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3.5 Stars - 1 Review and 311 Opinions
This is absolutely the worst hotel ever. I have stayed in many hotels and motel, but i have to say i have never stayed in anything as bad as the Hilton in Monterey. At first glance it looks like a regular Hilton Hotel. Upon a entering the room it is far from it. Im not saying Hiltons hotels are the best but this doesnt even compare to a regular hilton hotel. Here are a list of the problems with this place. They do not turn the air conditioning on at night. you do have a control in the room, but the main ac units are only turned at certain times. So when you turn the control on in the room, it basically just turns a vent on and blows room temperature air around. I stayed in a room with 4 people and although it does not get hot in Monterey, for the money you pay, you should be able to use the AC whenever you want. They should have at least told you this when you book the rooms. When i complained to the maintenance guy he told me he would talk to the manager, then came back in 5 mins with an electric fan. Im glad he tried to help out, but an electric fan?? come on now!!!! I then complained to mgmt and they knocked off $40.00 the room rate. But it was still more expensive then what this hotel shouldve cost. The rooms and the bathroom were dirty and old. During our 2 night stay the toilet got clogged twice after calling housekeeping, they unclogged it, but left the bathroom without cleaning it, with wet towels on the ground, i had to call again for them to come back up. After complaining to mgmt again he offered me free breakfast for all in the room, which was great until we went to get breakfast and the waiters told us those tickets were only 5$ off breakfast and the meals were around $9.00 each. This hotel just had way too many problems. Its in a beautiful area and needs to be kept up to standards which it is not. I DO NOT recommend this hotel to anyone. IF you go out to Monterey which is a beautiful place, do not stay at the Hilton on Aguajito, it will just ruin your stay!!!!
Unique Quality: The only good thing about this hotel, were the people, employees, they were really friendly, but they really couldnt help how bad this place is!!!
We loved the hotel, the staff, its clean, the gym is awesome and well maintained. The pool area very nice with cabanas and a fire pit. Lots of free parking. Fridge and microwave in room nice addition. The decks for the 3rd floor rooms are huge and private overlooking the pool area. Staff very accomodating. Location convenient to Monterey, 17 mile drive, and Carmel by the Sea. New decor is beautiful, very high level Garden Inn.
We chose the Hilton as a mid coast stopover based on tripadvisor reviews and were not disappointed. High quality furnishings, free internet access and a guest laundry were all welcome. A short drive to Cannery Row for dinner then breakfast in Carmel next morning. Highly recommended. Will stay longer next visit.
Stayed for 2 nights in July 2007.
Our first rooms were next to an exterior stairwell; however, our request for alternatives was granted without issue.
Rooms were very spacious & well appointed, with large, well equipped bathrooms and balconies. Small bar off the lobby with an open fire was pleasant to relax in, and the morning coffee and evening cookies (both FOC) was a nice touch.
Restaurant served good dinner & breakfast, and had friendly staff, although the room lacked atmosphere at night.
Convenient location just off the freeway & only 5 minutes drive from Fishermans Wharf & 10 from Cannery Row.
Quiet pool was a nice bonus.
Our only problem was that, upon checking out, it took the receptionist 25 minutes to open the safe deposit box, and she was unwilling to call her boss out of a meeting.
On the whole, a good stay
This Hotel was formerly a Hilton and is now a Hilton Garden Inn. With a very thorough remodel, it still holds up to the Hilton standards in the rooms and public spaces. However, the building itself is more akin to what you would expect a Best Western or Holiday Inn to look like, with strange partially enclosed cement stairwells and a C-shaped layout that surrounds the pool and parking lot. This is presumably why this location was "downgraded" to the HGI brand. Rest assured the lobby, rooms, and staff are still Hilton-quality.
The rooms are well appointed and the beds are very comfortable - most have balconies. There is plenty of free parking, both surface and underground, and free Starbucks drip coffee in the lobby.
Because tourist-related developments (specifically hotels) are severely limited in Monterey, most of your options are going to be older hotels or motor lodges. Of these, the HGI has probably been the most extensively renovated and does not seem dated at all. If you're not springing for one of the few four-stars on the water, the HGI will likely be your best bet.
