Homewood Suites by Hilton St Augustine San Sebastian — Hotel in Saint Augustine

This Hilton property was a less than desirable stay and Hilton management needs to properly address the problems at this location. I stayed the weekend of February 23-25, and it was not what I expected as a long time Hilton Honors member and a recent Diamond member. This review is lengthy, but if you are planning to stay here, I suggest you read it completely in order to determine if you would want an experience such as this.

First off, I was never recognized as a Diamond member by the Front Desk staff, although I approached them several times during the stay. I checked in using the Digital Mobile Key and my friend and I went straight to the room after having the valet park our car.

Valet parking is MANDATORY, and I agree with the other reviews that $25 per night, plus tax, to park is excessive especially since the service does not match up to the price. When my guest and I arrived at the hotel, I provided my room number (based on the Digital Key) and my last name. I then texted our other friend who was joining us later to use this information when she arrived. When she did arrive, she then met us at a local restaurant and informed me that the valet informed her that I was not checked in, so she left her luggage at the Front Desk before meeting up with me. (This resulted in an issue of additional parking fees when checking out, which I will address below.)

When we initially entered the room with the Digital Key, we noted several items were missing as we settled in. No corkscrew, no forks or spoons, no sheets for the fold out couch bed and no "Privacy Please" door sign. When I went down to get my "Welcome gift" as an Honors member, I informed the Front Desk representative of these issues and she said, "they should be in the room". Luckily, I took a picture of the silverware case and showed it to her. She said the extra bed sheets should be in the closet. I said there are pillows and a blanket and that is it, and my friend who checked in with me confirmed it also. These items were all taken care of when we returned from the restaurant but to have the Front Desk not recognize my Honors status and they question what I was relaying to her was not at all professional.

The next day, when I pulled the coffee maker forward, I noticed it was not properly cleaned behind it as there were visible coffee stains on the counter. I also noticed the toilet seat was cracked. I took pictures again and went to the Front Desk to have them addressed. (Obviously, no one is giving proper attention to getting the rooms ready for the next guests!) On Sunday, before checking out, I requested a late check out as a Diamond member. I know it is not always available, but the hotel did not look "full" based on the parking lot, the breakfast area and the app reservation availability. However, I was told, "you have until noon". We checked out at 11am. We had enough.

Also, be careful of the description of the hotel on the website. The "blackout" curtains in our room did not fully close and the gaps let the morning sun in. Also, as a Diamond member, Hilton usually allows for complimentary upgrades, when available. I read the fine print for this "benefit" on my app before checking in and discovered Homewood Suites is one of four or five Hilton properties that does NOT provide this benefit. (Good to know for the future!) Finally, when checking out, I noticed an additional parking charge on the bill. The Front Desk representative said it was for "Car No. 2". I said that person left on Saturday afternoon! (So, the Valet service and the hotel billing process are not connected? What is the use of using claim forms when valet parking if they are not used to document in and out charges properly? And you are required to pay $25 per night, plus taxes, for this "service"?!!)

I do not recommend booking a reservation at this hotel, especially if you are an Honors member. The February "Honors Discount" Studio Suite rate of $363 a night plus taxes is not worth it. This is NOT a...

