Hilton Garden Inn Wilmington Mayfaire Town Center

5 Star Service

I stayed at this hotel for most of 4 months in 2009. I was on a first name basis with most of the staff and they were very accommodating to my group. The hotel has approx 119 rooms, 4 floors, is tastefully decorated by the folks from the Pottery Barn store in the shopping area behind the hotel. The business center has 2 computers and could use a couple more as they are usually both being used on weekends. The pool is small, but with the ocean only 2.9 miles away, it doesn't get used much. For those staying for work, the bar patio and picnic table are a god send. The restaurant has a very, very good Chicken Alfredo which I still crave at least once a week. The hot breakfast buffet is Ok, but could use some work, the potatoes are always very overcooked.
Being a coastal town, the first floor is prone to getting tree frogs and grasshoppers sneaking in the side doors so get a 2nd floor or higher room if that bothers you. There are some smoking rooms but they have absolutely no ventilation and stink terribly. The plus side is the air conditioners work really well. The bathrooms do not have fans, odd for a modern building. The elevator is slow, but all the elevators I have taken in NC are slow.
The beds are fantastic in the King Rooms. They are adjustable like a sleep number, but with a dial on the side of the mattress, near the head board. The linens are smooth and crisp, the comforter is fluffy and warm, and the mix of pillow is 2 feather, 2 heavy polyfil. The clock radio has a very short mp3 jack. I didn't try using the mp3 alarm option as most days I had to work. Nice black out curtains. The CRT TV's in non-suite rooms have a tendency to go wonky and only display half a screen. You have to pull the dresser/tv stand out from the wall, unplug for 30 seconds, and plug it back in to reset. The wi-fi is a bit slow, but AVN worked well.

Unique Quality: The hotel has two bikes for rent but you can rent better bikes for the same price at the bike shop next to Harris Teeter (less than half a block away!) If you forgot your beach towel, don't worry, borrow one from the box by the pool, enjoy the beach, return to the pool to shower off all that sand, put towel in the dirty towel box. Green options available for bath products, but I don't think the cleaning staff sorted recycling from trash, but I wasn't always there to watch.