Spark by Hilton Salt Lake City Central — Hotel in Salt Lake City

As a Diamond member I used this hotel for a points redemption and had to check in after 11 pm. Checking in, I asked for a 1 pm checkout time the next day and was told by the front desk person I would need to ask in the morning. Fair enough.

After a long day and needing to get some sleep, I entered my room, which was very warm and smelled musty. I turned on the a/c and the older wall unit was very loud. I tried to sleep and make it work with ear plugs but it was still quite loud. I was tempted to pack everything up and try to change rooms about 1 am but at that time figured the other rooms would be similar - after all the unit was old but not "broken" per se. Had to turn the unit off and managed to get only about 4-5 hours of sleep in a warm room - and had to get up early.

In the morning I went to the front desk to ask about getting extended checkout until 1 pm. I assumed checkout was noon (similar to many Hampton Inns) and was told it was 11 am and the latest she could do was noon. I asked politely for a favor - my father had passed the day before and I was meeting all morning with funeral and cremation folks as I was from out of town and would appreciate being able to come back at 12:30 to check out and the General Manager held firm to the checkout time of noon - saying "the latest we only ever do is noon". She showed zero empathy and zero flexibility. She actually said that I needed to pay for another full day to get that extra hour! After basically shutting down my late-checkout attempt, I tried to tell her about my lack of sleep due to the loud a/c unit and she seemed totally disinterested, directing me to call the 1-800 Hilton number. In my 20+ years of staying at Hilton properties, have never encountered such a cold, disinterested G.M. wanting to listen to a less than desirable experience on their property.

I had to move one of my appointments and switched my flight to later all because of the inability to (even pay!) to check out an hour later. My call to Hilton customer relations confirmed that this specific hotel has very strict rules on granting later checkouts and not having a day use rate. It's odd because this hotel is far from being a high-end hotel and was far from being sold out on this Monday stayover, based on how empty the parking lot was. But Hilton customer care can't force a GM to break their own strict rules so I did not open a case #.

Between the GM's inflexibility with the extra 1 hour and the poor night's sleep due to a/c - plus the (smaller things like) a musty-smelling room - I do not at all recommend this hotel at all. Yes I own that I should've paid attention to checkout time. However there are so many great Hilton experiences I have had that this reminded me that occasionally you are going to have poor ones too. Happy traveling everyone and thanks...

This hotel is converting to a Spark by Hilton on July 25, 2025. The signs have already been changed on the exterior of the building.||I have stayed at countless Hampton Inns over the past two years. It is my go to Hilton brand. This one is the worst! It became apparent to me why it is being downgraded to a Spark by Hilton property.||Our nightly rate was $149.62. Outrageous considering the shape the hotel is in.||The room - ||• Smoke alarm would beep randomly throughout the day and night|• No iron or ironing board|• No safe|• No microwave|• One hangar in closet|• Mini-fridge did not work well|• Sheets were clean, but did not fit the mattress. They would constantly curl up on the sides.|• Electrical outlets near bed are non-existent. You had to move the table in order to use the outlet.|• Desk chair is a hard metal chair that belongs on an outside patio|• AC worked fine|• Shower temperature and water pressure were fine||Hotel -||Three floors||The area around the hotel is not very exciting. It shares a parking lot with Dee’s Restaurant. It is very close to I-215 and State Highway 201 (West 2100 South).||The hotel is a loud active construction zone. What they call breakfast is sitting in the hallway. The breakfast area is closed. The front desk is in the business center. The main entrance to the hotel / lobby is completely off-limits and you must enter and exit the hotel through a side entrance.||The hot tub, pool, business center, and fitness center are closed.||There is one ice machine on the first floor that was hardly making any ice.||On our last night at 2:45 AM, the hotel had to be evacuated due to smoke near the elevator. The entire building smelled like smoke. We had to stand outside and wait for the fire department to arrive and approve us to go back inside. We received no apology or compensation.||This hotel is a complete dump. Our stay was a huge disappointment. Please avoid it...

I honestly have no idea how this Hampton Inn has 4.1 stars. It's probably the worst Hampton Inn I've stayed at. Ever. The flooring inside the hotel and the rooms is incredibly worn. It's what I'd expect from a Motel 6 or Super 8, not a Hilton property. I was here for three days. After the first night, both days when I came back to the hotel my key card to my room was disabled. This hotel is so old they don't even use Hilton's keyless app for entry. (Unfortunately). So each day I had to go get my keys remade.

The first day I came back to my room and it reeked of marijuana courtesy of someone toking up in their room in the hotel and the air handling system spreading it. Again, not the experience I expect at a Hampton Inn. The hotel staff was sympathetic but didn't really do anything to solve the problem either.

The outer side door on the first floor is broken and on more than one occasion was wedged open allowing entry to pretty much anyone that wanted to come in. I closed it at least three times, and noticed that the door mechanism needs replaced. I never saw anyone from the hotel staff coming down to fix it or concerned that random people were coming and going in the hotel.

The clientele also seemed to be what I'd expect at a budget hotel and not a Hampton Inn or Hilton property a large number of sketch people and some business travelers.

There are much better hotels closer to the Airport and downtown...frankly within ten minutes of this property. This is my first and last time at this Hampton Inn. By the looks of it, I'd guess Hilton's about to pull the rip cord, punch out of here and sell off this property to a cut...