kevinkorell
Solo Travel · October 20256/10
As a Hilton Honors Diamond member, I enjoy staying at different properties across the Hilton portfolio when I visit a particular city. For this particular evening I chose this Homewood Suites becau...As a Hilton Honors Diamond member, I enjoy staying at different properties across the Hilton portfolio when I visit a particular city. For this particular evening I chose this Homewood Suites because I had checked ahead of time to find it had washer/dryer facilities which I really needed at that point of my trip. Also it was located on a streetcar line with direct one seat travel to & from the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal, where I arrived and left by Amtrak trains.
As I always do, the day before arrival I checked in via the Hilton app and chose my room -- intentionally choosing a room on the 2nd floor near the laundry room. Upon arrival I went to the front desk to inquire about using the machines. I was told that rather than inserting coins, there was a card system set up to activate the machines; they added enough value for one use of the washer and one use of the dryer.
The hotel is a bit misleading as it's very long, almost to the next block for the rooms at the rear, which mine was. It looked a bit dingy, as in the replacement of carpets and furniture was overdue. My room was OK, but it had a slight musty smell which indicates to me it wasn't cleaned or disinfected properly.
The big problem was the laundry facilities. When I arrived several other people were in there and I was told that the machines were unreliable, that they were calling down to the front desk for help with the machines talking their money and then not working or not sufficiently washing or drying their clothes.
When my turn came for an open and presumably working machine, I loaded my clothes and my soap, and the machine did not start even though the timer started ticking down. I moved to another machine and tried again, but to no avail. Now, the value on my card for 2 loads had already been exhausted, and I had nothing but soapy clothes sitting in a machine not working. I put in my call to the front desk, and an engineer was sent. He told me the machines should work, but that I had no value left on my card. Now I had to walk the long hallway to the elevator and visit the front desk, where some value was re-added to my card.
I finally got the wash done, and then it was dryer time. The dryer ran for an hour, at which time my clothes were found to still be damp. Mind you I had already invested a few hours in this laundry project in waiting for machines and the unplanned hike to the desk, and I was not spending time in my room enjoying relaxing and watching TV as planned. Now the value was again exhausted on my card, and so was I. I took the damp clothes and laid them out in my room to air dry as much as possible. They did fully dry by the time I would need to wear them on another segment of my trip.
So the hotel should take this as a clue that they need to fix a serious problem. If you're going to tell prospective customers that you have the facilities, the assumption would be that they actually work and are easy to operate. What should have been a simple process, during which time I could enjoy watching TV and relaxing between cycles, ended up being a nightmare. FIX YOUR MACHINES! And while we are at it, make this part of a much larger rehab of your entire worn facilities which show their age.
Bathroom as ample size for my toiletries, and no issues with hot water. TV and WiFi worked OK, but climate control was bit tricky to set comfortably.
Overall, I would not return to this particular property given these experiences. Not living up to my expectations to a clean and good smelling room and the inconvenience of the laundry machines really soured me.Show More