We stayed one night at this hotel with our two children while traveling up the coast of CA. Overall this hotel is pretty good, but the $199 AAA price seemed high. The room was quiet, clean, and comfortable. The location is about 0.8 miles from the popular beach/wharf areas, and further from cannery row. We didn't mind the walk but many people probably wouldn't want to walk this far, and cross the busy streets.
Clean, comfortable rooms with a decent location. I was very pleased with our stay. One word of caution: NOT ENOUGH PARKING. This may have been an anomaly for the weekend I stayed there, but both Friday and Saturday night it was really difficult to find parking on the property. Otherwise, an excellent stay.
My husband and I stayed at the Hilton in Monterey for 2 nights and I seriously would NOT recommend this place to family or friends. Customer service was the worst. The lady who checked us in barely looked at us, did not smile, and gave us the wrong room than was reserved. When we discovered the error, we hauled our luggage back and they corrected the room. This error was promptly corrected, so not a big deal to us.
However, when I later came down to ask questions about the area, I got 1 question out, the man at the reception desk gave a curt response, and then he proceeded to ignore me and answer telephone calls while I was still standing there!?! No "please hold" or "is that all?"... nothing! There were no other customers needing attention in sight -- just me & him! Our coversation was 5 seconds max. Only when my husband came up did he even acknowledge my existence. We received a government discounted rate, so I'm not sure if that was the cause for all this treatment.
As for the room... the patio door would not lock properly, we could pretty much hear everything surrounding and above our room, and the room was small. Parking was also a problem. However, on the positive side, the room was clean and we liked the comfortable chairs, microwave, and mini fridge. The hotel is also close to fisherman's wharf and cannery row (about 3 miles).
Next time, we will try to stay at a B&B since we found AC isn't crucial (nights and even daytime are chilly). This is the first time I bothered to ever write a review, so our stay at the Hilton was definitely a bad experience. But ours might have been an isolated experience -- read the other reviews, and best wishes on finding suitable lodging!
We arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn, and the gentleman at the
front desk was not extremely helpful or welcoming. We went to
out room and found out it was not what we asked for, so after lugging all of our bags, we had to go back down to the desk, where he was not extremely helpful again, just threw the keys at
us basically. Once we were in the right room, it was very
comfortable except somewhat small, with no closet. The beds
were great, but the person below us had their TV on so loud we
couldn't sleep. I finally called the desk at 2:30am, and to their
credit, they went to the room and had them shut off the TV.
The pool/spa are was very nice. Overall the place is a good
choice for the price and the location. It's very close to everything.
I had confirmed my reservation with this hotel three times. I called on the afternoon of our planned arrival and was told that my room would be held until 1AM, no problem. As it turns out, there was a big problem. This hotel had overbooked and upon my arrival at 10:45, the supervisor was frantically trying to find rooms for two other customers. There weren't any other rooms. My reservation had been made months in advance through Expedia and paid for in full. The supervisor made no attempt to explain the situation, never acknowledged my presence, NOTHING! I had to ask what was going on. Then the genius disappears FOR TWO HOURS!! He leaves behind this poor guy who only started that week. After calling everywhere, we learn that there are no rooms to be had. We now begin readying the conference room to sleep in. Both of my children are in tears at this point, I am furious!! I am told that Expedia did not send my confirmation, this is a lie, I have a hotel confirmation number. I was also told that my 3 confirmations were made through reservations and not the hotel itself so that is why my room is gone. If reservations doesn't handle reservations, then what do they do? By the way, my account was noted in the Hilton system for a 1AM arrival, I insisted that the clerk print it out. At almost 3AM, the incompetent supervisor returns, he found a room, just down the street. How that took him 2 hours is beyond me. He drops us at the hotel and leaves, never offers to pay for the room. Luckily the new place sent the bill to Hilton.
I learned from some of the other hotels on our trip that Hilton is notorious for overbooking, they seem to do it all the time. That alone is reason to never use them again.
What good are reservations if they are not truly reservations? Hilton to date has not acknowledged what they have done and have offered nothing for what they put us through.
Other than the insane four hour ordeal to get a room and the total lack of customer service, the physical hotel itself is nice, new and well done.
I would avoid Hilton at all costs because of their well established policy of overbooking. NEVER AGAIN! There are plenty of other very nice hotels who actually RESERVE ROOMS!
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Address: 1000 Aguajito Road, Monterey, California, 93940, United States
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