Hilton Garden Inn Islip/MacArthur Airport — Hotel in Town of Islip

First thing is, we booked with Expedia, even though we are Hilton Rewards members, and we specified we had 2 adults, 2 children, ages under 1 and a 10 year old. We couldn't link the app to the room for the digital key, but at the end of the stay they said we could have. Yet we asked and no one was able to help us. Not a huge deal, oh well. When we got there, we got our keys and went to the room, we specified age for the bathing situation specifically, assuming it was known we needed a bath, not a shower. No problem, we called the lobby and asked the young lady to move us to a room with a bath. We lugged our bags and carts and stroller down to the lobby, got the new keys and went to the second room, which also DIDN'T have a bath tub. Called the lobby again and asked if we could be moved again. While still on the phone, the lady didn't put us on hold and we overheard the lady talking to the supervisor about us, and the supervisor was being a smart-alec and asked the first lady why we needed a bathtub, and "how many times do we have to move them?!" We heard that, then got put on hold, when the lady came back on the phone, she said she thinks they found us a room with a bath, and that a supervisor would follow us up to the room to double-check the bath tub situation. All while being told we can't keep moving around due to covid. Which is acceptable, but why not make sure it was correct the first move? That is not our job considering the price of the hotel to begin with. We finally got a room with a bath.

The first night after being settled in, we ordered breakfast for the following morning, it was $80 and not worth the money. Most of the items were good, but a couple items were not good whatsoever. For 4 people, one being a 1 year old, the other a 10 year old girl, we didn't order much food. I figure whatever, it's food and it's our vacation, let's splurge.

Well, the card we used was a regular PayPal debit card, we had plenty of money in the account. The entire stay came out of the account for that stay. That was fine with me but weird because every other stay we had it got charged at checkout. But still no big deal because we were paying either way. BUT, the card apparently got denied for breakfast, whatever, still don't know how or why, and no one contacted us about this. Instead, our keys got deactivated and we were unaware. We had to leave the room to go places, and had no idea our keys wouldn't work. When we got back to the hotel after getting everyone upstairs, without knowing we couldn't get back in after a long day, we had to go back down to the lobby and pay for breakfast and get new keys. Not a big deal cause we ordered the food, we were going to pay it either way, we aren't cheap people. But no one told us it wouldn't go through. Then we were able to get back in, no problem. Now, the next day, I got a notification through paypal that my card was charged $400 something dollars, AND $146. Without knowing the original charge got returned and then charged again. All still before we even checked out. Asked the lobby what the heck, and no one could give me answers.

That's the end of those issues. Now during the stay, the hot water heater apparently had to be reset at some point, but we didn't know that until we checked out. We just ran out of you water during a bath, I called the lobby and they said, "we've had no other complaints, I'm not sure what's going on" no explanation, no further comments about it from the hotel. During checkout the gentleman told us the water heater situation. So the hotel did have knowledge of why we had no not water. Just kinda felt like the guy didn't believe us or something when we told him. Onto the rest, the air conditioner was leaking and leaving a huge wet spot on front of it. Well, that's the only spot my baby's pack n play would fit in the room. I called and mentioned it, we got no service about it and no follow up by the lobby. The AC also would cut off, like it should, but I'm between cycles it got hot and humid in the room. We got$40 off on the total bill. Not...

