Hilton Garden Inn Syracuse

Exceptional

The WORST hotel experience I...

Liked: When we first checked in and walked into the main lobby, the smell of urine and chlorine was overwhelming. We walked up to the counter and the gentleman sitting behind the desk just stared at us not saying a word. I politely asked if we could check in and he replied “ let me look” check in time is 3:00 pm and we arrived at 2:30. He informed us that our room was ready and we could check in with a grunt. He tossed our keys in the desk and gave us absolutely no direction or even our room number. This gentleman’s personality and lack of customer service was the last of our worries, so we shook it off and moved into getting our belongings and getting into our room. We loaded our items onto a luggage cart and wandered around trying to find the elevator. When we found it we noticed a printed sign on it that basically said the elevator does work, but if you do not move quick enough the door will crush anything in its path.. we thought the sign was joking but as we entered the door expectedly close on our luggage cart knocking them onto my child. We made it up to our hotel room and opened the door. We explored for a minute and started to unload our things. I went into the bathroom and noticed that in the sink there were long curly hairs on the sink and vanity, as well as a huge hairball that was chilling out in the drain of the shower. My 5 year old was super excited about swimming so we immediately went down to the pool and jacuzzi to feel the water and span the layout. As soon as we walked into the pool area, the first thing we were greeted with was the overwhelming smell on chlorine and urine. The jacuzzi area was also decorated with a wonderful caution tape and electric saw sitting next to the jacuzzi. The pool was cloudy. You could see floating debris and hair about. It was all about 50 degrees. The liner of the pool also looked like it was peeling off and mold growing in and around the area. My husband and I were immediately turned off and went right to the front desk
Disliked: To discuss our concerns with the front desk. I politely and effectively told the staff that the conditions our room and amenities were unacceptable and we wanted to work on a solution because myself and my family did not feel comfortable at this property for two nights. The same gentleman at the front desk proceeded to tell me that we’re basically shit out of luck and because it was a holiday weekend, there was no manager in the building and there was nothing he could do. He also stated that because I booked through a 3rd party site (booking) that they would have to either change our reservation or issue a refund. I immediately went up to the room and called Booking customer service. The agent confirmed with me that It was actually Hilton that needed to issue the refund and they were unwilling and uncooperative with the booking customer service agent. The hotel would not answer the phone of the booking agent. So I went down the to main desk again and asked them to please contact booking. They were giving me the run around and the wrong number for the agent to call. At this point the booking agent advised me to write this review and put in a complaint against the property. The staff at the front desk proceeded desk proceeded to argue with me about the amenities saying that “ their pool is the best” and if you go to any other hotel they don’t even compare”. The lady Kim at the front desk continued to bully me about my feeling on the property and told me to basically stay somewhere else. After this entire awful encounter, we packed up and immediately left the premises. I got on the phone with Hilton corporate, and they would not process anything with the booking because the property refused to check us out in the system. I had to put in record with Hilton corporate that we legitimate left the property because I was afraid that they would try to charge my card for our stay or an accidental. In short please save your time, money, sanity and never stay at this property

It’s a very nice place...

Liked: Neat and clean
Disliked: Smelled like bleach

Exceptional

Almost perfect.

Liked: Proximity to everything and very clean. Loved the hot tub and pool too. The bed was very comfortable.
Disliked: Our refrigerator did not work and the bottom sheet would not stay on the bed no matter what we tried due to shallow pockets on a thick mattress.

We enjoyed the stay

Liked: It was pet pet-friendly
Disliked: Big pipe burst, almost could not get into my car

Exceptional

Liked: Hotel was great.. close to event.. great amenities.. lobby bar was fantastic!

Very good

Liked: The location was good, close to everything we needed. We all enjoyed the pool and hot tub.
Disliked: The pillows

excellent time will come again