Hilton Garden Inn Phoenix / Midtown
The Hilton Garden Inn is situated north of the business district of Phoenix and three to four miles from the Heard Museum and Phoenix Art Museum. I think the airport could be reached in 20 minutes by car from the hotel if one avoids rush hour. It’s surrounded by business building, a few restaurants and parking lots. Definitively not such a nice place to stay as the Doubletree in Scottsdale
where I have stayed the night before.
The hotel has three main building, connected with corridors. The entrance to the hotel is on the left side, near an office building, which can be entered from the lobby if I am right. The wings with the rooms are to the left. There are two building with rooms. One wing is built along the street, but the rooms are facing the courtyard. In an 45° angle to this building is the seven storey tower with the other rooms of the hotels. The whole hotel has the shape of a triangle.
Guests staying in the tower have to pass the pool on their way, but it is separated by a fence from the pool area. This way is not covered, so you might get wet if it rains.
In the court is the swimming pool with a Jacuzzi. The pool is deep for a hotel pool: nearly 3 metres. Therefore perhaps a bit risky for someone, who could not swim very well. Towels are available. There were also some lounge chairs and tables, a bit dirty and in the need to be cleaned.
The hotel has not a gym, but one could use the nearby “Sports Club”; unfortunately the opening hours of the Sports Club are a bit limited on a weekend.
While going to the lobby of the hotel one has to pass the Lounge Bar, the business centre and some of the meeting rooms. In this part of the hotel is no sunlight or natural light. Therefore this is not really a nice place to relax in the evening, especially since there are guests passing. I have seen there a few guests, but I do not know, if this is due to the low number of guests or the atmosphere of this part of the hotel. Near check in is the Pavilion Panty with the usual items like travel needs, sweets, microwave
meals, beverage, etc..
The restaurant “Great American Grill” is open from 06.30 to 21.00 and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. During weekends it’s closed for lunch. The restaurant is spacious and the buffet is placed on some sort of gallery, which could be reached by three steps from the main restaurant.
The interior of the hotel is the same you find in all Hilton Garden Inn hotels in the US.
The hotel shares the parking lot with the nearby office building and you get a ticket to exit the parking lot – it is free for hotel guests.
visited on USA + AUS
stays 21 Aug 06
Arrival Date: 20 August 2006
Departure Date: 21 August 2006
Room type booked: Standard Guest Room (got Cabana Room)
Rate Plan: Net direct rates
Room Number: 205
Room Rate: 49.00 USD (excl. taxes)
Status of Guest Program: Gold
I parked my car in the driveway to check in and bring my luggage to my room.
I was greeted at check-in and since it was a quiet early afternoon everything was done without rush. I got a map of the hotel and the way to my room was explained. I was told due to my Hilton HHonors Status I got an upgrade to a cabanas room.
The cabanas rooms are in the wing along the street. All rooms face the pool, while the corridor to the rooms is facing the street. There are no rooms facing the street,
The rooms are L shaped. If you enter the room you are right in the room, there is no hallway.
The kitchen area with fridge, microwave and board are on the right hand side. There is also the entrance to the bathroom.
The bathroom was of average seize and decorated in the typical Hilton Garden Inn style. The bathroom had a bath with a shower head with massage function. Shower head and curtain were in good condition. The bathroom was of average seize and in good condition. A hairdryer was wall mounted, but as expected of low quality. Towels were provided for two persons this time.
The wardrobe with ironing board and iron could be found near the entrance. The room had a king-size bed with two bedside table on the right side. There was also a lounge chair in the room. Opposite the bed was the working desk with LAN connection and telephone. The other phone was placed on the bedside table. Beside the working desk was the sideboard, where the TV was stored.
The nice perk of the cabanas room is the balcony with two chairs. If it is not that hot, you can sit there and relax a bit while watching the people in the pool.
Unfortunately the room is a bit dark, because the tower on the one side and the office building on the other side darkens the area a bit. As the furniture is also really dark, the whole room appeared dark.
The furniture was in good condition. No stains and no scratches. The bed was comfortable and the number of pillows again more than I need.
The W-LAN signal was strong and like the wired LAN connection free of charge – a bit strange, I was told, there was not W-LAN in the cabanas wing.
Air condition was not below the window in this property. It only worked when necessary and therefore no draught from a/c in this property.
Staff was friendly and helpful. I asked for direction to the Heard Museum and Art Museum as well as the Taliesin West and got really good descriptions and a map. They suggested also some other points of interest on my way. Something I do not really expect at a Hilton Garden Inn.
Breakfast in the morning was the American styled buffet consisting of bagels, muffins, toast, cereals, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs and other dishes like omelette, pancakes and sausages.
Check out was fast, but the check-out agent was not able to get me a folio with the whole amount, incl. the prepaid room rate like in other hotels. Surprisingly he knew it was possible, but he could not get it out of the system. Beside this, everything was fine.
My overall impression of this stay was due to the very low rate very good value for money. The location is not the best, if you are on a leisure trip, but for business in Phoenix this might be a good place to stay. The negative points are the limited access to the gym and the not really nice interior and location of hotel.
