Homewood Suites by Hilton Wauwatosa Milwaukee — Hotel in Wauwatosa

I would rate our stay a solid 4, good enough for us to stay again if we needed to be in that same area. I read through a lot of reviews before deciding to stay here, so I wanted to take time to add on my own review to help others considering this hotel. We stayed there for 2 days during a family reunion.

The area it is in seems fine, but (as another reviewer noted) we were definitely greeted by the all-too-familiar smell of weed. Despite the fact that everyone in the world seems to be smoking the stuff these days (rich, poor, black, white, male, female, cats, dogs), I just hate to have that be the first thing you smell when you get out of the car at a hotel. This could happen (and does happen) pretty much anywhere so I'm not dinging them for what could be a random occurrence, but it's just something to note.

Parking does cost $10/day, I knew this when I made the reservation but decided it was worth it for the one amenity it had that was missing from the other hotel I had originally reserved- a pool. I wanted my kids to have that option, though in the end they didn't use it (just didn't have time). Despite its relatively small size, it is a nice indoor option and there is also a nice little workout area next to it that my kids did use for a little bit.

The suite we had was nice, full-size fridge, stove, microwave, dishes and dish soap. We were at full capacity (6 of us) so we made use of the sofa bed. I can't speak to its comfort, but 2 of my kids (teens) slept on it just fine. The 2 queens we had were comfortable with plenty of pillows. The shower functioned but had quite poor water pressure and what appeared to be a little mold in one corner (though it wasn't the type that would make you jump out of the shower).

Breakfast the first morning was quite good, though it was definitely one of those situations where the workers were focused on shutting down the place right at closing time (though not quite as bad as our previous hotel). I'm not sure why hotels struggle with this so much, not seeing the big picture of serving the customer being of greater importance than how quick you can get outta there. This came into play because they ran out flour tortillas (part of the great breakfast I have yet to describe) and when I asked the worker if I could get more, he said they were out. I was PRETTY SURE they had another bag of flour tortillas back there, but decided not to push it - until I saw there was only 1 corn tortilla left and I really wanted something else to put my yummy fillings in. I then approached the worker again, told him they were out of both tortillas and asked if I could get some more. He looked at my plate, saw I really did need another tortilla and (knowing the importance of this item) went to the back, returning with 3 warmed up tortillas on a plate. Lest I forget (which you probably think I have at this point), the breakfast that morning was a very tasty chicken with various topping (cheese, a nice sauce and other stuff I can't remember), potatoes, waffles (via a waffle-maker), yogurts, assorted cereal, bagels and other bread, eggs and other stuff - it was just really good! The second morning (Saturday) did not feature the chicken and stuff (so sad), but it was still good enough.

We weren't in the room very much, but our overall experience in the hotel was positive, again a very solid 4 out of 5 and good enough to where I wouldn't have reservations to stay...

Hi. Let me start this post off by saying that I gave this hotel several chances to reach out to me to discuss the matter at hand before deciding to post this review.

