Hilton Garden Inn St. Pete Beach — Hotel in Saint Pete Beach

Similar to my review of Hilton Clearwater Beach, I thought I would post my feedback from our stay as I think it can be informative to others and hopefully get some more visibility from the hotel on it. :)

This was our second time visiting Hilton Garden Inn St. Pete Beach - we do like it there as our alternative Hilton to stay at (we also stay at the Hilton in Clearwater Beach). There are things that we definitely like about Hilton Garden Inn St. Pete Beach, but a few things we wish were different/offered - some of them a little more grandiose than others: On our first stay the digital key stuff was pushed much more and seemed to work better, this stay it really wasn't pushed and didn't work very well. At the Hilton in Clearwater Beach they give you a little NFC bracelet that doubles as your room key and as your "pool pass" – it’s really handy because it’s easy to just keep it on during your trip vs. having to keep track of a key card – it’d be great if you’d consider switching to these since the digital key stuff doesn’t work very well. We wish the pool were kept just a little bit warmer during the colder months – during the warmest part of the day it’s pretty good but from early morning to about noon it’s frosty! It’s a pipe dream because it would be expensive, but we wish you had a hot tub. :) At the Hilton in Clearwater Beach they have daily crafts/activities for kids as part of the resort fee – I wish you did too because it would give our daughter (and I’m sure the many other kids we saw) something organized to do. We love that you have live music every night and that they play until fairly late (and the bar is open)! I noticed that some of the other hotels have actual boardwalks out to the beach instead of just sandy paths – I feel like, if done right, something similar would help you have less sand brought constantly up on your sidewalks/deck. The grassy area between the hotel and pool is nice, it would be great if there were some more lawn games or even a few natural gas fire pits in there to make it an even nicer space to enjoy the music without being right up in the food/drink area. Why doesn’t the sidewalk from the front of the hotel extend all the way to the actual sidewalk by the road? It looks like someone stopped about one square short. The fitness center was really good, I liked that it had a lot of the key equipment that people would want to use. I do think that some of the equipment could use a little maintenance (the treadmills were a little squeaky, for example). I do wish that the mirror on the wall in there was lower, or was even replaced by a thin whole wall mirror so it was possible to watch your form while lifting weights. Along that line, it would be great if there was a second set of weights – it’s not unusual for more than one person to want to lift at the same time but it’s hard to/doesn’t really work with just one set of weights. These suggestions aside, we definitely like it here and we...

My rating is for the ADA aspect of the room since my wife is in a wheelchair. My wife and I chose this hotel for it’s closeness to the beach, the luxury of a Hilton, and top of the line service you would expect from a Hilton hotel! I asked for a handicapped accessible room. There are not a lot of pictures so my narrative must do for some of it. We checked in and was told they have no valet parking or staff to help with luggage. Self parking is it. They use only the 5th or Top floor for handicapped rooms and most rooms are accessed down the long side of the building through 2 entrances. The first entrance closest to the front has handicapped parking spaces, a curb cut, and inside the door are numerous luggage carts. The second entrance, 200 or so feet down farther has NONE of those things and guess which one is closest to our room? Yep, that one. They did however have reserved parking by the door for Diamond honors members. Thank God they didn’t have to walk far! I had to pull my wife up backwards up the curb in her wheelchair which she hated. We got to the room and after bringing up our luggage in an elevator I could barely turn my wife around in, less than 12 sq. Feet of floor space, we looked around the room and saw we have a bathtub! “Pictures “ I may not travel like most reading this but I have never seen a bathtub in an ADA room. I guess it’s more of a thing but I, being able bodied, HATE stepping into a bathtub to take a shower and have never had one in any hotel we have stayed at! I called the front desk and was told they would send up a sliding chair, we got a clamp on bench “pictures” which was useless since my wife had a recent stroke and has had MS for 38 years and could not get from her wheelchair to it. I was told that the only rooms with showers were the “Suites” on the first floor. During these waits, i checked out the frig. “Picture” On the floor, inside a cabinet that a person in a wheelchair would have to have 4 foot arms to be back far enough to not have any part of the wheelchair blocking it to open it. We then checked out our balcony, NOT ADA COMPLIANT! It has a 4 inch step going down to it and is barely wide enough for 2 people to pass each other let alone for a wheelchair to turn around on , if it could get to it due to the step. “Next text from the web about an acceptable balcony” (Yes, a balcony in an ADA room must be accessible, meaning it should be reachable and usable by a person with a disability. This typically includes a smooth, firm surface and a lack of thresholds or with a small one, a stable railing, and enough space for a wheelchair or other mobility device) I honestly believe that this hotel did not have ADA rooms so they tried to make regular rooms ADA compliant but came up very short in that attempt. After all this we decided to check back out and leave. The HILTON name is no longer a hotel we will be searching for when traveling. Sorry for this...

I will start with the positives, and these should definitely be commended. Lovely reception area which was warm and welcoming. The hotel is situated directly on the beautiful beach and included in our stay we had complimentary cabanas. The pool was small but adequate and the pool ladies were kind lending the children beach toys and noodles. Plenty of towels and bottles of water by the pool. However, we unfortunately encountered lots of problems and despite approaching the front desk to talk with a manager there was not one available. I have since contacted the hotel and was told I would receive a phone call two days ago - this also did not happen. In short, we had issues with our room and also house keeping, which fell far below the standards I expect from a Hilton hotel.||During our stay, we encountered multiple issues that greatly affected our comfort and overall experience:||Lack of Housekeeping:|Our room was only cleaned once throughout the entire stay, and that was only after I called the front desk to request service. The cleaner arrived just before 6 PM, which is an unreasonably late time. We were told we would receive a full service including fresh sheets - this did not happen.||Insufficient Room Supplies:|Coffee pods and cups were never replenished unless we called and asked. After our room was cleaned, only one roll of toilet paper was left for four guests. Despite booking for four people, we were consistently only given three bath towels. Even after housekeeping took away four used towels, they only replaced them with three. I had to call the front desk twice for an additional towel.||Room Conditions:|The air conditioning unit in our room was excessively noisy, making it extremely difficult for us to get a good night's sleep. Additionally, our room was situated next to an overflow pipe. Due to heavy rain during our stay, water continuously poured onto our balcony, soaking our clothing or items left on the chairs.||Unexplained Charges at Checkout:|The most disappointing issue occurred at checkout. I was presented with a bill for over $200 in resort fees and taxes. When I checked in, I knew that I had booked through a third party so specifically asked the front desk staff if I had any additional fees to pay. I was clearly told that everything had been paid in full, aside from any incidental charges I might accrue. I asked this twice to be sure, as I needed to budget for the stay. This surprise charge at checkout was both unexpected and unacceptable. When I raised the issue, the staff member simply said he couldn’t help me. I asked to speak to a manager but was informed that no manager was available to speak with me.||As I said, I am still waiting for a manager to discuss these issues as we really are not happy. I was hoping to discuss this before writing a review or contacting head office but it seems no one is around to address these...