We really enjoyed working with Albert who was the floor manager I believe. He took the time to explain everything about the room block and made sure that our guests would be taken care of the day of the wedding. However, the day of our wedding I ended going to the hotel to sort out a problem with their room. My parents had booked a room to stay in the day before the wedding and the day of. The day before they had no problems checking in and were told that the next day they would need to exchange keys because one night was booked under the block and the next night was not. However, the rooms would remain the same for convenience. We understood and agreed to that and would come by in the morning to exchange keys. The next morning as I arrive at 10:30am to check on my parents I grabbed the keys and tried to exchange them. The hotel Clerk, Anette stated I do not need to exchange them. Either way I asked her to reprogram the keys so they would work for the current day. She said whoever told me that was wrong and the room key should still be working. After 15 minutes as we began to leave I checked the room keys and they stopped working. I head over to the front desk to speak to Annette and saw a line was building up, I waited about 15 more minutes on the line (it was 11am). I began talking to her about the keys not working and she stated that I was supposed to exchange them because I didnt book with the block. I was shocked, I was there 30 minutes ago asking if I should exchange keys for that exact reason and the same person said “No”. I asked her if she remembered seeing me since we spoke 30 minutes ago and she stated “No”. I asked her to please change the keys so that they would work and she said she would have to change the rooms because its not in the block, at this point I became agitated because I (groom) was running late to my other appointments the day of my wedding. I didnt figure a matter like this would take 45-60 minutes to resolve. I explained and showed all emails that were with Albert about having the same room and having no issues exchanging keys but Anette made it much more complicated. I wish this stopped here but it didnt; after we got the keys exchanged for my parents, a few hours later my grandparents had issues checking in as well. The same clerk, Anette, said she would not give my grandparents a room unless a credit card was given. However, we had signed the credit card authorization form days before and were explicitly told that nobody who was on the form would need to pay for any expenses as they were directly billed on my credit cards. Both Albert and Taylor (Wedding sales coordinator) had approved the form. It was hours before our ceremony and we are getting this call from my grandparents stating that they wouldnt let them in. I am not sure if its the miscommunication or ineptitude by Anette to cause issues on both my parents room and my grandparents room; but we were very displeased with this hotel for their services, specifically Anette. We would much rather recommend staying at another for a less stressful...

Where do I start? I have stayed here several times before and never has the experience been an unpleasant one - until this past weekend!

1. Hotel is under renovation - but we weren't aware of that until we pulled up to check-in and had to walk over loose plywood sheets to get to the make-shift registration desk. NO NOTICE is on the Hilton web site or here that the hotel is under renovation.
2. All dining/bar services were closed since they are now working on the first floor.
3. Was asked to be placed on a high room away from the noise - and I was placed on the 4th floor overlooking the back parking lot - WHERE ALL THE CONSTRUCTION material is located and the trucks and sawing is taking place.
4. Construction starts at 8 am and continues until 6:00 PM - so much for a restful quiet weekend and sleeping in
5. NO HEAT on the first night - the thermostat did not get above 66 degrees - was told my night staff that the heating systems were motion-activated and to give it 10 minutes to warm up ... it did - FROM 64 degrees to 66 degrees - and not a bit more
6. Night staff could not explain how the heat would stay on once we are asleep since it's motion-activated AND I do not sleepwalk (No answer)
7. Was told all she could do was to change me to another room since there was NO engineering staff on call at 1:00 am in the morning (Now we checked in at 5 and unpacked and turned up the heat so it would be warm when we returned) We returned at 12:30 to no heat. After traveling all day and being up since 5:30 am and having to get up at 6 am for a charitable benefit event, there was no way we were going to wait to get another room and then have to re-pack and unpack just to go to a room that may or may not have heat. Oh, and she offered 5000 points for our "inconvenience"
8. Heat finally came on and it got to 70 degrees at 11 am - right when we were walking out the door for our all day benefit
9. Come back to hotel after the event and the elevator button on first floor doesn't work - had to have an employee work the elevator whenever we wanted to go up and down.
10. Returned at 11 pm after a late dinner and no one was at the elevator to make it work - had to wait until someone from the front desk came to work the elevator. Hey - but at least we had heat!
11. Construction starts again at 8 am and we are awaken to electric saws outside and banging/hammering form what sounds liek the room next door. WE COULD NOT WAIT TO GET OUT OF THERE!

Brought all this up at the front desk during check out and we were offered another 5000 points - told them that was not acceptable - they did finally give us half back on one room night - gee thanks! The entire stay should have been comp'd for all the issues we had during the two nights. If they had told us when we booked the room or when I called to change the reservation, it would have been one thing - but we were never told - nor was the couple who checked in behind us - they were...