakfast.

I stopped by the Starbucks area (your mini store) and told the young man how bad the coffee in the room is and he suggested we perhaps get a voucher from the front desk so I headed to the desk and told the ladies up there that I would like a few cups of Starbucks coffee and one of the women immediately became upset, telling me that he (the young man from that little Starbucks area) should not have said that… and he needs to speak to his manager. I responded but ma’am I am a customer, it was so humiliating! Again!

She followed us to the breakfast area and told the ladies there to get us two coffees but she emphasized, “NOT STARBUCKS!”

My husband was horrified. He couldn’t believe the way we were being treated.

This was one of the worst experiences we have ever had at a hotel and it's guest services.

When we were checking out my husband pointed out the filth outside the door of the hotel. The cigarettes butts. Awful!

Please speak to your front desk people, this hotel does not live up to the Hilton mission of providing the best experience to it's guests! No one should be humiliated like this!

By the way, we wrote to the hotel manager and also left a phone message but did not receive a response. I am still shaking my head...

So, I pulled in at 3 o’clock in the morning after driving for 10 hours and the woman at the front desk, whose name, ironically was Bliss.

Bliss? No, I don’t think so. There was no bliss coming from this blob of a human being.

And, ohhh, the irony. She was nothing rude and arrogant from the first moment. Funny, the arrogance coming from a woman who has to do the overnight shift. Maybe that’s why she was so miserable to begin with. In any case, it made walking into a really nice hotel a really bad experience right from the start.

Then, when she saw my 20-pound dog, she told me there was a $75 pet fee! $75 for an animal to come and stay in the room for the night when you’ve already paid $200? It’s outrageous. Children leave hotel rooms much more disgusting than any dog ever would and they can’t charge extra for the children. The pet fee to begin with is just a way to squeeze every dollar out of you that they can. But a pet fee is usually $25, if there is one.I will never, ever, stay at a Hilton again. I traveled 30,000 miles this year by car and I stayed in almost 40 hotels. This is the last time they will ever see my business.

I’m back here the morning after my stay to give you an update. When I got here at 3 o’clock in the morning last night, I asked for a late check out. The woman told me I would have to ask the front desk in the morning. I called the front desk to ask for a late check out this morning and the man who claimed to be a supervisor , whose name was Joshua, told me they could not do a late check out. They were too busy. Meanwhile, it’s Tuesday morning in mid July. My response, was to get out of bed, and walk up to the desk, which was on the opposite end of the hotel. I went to the desk, I found Joshua, and I told him that he needed to give me a late check out. I explained that I got there at 4 o’clock in the morning. He resisted. I asked for the manager and he said he was a supervisor. Finally, after having to fight for it, I got a one hour later check out.

I’m telling you, if you want to enjoy a nice stay and not have rude people with a mediocre hotel, do not stay here. The furniture is old and scratched. The rugs are dirty. The beds are OK but everything else is so unpleasant, including the people, that it makes staying here just miserable. Do yourselves a favor and skip it.

I’m coming back after my trip is finished to amend my report. The morning I checked out I spoke with the manager of the hotel whose name was Jineen. She listened to me patiently and understood all of my frustrations. She told me she would have individual one-on-one conversations with both employees and she refunded the $75 pet fee. She couldn’t have been more kind or more professional, and I also found out that she was a singer who had sung with legends, I think they included people like Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan. In any case, while I didn’t enjoy my stay there, I would go back and give them a second try simply because Jineen is there and promised she would handle things. I believed her.

That said, you might want to ask for her when you arrive. 🧐

PS. I had originally given them a 1 on this review. I changed it to a 3 because of Jineen. Had I been dealing with her in the first place, they would’ve...

CURRENT REVIEW 6-2025:|Wow this hotel has entered a back-slide!|It once was very nice, but SO many issues keep cropping up every time we return.||Rooms in desperate need of renovation. Bathrooms with countertops at almost at knee height (and we are average height).|Carpets in rooms & hallways are becoming really unsightly - on the verge of gross.|Staff at the front here are friendly, but seldom 'really' helpful, you certainly don't feel like an appreciated guest (and we are also Gold). The bar staff might be the best highlight (they are always great!).....however....during our visits which are always events of over 1000 they are severely understaffed for the demand at lunch & dinner.||The "quick counter" for coffee & sandwiches has great food, but closes at very odd hours - usually when most people want to use it! They also are super folks, but ALWAYS understaffed at big events (we usually visit 2x/year).||Our last visit we actually were pretty angry, as they advertise on the Hilton site/app for an Executive Level rate - this was a good 20-40 more per night for NO BENEFIT OR DIFFERENCE. I've stayed on other floors & it's exactly the same with NO EXECUTIVE LOUNGE.||The pool area is getting dirtier every time we visit. This trip we checked the hot tub & decided to SKIP!||Its such a shame as this property is a great location & is fabulous in accommodation for large events (lots of space in hallways near ballrooms & lots of meeting rooms).|========================|Previous review 2024;|Badly needs updating. Staff is hit or miss (most were great, some were just 'present').||Rooms just 'meh' - badly in need of an update, especially on the 6th floor which is supposed to be the Executive Level. Bathrooms have the really low toilets & REALLY low counters in bathrooms. Had one cockroach scurry out of somewhere in the bathroom - not common on the highest floor (and EW).||Upon checking in a super nice gal was at front but she ONLY had the ability to check OUT, not 'in' (weird) & I waited about 10 min for someone to finally return to check us in.||Room is hard to keep at a good temp, constantly too hot or too cold. |Linens all great. |Carpets need to be replaced with LVT or even vinyl (unsure why any hotel still uses any carpet at all). |Floors in lobby always had spills or sticky stuff. |Restaurant is ONLY buffet and is mediocre with occasional nice fresh fruit/veg.|They do have a full-bar (we didn't partake).|Coffee Bar is actually great with wonderful sandwiches ready-to-eat.|Pool is very nice, has a hot tub which is only about 99-degrees tho, there were never any towels in the pool OR the gym when we went.|Gym actually very nice & quite large.||If ever here & wanting to eat out on a Fri-Sat, make sure you go around 4pm! Everything after 5 was insane and some places were over 1-hr wait at 5:30 already. Hard to find parking & everything was so jam packed, we ended up getting a great take & eat dinner at Harris Teeter (very close to hotel & covered parking + entry into store, bonus!).||All in all it's a just-ok hotel. Only stayed as our event was here. It's a great location & could be a fabulous hotel with just a...