DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown Downtown — Hotel in Youngstown

We are providing feedback regarding our daughter's First Communion party at the Double Tree, catered by the Bistro 1907 earlier this month. This was a party she had been anticipating for over two years.

This feedback has already been shared directly with Double Tree staff. We are still waiting to speak with Bistro 1907 staff, leaving three messages for managers. Our disappointment with both companies has still not been addressed after 3 weeks of trying.

We do not take this type of public feedback lightly. We wanted to give both the Double Tree and the Bistro an opportunity to work through our issues and disappointments. Neither company has "stepped up" to do so. Please know, that part of the issue is the very blurry line between the two entities when it comes to a party.

With our latest call to the Bistro today, (after holding for 16 minutes), my wife spoke to GM Michael, who gave her literally 60 seconds of his time. He was dismissive to my wife and condescending. He was too busy to speak and promised to call back this afternoon. We never received a call within the stated time frame (no call came this afternoon at all).

There are issues with the Double Tree and with their events' planning process (full disclosure, open communication, a consultative approach and flexibility are not strong suits for them. Party patrons.... beware!  There are many important things that go "unsaid" as you plan your event and then you are surprised with maddening things on the day of the party).

All that being said, a large portion of our issues are with the food and staff that supported our event, those important pieces to this puzzle were supplied by Bistro 1907.

As we look at the overall picture, with time, the way we were treated gets even more upsetting. If we were provided the experience that we were expecting and that we paid for, if we received the customer service that should be associated with the brands of Doubletree and Bistro, we would feel 100% different; we would be happy to pay the cost associated with our event because of the wonderful memories created. We do not have wonderful memories. We instead feel completely taken advantage of...we were robbed of the event for which we handsomely paid. We paid for a top notch experience for my daughter and the rest of our family.  We in no way received it.

So here it is...the staff acted as if they were bothered and burdened. We were chased out of the venue half way through our allotted time.  The staff was overall unhappy, inflexible and uncaring about the celebration at hand. We paid to be taken care of, not to worry about the food & service aspects of the day. Yet, we could not enjoy our time with our guests.... we had to watch every plate of food, every beverage that we individually paid for (over and above the catering charge) and even our pieces of cake. We asked over and over of the staff to slow down, they were clearing our tables before any of us could enjoy our food and drink. No one felt safe to visit another table or use the restroom!  By the way, if your 7 year old is having too much fun and wants to take her chicken fingers home to eat later.... FORGET IT. NO FOOD that you have paid for (even the $15 chicken finger lunches....$15 per child!) may leave the premises. And when you ask where those full pans of roast beef and chicken marsala are going, as they are removed from the buffet after one hour...you will not get an answer. Seriously....they will not answer you. And you will not get any of it to take home, even though you paid for all of it in full 10 days in advance of the party.

Everyone in our community should be aware of this experience and how it has made us feel about the Double Tree and the Bistro 1907.  Read every line of every piece of paper they ever give you even 5 months in advance, and even if it was not in the contract. They will not give you ANY courtesy. This is truly...

This was our second stay here, with our first being in July. We had a great stay then, and we chose stay again during game weekend against South Dakota State University.||We had a completely different experience.||It was kind of fun staying at the same hotel as the opposing team, and the young men were well mannered. That was definitely not the issue.||The hotel simply couldn't handle other guests when facing a group of this size.||Our room was king with sofa bed, and it had an L shape. The sofa was in a little cubby to the right of the door, away from the rest of the room. I originally thought it would be good to have a bit more space for all 3 of us. Nope. When I went to open the sofa bed, it was clear that there was not enough space to open the bed (see photo). There were also no sheets or pillows for the sofa in the room.||I called the front desk, no one would pick up. Went in person with the below photo. Front desk staff was at first confused about what was going onf, but eventually said she would send up maintenance to move the couch and bring the missing bedding bag.||The maintenance man. Bless his heart. Hard working man, and he was just done with fixing issues others had made. He let us know that the room had been deep cleaned earlier in the week, and no one bothered to move the sofa back. He took care of it for us quickly - it was a good 20 feet from where it needed to be over in the main part of the room.||Later first night - our teen took a shower and found the bottles for the body wash and the shampoo were out. Called down to the front desk again. They again sent that poor maintenance man up to the room with the full bottles of body wash and shampoo that housekeeping had overlooked.||Both nights - hot water was lukewarm, even when placed to the highest setting. We originally attributed the problem to the large group in the hotel, but we had it the second night as well.||Second evening - walked into our room around 5 pm, and it had not been serviced at all. We don't care about the bed being made, but we do care about clean towels. Called down for towels and washcloths, only to realize we were also out of toilet paper. Not even a backup roll. Added that to our housekeeping order. Who did they send up with the items? That overworked maintenance man. It's like housekeeping didn't really exist this weekend.||*When I called to indicate that we had not received any service that day, the man at the front desk didn't say anything like, "Oh, sorry we skipped your room," nor did he say, "Oh, we don't do that except upon request." Just we'll bring up towels. So I have no idea why we didn't have our room serviced other than the housekeeping just couldn't take on another room that day.||I REALLY want this hotel to do well. It's a great addition to downtown Youngstown. It's much needed. But they've really got to get it together (and give the maintenance man a raise). I thought we had our place when we visit, but we will not...

This hotel is located in a charming historic building in Downtown Youngstown. It has been well renovated to preserve the architecture, with a contemporary flair for the furniture and fixtures. The rooms were well furnished and decorated, but it was quite dark, even with all of the lamps on.

The staff members I interacted with were reasonably friendly, however there was undoubtedly an absence of “hospitality” during my stay. My check in experience was unnecessarily lengthy. I was unable to check in on the app because unlike numerous other Hiltons, this hotel has made the decision to block digital keys for guests staying on a per diem rate. Instead of being able to go directly to my room, I had to stop and complete an entire check in process, including hearing a full spiel from the front desk about things such as “breakfast is not included with your room”, as if I had this establishment confused with a Hampton Inn off of the interstate.

On the third night of my stay, I returned from work to find that housekeeping had not come, and the front desk stated that nobody was on grounds to assist me despite it being only 5pm. I was offered fresh towels, and was told that somebody would pick up the dirty ones. After a few hours of nobody stopping by, I left them in the hallway where they remained until I checked out.

The service at the restaurant was poor as well. I arrived around 7am for breakfast and the chairs were up on many of the tables and no staff members were in sight. After a trip to the front desk, the clerk was able to track down the one restaurant employee who was simultaneously working as both the server and the cook. The food was average, and I decided to forgo my Hilton Honors F&B credit and go elsewhere for breakfast the next two mornings.

The bed was comfortable. The building was neat. But the overall experience left me disappointed. The service was truly mediocre at best. This hotel has so much potential. With a more warm, energetic, and hospitable vibe, it would be outstanding. A nicely renovated and pretty building isn’t the...