Stayed 5/15/2021; Checked in late in the day and the front desk person was VERY pleasant! (I wish I had her name because she was the best part of our stay!) The hotel is very new but that’s about it. The room seemed clean until I noticed the bathroom had not been vacuumed (plastic tags on the floor and a used bathrobe on the back of the bathroom door… story to follow later). The kitchen was nice, coffee maker was fine, full fridge. The sheets were TERRIBLE! Rough and scratchy (honestly, woke me up in the night). Breakfast was sub-par with only juice, coffee, bananas, and bagels/English muffins… these were ok and there was a toaster in the kitchen to toast them! No hot foods (eggs, sausage, bacon, waffles/pancakes etc…) Here's my real complaint (other than the rough sheets and unvacuumed room…) We accidentally left a pair of shorts (nice ones) hanging on the back of the bathroom door. We know this is the case because of the white robe (mentioned previously) that was already hanging there. We checked out on Sunday morning and when my husband noticed he left his shorts, we called immediately. “Angela” was very nice, told us the room had not yet been cleaned/no one stayed in it since and she (or someone) would go check for the shorts and would call us back if/when she found them but that I would need to pay for shipping (understandable!). I did mention the robe on the back of the door (they do not provide robes in the room so clearly, the people before us left it and when cleaning the bathroom, housekeeping did not close the door to look for used towels on the hook… if they cleaned the bathroom at all…) We did not receive a call, so I called back later that day. Another nice lady, Michelle said no shorts were in lost and found but that she would check and call us back by 9:00 pm. No call. So… I called the next morning and reached Timothy (I think that was his name). I started explaining the situation (again) and told him my name and room number and as he repeated my name he then said, “Hold on…” He put me on hold and after a short wait, I got “Angela” again (the first person I called on Monday morning). She said that no shorts were found… I asked how that could happen if the room was not yet cleaned unless someone went in there to check and decided to keep them rather than return them. She was very RUDE and said that the shorts were not on the premises (of course they weren’t because someone took them home!) The shorts and the robe (not ours) were missing. I suggested that someone found them and decided to keep them (because they were nice, Lulu men’s shorts) and she said she would speak with housekeeping and let them know that I said someone stole them. I stopped her and said, “I did not say, STEAL… because we left them. I am suggesting that someone chose not to do the right thing and turn them in whether that was Angela (because she knew they were Lulu’s) or housekeeping.” My husband called back and she was also rude to him suggesting that we did not leave shorts because none were found. He asked to speak with the manager, and she said she was the manager…dead end here. I called back and asked for the General Manager and got the voice mail of Terry Quigley (sp?), left a message and he later called my husband back. He told my husband that he has had people call him back and tell him that they later found that they in fact did not leave an item. He said that he feels confident that his employees are telling him the truth. (= we are lying…) Needless to say, no one turned the shorts in. Someone chose to keep them rather than return something that they found that was not rightfully theirs. Why can’t people do the right thing? Karma…. I would not stay here again because they weren’t honest people, scratchy sheets, and uncleaned bathrooms. Oh yeah, and $25 a...

Their reply is even lies. If they wore sorry for the inconvenience thay caused, they would have fixed this. They would have accepted responsibility for my car while in their hands. They did not.

If they take guest comments seriously, they would have given me some respect. If they did take the guest complaints seriously, something would have been to improve this hotel by now. If they take it seriously, I would not have had to call the Corp number. Don't belive me? Look at all the other negative comments. The reply are mostly all the same.

Maintening trust. WHAT TRUST? How would someone ever trust you or this brand after your horrible treatment. You suprise guess with paid for valet. You suprize people with damage to their property. You barg into people's room. Your manager at the frond desk lies, doesn't know how to do her job. Great trust. Keep telling yourself that lie.

Highest service? What are you talking about? House keeping going into people room when they should not? Damaging people's property? Highest service, ha. Keep telling yourself lies.

You act like you care and humble, lying, and offer appligies. If you cared and are appligising, then you know you are in the wrong, and you should have made your lies become truths, and you should have taken responsibility. You did not.

Give you another try?? Are you kidding me! After your forcing me to file a complaint with the BBB? How about you be a better business on your own and fix people propery that you break.

This hotel and Hilton should not be trusted. They lie to customers' faces. They force you to valet park. They force you to pay for valet parking. They harass you via text constantly to tip for that forced valet service. On the bill, they lable is as an add on charge. As if I added on the valet service. Then they damaged my vehicle. My vehicle was in their hands, their control, and I received it back damaged, and they refused to take responsibility. The valet lie and tell me they have camers all over and that I can see the footage, I just have to wait for the valet manager. I talked to the hotel manager, she also says I can see the footage from the cameras, she just doesn't know how to get access but says she will help me out. Over night valet "investigated" the situation. Next morning, they call me telling me the cameras did not show anything happening to my vehicle while in their care. They refus to show me camera footage. The hotel manager refused to let me see the footage after she told me I could. As im leaving, one the valet tell me they are refusing to show me the cameras because they are covering their butt. So the valet pretty much just confirmed they are at fault. They over chaged me for my stay. I reached out to Hilton Customer Care. They lied. Told me I should be able to see the footage and that I'd get a resolution in 3 days. They never reached back out to me. I had to contact them again. They blew me off and told me to contact the hotel and the valet company directly.

Another huge problem with this hotel, or Hilton, expect no privacy in your room. They do not provide you with a door hanger for requesting privacy. I went to the manager and told her we did not want anyone in our room, no housekeeping. She clicks around on the computer and says no problem. More lies. Every time we left the hotel, they were in our room. The female manager just made up excuses. There is no safes in the room, by the way. Another lady checked in the same time we did. Her room was just a few doors down. We saw housekeeping walk right in her room without knocking. 5 seconds later, housekeeping comes flying out. The lady must have been in her room. Next time we saw her, she was visabley upset and checking out...