The Hilton line of hotels are new to us. For our hotel needs, we have primarily used IHG properties, Hyatt or on occasion a Best Western. We recently signed up for the Hilton Surpass card so we thought we would start checking out Hilton hotels.
Our first opportunity to book with Hilton came on our recent trip to Texas. We would be staying over 1 night in Dallas and wanted a hotel near Love Field to streamline our departure. I was originally looking at the Crowne Plaza Market Center which boasts all newly renovated rooms, complimentary breakfast, and free parking all for a decent rate.
When I searched Hilton properties, they listed an Embassy Suites also located in the Market Center area which is about 4 miles from the airport. The room rate was similar to the Crowne Plaza, and it included both free parking and a made to order breakfast. Booking this hotel would earn us 12x points on the Hilton card plus apply to our current spend requirement to earn 130,000 bonus points. Since I have been a bit vexed with IHG recently, we decided to go with the Embassy Suites.
Hotel Review
This is a large hotel with a vast lobby area that spills over into the bar and also becomes the breakfast room. There are about 8 stories with 2 sets of glass front elevators to take you from the lobby to your room. We had a large two room suite with a King sized bed on the 7th floor. It had a separate bedroom (with a door), a dining area, a living room and a bathroom with doors to both the main area and the bedroom.
When we arrived Mark checked us in at the front desk. They gave him a gift bag with 2 bottles of water and a package of Famous Amos cookies it it. Upon arriving to our room, I decided to put the room temperature water bottles into the mini mini fridge along with another food item we had brought with us. I opened the fridge to find it almost hot inside. Ugh. After settling in a bit, I got on the room phone and tried to call Guest Services. On my first attempt, I let it ring 25 times and no one answered. I waited a few minutes then tried again and still no answer. Finally I tried calling in from my cell phone and was able to get through to Guest Services. They said they would send someone up right away. Surprisingly, they really did! A nice gentleman came in and checked it out before determining that the compressor was toast. He assured me he would be back shortly with a replacement. I was impressed, because he was back within about 10 minutes with another fridge and swapped them out. We probably could have gotten by without the fridge, but then someone else after us would have just had the same problem. I give them 1 star out of 5 possible for Guest Services answering the phone and 5 stars for Maintenance getting the issue resolved and resolved quickly.
The hotel lists that they have an evening reception in the lobby that includes complimentary cocktails, drinks and snacks from 5:30 to 7pm. We were not able to take advantage of this offer as we had dinner plans with friends in Frisco. We did have a beer at the Atrio Restaurant and Bar upon our return that evening though. The staff was nice and they had a fair selection of beer on tap at a reasonable enough price. Our 2 beers came to $11.99. So about $6 each. I give the bar area 4 stars.
After that we changed into our swim suits with the intention of taking a dip in the hot tub. The pool/hot tub area was on the main level and adjacent to the gym. The pool looked interesting and their was cool blue mood lighting in the room. We were the only people in there (around 9:30pm) except the 3 guys pumping iron next to us in the gym. We found the pool area very much in need of improvements. The hot tub was not very deep, didn’t have any effective jets and sat next to a wall covered in mildew and a door with rotting wood trim. Not to mention it featured us as the main attraction to the gym crowd. A bit awkward so we didn’t stay as long as we intended. I give this area 2 stars for lack of upkeep and appeal.
We headed back to the room and planned to grab a shower before bed. It was supplied with Neutrgena bath amenities. The bathroom was tight. There was no tub just a shower with a sliding door and a small vanity and sink. I thought nothing about the shower door being open when we arrived, but I soon found out why. When you got into the shower and shut the door, it just rolled back open. Apparently it was out of level so it just wanted to keep rolling down hill. Mark tried to wedge the doors with a tiny shampoo bottle to keep them closed, but they just kept opening and water would spray all over the floor. Frustrated, I kept my shower short and sweet. I give the room 4 stars on layout and 2 stars on function.
I must say that I found this hotel to be very outdated overall. It could definitely use some modernization. The carpet and furniture in the room looked very late 70’s early 80’s both in color and in style. The dining chairs were even upholstered in an avocado green shade. They tried to make up for not having a desk by putting an office chair on one side of the dining room table and 2 dining chairs on the other side. There was a mini microwave, a weird coffee maker and a bar sink on the kitchenette wall behind the table. We did not use any of them. I give the room 2 stars on decor.
The bed was fine but the pillows were meh. It had been 95 that day so we had the air running, but the a/c vent was in the main room. If you slept with the door closed to the bedroom, you didn’t get much air circulation. Lol, I get a little warm at night, so air flow is important to me for sleep quality so we left the door open. The room had plenty of drawer space and a free standing closet. It also had a second sink with counter and mirror which was nice when we were both getting ready the next day. I will give the bedroom 3.5 stars for functionality and 3 stars for comfort.
In the morning we were ready for our made to order breakfast. It was still really just grab and go counters full of baked goods, cereals, and a few breakfast items. I was anxious for a bowl of oatmeal but it was about as runny as water. Mark had a made to order omelette and like it a lot. I tried the scrambled eggs and potatoes from their ready made foods and they were ok. I was a bit underwhelmed here too. I give the breakfast 3 stars.
No photos of Breakfast or the Bar as there were a lot of people there and it would have been weird trying to snap pix!
FYI: sorry about the lighting for these pictures but that was the quality of the lighting in the rooms!
Final Thoughts
Check out was quick and simple since I had prepaid for the room. I did report the shower door issue as I checked out in hopes they would correct it before someone else stays in that room. Would I stay here again if in the area? Probably not.
If I average the star ratings I assigned for each section, it would mean an overall score of 2.95 stars. It worked for us for our 1 night layover in Dallas but just wasn’t anything to write home about. They have some great spaces, but need to invest in updating them to provide modern comfort and appeal for guests.
The World According to Dev 