My situation -- On the first evening of my stay, I had been sitting on the bed doing work on my laptop for a couple hours. I got up to find that my backside was wet. Long story short, after pulling back all layers of bedding, I found the mattress had a large wet area on it. I called down to the front desk and spoke to Tiffany who said she would have to reach out to her supervisor to see what to do. In the meantime, I packed up my stuff expecting that I would be moved to a different room. I got downstairs and Tiffany saw me and asked what I was doing. I said I packed up all of my things and I am going to wait down in the lobby for resolution. Tiffany said she hadn't heard back from her supervisor, so she can't do anything for me (as if it was a problem that I was sitting in the lobby). Fast forward, the response voiced from Tiffany that her supervisor gave her was that I could either stay in the room I was given at no charge, or I could go somewhere else. WOW. In my years of traveling for work and staying in hotels, this was a first and absolutely terrible customer service. Tiffany then told me that her supervisor didn't want to move me to another room because it was going to affect their sales numbers for the day. Again - WOW. Is this really happening right now? I told Tiffany I didn't want to go somewhere else, I just needed another room. Would you want to sleep on a mattress that was wet with some unknown substance? Tiffany kept texting her supervisor (I still don't know his/her name) and ultimately elected to 'take a risk' by putting me in another room. I'm sorry, I didn't know moving a guest to another room was a risky behavior. After I reached out to Hilton customer service to voice a complaint about my recent stay, I was told on September 10th that my concern was forwarded to hotel's management for review and that I should be hearing from someone within the next 3 days. Four days went by, so I reached out for an update. I got an apology from guest associate services for my poor experience and points added to my Hilton honors account. Putting a band-aid on something does not replace an actual management figure reaching out to discuss a situation in efforts to seek clarification and feedback on what they could have done better. I responded to guest services thanking them for giving me honors points but I requested to get contact information for corporate and copied the General Manager of the hotel chain on that email. Their response... "this is corporate - if you would like to speak to the hotel team, please contact so and so...". When did it become such a hassle for a management figure at the hotel to do their job and reach out to a loyal customer to address something? Now here we are, in the day and age of reviews, and I am being the bad guy by posting a negative review.

I will leave it at this ... Don't you think a wet mattress is something that needs to be looked into? Not to mention, there was a pink tinge to the area? Somebody obviously didn't do their job, whether it was reporting this to management and having it addressed or simply not cleaning it appropriately and letting it dry out before linens...

Just don’t come if you are of color. Its felt in there looks and even in there service! I definitely didn’t feel comfortable being here. Which says a lot because I outwardly LOVE Homewood Suites as a whole! Just not this particular location. When I arrived the guest services person literally never smiled or wasn’t courteous at all. He ran down all of the changes due to COVID-19. Gave me my key and sent me and my partner on our way. I appreciate all workers during this time and what they’re going through just to get into work. I personally have to travel from time to time for my essential work. Last week landed me in my home State which is why I chose this spot. When I got into my room its set up was like most Homewood suites unless your downtown in an older but renovated building across i’m pretty much every major state across USAmerica. I didn’t notice anything wrong with the hotel for a while. Until I took a shower and noticed long black strains of hair in the tub. Disgusting but I can clean it out myself. (Although that was my first mistake) Then as I finished cooking (fajitas) I set on the couch and noticed white stains on the back support of the couch. Moved from that location and thought to myself I should call this in but it was already late and I didn’t want to be a hassle to anyone during this Covid mess if I could simply avoid those areas! I sipped some wine and went into my room, btw I like sleeping with a fan I actually feel like I need it so I turned the ceiling fan on and got into bed. As I laid there for several seconds I quickly realize its a nagging noise coming from the fan. At this point I was annoyed, but hey I’m only staying here for a night and it’s almost over. I just need to go to sleep, I think to myself. So I did. I tried avoiding the front desk at all cost. My partner and I left at check out and I tried to put this night behind us. I wasn’t going hold a grudge because someone who again has a liking for this particular branch of Hilton. However, what I will not stand for is discrimination of any kind. My 100 deposit dollars was deducted for an additional cleaning fee for “smoking.” I literally am NOT A SMOKER. I definitely wouldn’t decide to smoke now in a hotel room where it says no SMOKING! I find it laughable that they charged me with the only thing that’s unseeable and they cant tangibly prove! I call them and the GM WHO IS THE SAME PERSON WHO CHECKED ME IN! Said that he checked himself and he is the one who charged me! SMH I tried reasoning with him maybe this is a mistake, right? NO he is adequate that myself and my partner smoked! I’m black and my partner is as well and we may fit a certain image but we are not. I’ve set and thought was it my fajitas? was it my sage? He says no I know what the smell is. I’ve been doing this for years. I asked who else could I speak with. He says basically him. He is the finale decision maker and that it will come back to his desk anyways. What he doesn’t know is that I’m going to fight tooth and nail on this one and I’m taking this all the way it’s definitely not over the money but of the assumption that I, myself will ever allow someone to CLEARLY...