Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Walton Beach — Hotel in Santa Rosa Island

The location is perfect, staff are nice and feels secure. The hotel is jointly connected via a tiki bar with the holiday inn, two diff brands, two very similar outdoor pool decks, however they are different....at night the Hilton pool closes at dark, the holiday inn pool has lights in the pool, the lounge chairs at the Hilton are all dirty, and uncomfortable, the holiday inn pool chairs, nice new, and comfy, the Jacuzzi at the Hilton.....it's basically a hot kids pool, no jets, the timer for the jets spins and the emergency stop isn't pushed in but the jets just don't work, go over to the holiday inn and while it's still a semi kids pool, the jets work. The restaurant at the Hilton garden inn, 1 server and 1 bartender makes for slow service, the holiday inn, 1 bartender 2 servers. Since I wasn't a holiday inn guest this is where the comparisons stopped however as a Hilton guest, a diamond at that, I will say the brand loyalty means nothing here, no diamond parking spots, no upgraded rooms or views..you have no benefits that everyone else doesn't have already. In order to get a towel at the pool you have to have a towel card from check in, what you probably don't know, if you fail to turn in the towel or a towel card at checkout , per the fine print, a 20 dollar charge is added to your account. If you use digital key in the honors app it most likely will have issues, this is the only hotel with these issues I've staying in. So like me you will have a stack of key cards in your possession. They have outdoor games in the pool area like corn hole, however the placement of them gives priority to people playing the games and you just might have to walk around thru the rocks, while mention games I forgot to mention the holiday inn next door, they have an actual game room, an arcade! The rooms at the Hilton, are all let friendly you can see along the baseboards in the bathrooms wood missing or paint blotches missing, like people just leave their pets in the bathrooms .....I found black mold above my shower on the ceiling, the thermostat on the wall was not powered and didn't work, you have to go to the unit to control....while I haven't stayed at the holiday inn in a room yet, I will say whatever place you choose to stay, use the holiday inn pool deck, your arm band gets you in there and they have the same towels so no one will know....the Hilton, has a few things they need to do, show brand loyalty appreciation better and work on maintaining rooms better not just cleaning them. One last comment, the pantry at the Hilton, a bottle of water costs 5 dollars....Save yourself 2 bucks, go back to your room and grab the water from the room, unless you are an honors member in which you can save 5 dollars then as it's free. Also, bring your rain boots,,,, this morning it was storming outside and the lobby was leaking , actually dripping inside, 4 buckets placed around, multiple towels and a ladder blocking the way....then again, i did see them replace a toilet in one of the rooms on the second floor right above the spot of the leak ....so maybe we were experiencing a sewage storm in the lobby 😂 😂

Bottom line....would I stay here again ....yes....reason...location and loyalty...

I’ve never stayed in a hotel so poorly cleaned and managed in my life. The first room we were given had Mold everywhere. On the walls and lampshade. It was so dirty and the walls were caked with dirt. I do understand that this hotel was affected by the hurricane in 2020. But I did see maintenance in hallways with lamp shades, so I don’t believe it would have been too hard to change the moldy lampshade before allowing guests to check in to that room. I went down to the front desk and informed the supervisor and she kindly moved us to another room. The next room still had mold on the walls and there was food and crumbs all under the mattress and unfortunately, we found 2 bugs in the beds. 1 on each bed. I took a video for proof and spoke with the supervisor again about the room. At first she stated the mattress did not look like theirs. It was only after I told her we cold walk to the room together because I left the bug right where it was did she offer to move us to another room. I will say that she upgraded our room to a beautiful oceanfront view w/ balcony And 3 complimentary breakfast. The balcony was the only good thing about that room. Upon entering the room the first thing we saw was a dirty q-tip and some hair ties lying on the shelf. The lamp shade was rusted and had mold on it. The walls had mold and were so dirty. The curtains had mold on them, even the chairs had mold spots on them. The Bar of soap in the bathroom was used and the little shampoos and conditioners were all used. It felt as if housekeeping just made the beds and did nothing else. There was food and a fake eyelash on the floor and again, we found BUGS in the beds. I took my concerns to the supervisor AGAIN and was told I could not receive a refund. This was our third room change and at this point we just wanted to leave. It was a long process and the supervisor did not take me seriously until I told her I had full video proof of everything and would be taking my concerns to the health department . She got a housekeeper to look at the bug and I was told it was not a bed bug and that a refund was most likely not possible. Whether that is true or not, we still found bugs in 2 rooms and all three rooms were disgusting. We ended up going to Walmart around 10PM that night to buy cleaning supplies and bed bug spray. We cleaned the whole room and when we told the supervisor we were just going to stay and clean the room ourselves because we were 8 hours away from home with no where else to go, she smiled and said that was great. What kind of hotel is happy that their guests had to go buy cleaning supplies to clean the room that should have already been cleaned? We did not enjoy our stay at all due to the room being and feeling so dirty the whole time. I normally don’t write reviews but this hotel is scamming people out of lots of money. We ended up checking out a day early. The pictures make it look amazing but I can guarantee you, you will not get what you pay for. The ONLY good thing we’re the outside amenities. Beautiful lazy river and nice fire pit...

I am a Diamond member and I exclusively stay at Hilton properties. I chose this property because I had a free award night from my Hilton Aspire Card and I generally look for the most expensive hotels in the area where I'm staying so I can get the best value on my free night. At $469 plus tax this was one of the 3 most expensive Hilton properties in the Pensacola/Destin area and combined with the high overall review I figured it would be a safe bet for a great girls trip stay. I was woefully wrong.

Pros: shares amenities with holiday inn next door and that property seams better kept (at least in the pool area). Food at the restaurant is reasonably priced and good portions and quality. Water bottle filler by the meeting areas and so bring your water bottle to take ice and water out to the pool with you. Jonique at the front desk is awesome and helpful. As was Daniel. When we asked to cancel our second night, even though we were passed the allowed cancellation time they cancelled it without a charge to us.

Cons:

Internet is abysmal. When you log in you might actually have success on the 3rd or 4th try and then you might get a couple of minutes before it kicks you off. My hunch is they don’t want you to have internet service because you might be able to look up and book a room somewhere else. Plastic slat style lounge chairs around pool. Almost all of the chairs have at least a few broken slats. (Go next to holiday inn, their chairs are more comfortable mesh and in good condition.) Restaurant tables and chairs all show considerable wear and tear and are disintegrating. Hallways have carpet that looks like vomit, and is badly stained. (Carpet probably not the best choice for a pet friendly beach hotel.) All of the furniture in the lounge is badly stained

Rooms:

1. incredibly humid inside the rooms. MORE HUMID THAN OUTSIDE IN JULY.
2. Mold spots on ceiling
3. carpet was badly frayed at edges and dingy and soaking wet about 3 ft into the room around the refrigerator cabinet
4. Tub did not drain
5. no fan in bathrooms so your already humid room gets even more swampy if you want to shower.
6. general condition of furniture and bedding is just worn out and dingy. Perhaps the designer didn’t understand how particle board furniture reacts with humid environments.
7. safety hazard around ac unit that is rusty with exposed sharp metal edges near the door to the patio.
8. no drawers to unpack anything other than some wire drawers in the closet area.
9. Dog piss on the base of the curtain in our room

The 2nd night we moved over to Beal House which is a smaller boutique hotel in the Tapestry Line. It was 180 different. Adorable, newly renovated in 2023, great food (try the tacos!), nice pool and...