Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Garden Inn is my favorite hotel brand, by far. I appreciate HGI’s reliable accommodations, full and free/cheap breakfast (thanks to this benefit), generally consistent service, wide footprint, and not a hint of stuffiness, among other features. Yet I recently noticed I hadn’t stayed in an HGI in more than a year. I resolved that during a two-day trip to Busch Gardens with my littler one, where we opted for a one-night, 27k point award stay at the recently-renovated Williamsburg location. Here’s what I noticed as I caught up with my old HGI friend.
Unexpected Magic
For our quick one-night stay, I didn’t bother asking about Diamond upgrade availability. Plus, I ended up dealing with another surprise at check-in (more on that later) and didn’t feel like bringing that up, anyway. But, upon entering our room, we noticed we’d been automatically upgraded to a one bedroom suite. I can’t remember the last time we received an upgrade without asking. More recently, we’ve received the opposite, such as when the Waldorf Astoria Washington, DC confirmed an advance, automatic upgrade but did not deliver it.
Even better, our suite had been recently redone, similar to other rooms and common spaces at the property. Let’s take a closer at the space.
A Renovated Room
Taking a page from Hampton Inn’s book (and pretty much every other chain’s, it seems), our Hilton Garden Inn room was much lighter than I’m accustomed to. Out with the dark wood tones, and in with the white and softer colors. I’m not a huge fan of everything seeming white, as if I’m in a jarring scene from the Matrix. Granted, gray accents and small splashes of color dotted the room, ensuring I wasn’t fully disoriented. One thing’s for sure, the new palette shouted “new.” Time will tell how well this motif ages.
The living area felt much bigger, perhaps due to the smaller furniture. The sofa is comfy enough and still offers the all-important pull-out bed, but the complementing chair is oddly small and uncomfortable compared to its predecessor. The sofa faces a long ledge, offering desk space, a serviceable chair, and living room TV. Speaking of TV’s, the two felt a bit small (49″) for the size of this spacious suite; I imagine they’re perfect for the basic rooms.
Meanwhile, Hilton’s opted for a simpler, sleeker bedroom with this refresh, and I’m an overall fan of the change. I loved the bed quality and storage space within the cabinet below the television. The new layout still offers a fridge, microwave and now, an exposed closet.
Randomly, my favorite upgrade may be the bathroom. Besides, I generally like it white in there. There’s plenty of vanity space adjacent to the sink, but also below and above. I enjoyed the contrast of the white against the grayish-blue (or bluish-gray) accent wall.
HGI Breakfast Is Back
I’ve historically enjoyed the full breakfast at HGI, but two more recent breakfast experiences there had been on the underwhelming side. Those stays were during the height of the pandemic, and I’m happy to say our experience at the Williamsburg property was excellent. Our perky waitress was happy to serve, and made-to-order eggs and omelets turned out great. Thankfully, HGI breakfast still offers jalapenos, and the cook hooked me up big-time. My smallest one dabbled across the buffet but enjoyed grits the most. This location’s breakfast is priced at $14 for adults and $7 for children under 12.
A Few Wrinkles
We experienced a few small surprises during our stay. At check-in, the front desk agent said, “the elite food and beverage credit is for adults only.” This is the first time I’ve been faced with this in the era of the Hilton elite daily F&B credit. I brought up the Hilton page politely noted it’s up to two guests; there’s no delineation between adults and children. The agent called management, who resolved the matter. Whether this was an oversight or intentional, I wonder how often this erroneous interpretation has worked in the property’s favor. Long story short, the $20 credit correctly applied to my room folio the morning of checkout.
The recent room renovations are a net-positive, but I noticed a few cut corners. The fridge was off and warm. Only after unplugging and adjusting the knob did it kick on. The toilet seat was loose (one of my biggest hotel room pet peeves), and so was the toilet paper holder. The reading light to the left of the bed didn’t work, but all other light fixtures did.
Hilton Garden Inn – Conclusion
I’m happy to be back in the saddle with Hilton Garden Inn, especially with this overall-positive experience in Williamsburg. The few oversights are easily correctable, and we plan to return to this and other HGI’s. Perhaps most importantly, HGI breakfast is back up to what’s been historically familiar. Again, this is only one stay, so I won’t get ahead of myself. But I’ll take this small win and continue looking for more.
Have you stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn recently? How was your overall experience?
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Wow. I just completed a 1 1/2 week driving vacation staying at different brands of hotels and experienced some of the same shortfalls you experienced no matter what the brand was. Loose toilet seats, non working lights were the norm with all brands. The biggest surprise was how many properties had fridges that didn’t work because they were unplugged. With the exception of 2 properties, the fridges were unplugged when we arrived leaving me to think this was an attempt to save money. It was no big thing but in most cases had to pull out the fridge in order to plug it in.
I did stay in a HGI in Groton CT. Looking at it, I would say it was built around 2010, so not new. However, the property delivered on service but was guilty of the fridge and toilet seat infraction, but all the lights worked. It was also well maintained but there were areas in the room and out which were showing their age. I received my Diamond food and beverage option and chose the breakfast for my wife and I. It was also priced at $14.00 so my out of pocket cost after tipping was $14.00. The room cost me 45,000 points which I thought was overpriced based on the price of the room (there is no logic to Hilton award pricing) but decided to use them because I’m swimming in points.
I used to stay almost exclusively with Hilton but have moved away because of the ways they have devalued the program over the past 5-7 years especially points needed for simple stays, not extravagant properties. My preferences these days are Choice and IHG. They seem to be delivering better and points needed for redemption are more affordable which for me is great since I’m starting to use them during my retirement in order to travel as close to zero as possible.
I’ve tried giving IHG a fair shake in the points & miles world over the years. Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites are among my favorite brands. The problem I’ve repeatedly run into is that they too often have blackout dates for points that typically correspond with the dates my family and I want to travel. I don’t generally have that issue with Hilton…in my experience, they seem to have much better points redemption availability.
Thanks as always, Bill, for your specific DP’s and perspectives!
Stayed the night at a HGI near the Panama City, FL airport a few weeks ago. We just needed a place for the night at the beginning of our beach vacation, but it was very nice. Very clean, and although the room at this relatively new location was a bit on the small side for 4 people, the bathroom was good sized and there was plenty of closet space. We didn’t try the breakfast (arrived late and slept in). We’ll definitely be back!
Good to know about that property, Kevin! Thanks for reading.
Forgot to mention, the fridge in our room was plugged in and operational…apparently from what I’m reading, this isn’t a given these days.