Hilton Garden Inn Winston-Salem Hanes Mall

“Overall a good stay but everybody should take a training refresher class.”

Checked into the Hilton Garden Inn Winston-Salem near Hanes Mall & was greeted by a friendly front desk team. I always check in digitally but prefer a physical key, & they had it ready. There was no acknowledgment of my Hilton Gold status. What stood out more was that nothing was mentioned about ho… more

Checked into the Hilton Garden Inn Winston-Salem near Hanes Mall & was greeted by a friendly front desk team. I always check in digitally but prefer a physical key, & they had it ready. There was no acknowledgment of my Hilton Gold status. What stood out more was that nothing was mentioned about hotel amenities—no info about breakfast or dinner, no mention of the bar, & not even a quick note on which direction the elevators were. Still, it's a basic courtesy. The property looks pretty good overall. The hallways were clean & had some character. The room has a little foyer area with an ironing board, iron, shelving, drawers, & a luggage rack. The bathroom is to the right—clean, with a hair dryer, bar soap, extra toilet paper, decent-sized towels, & towel racks on both the door & wall. There’s even a night light built into the bathroom outlet that you can toggle. Across from the bathroom is a coffee/microwave/fridge station. The Keurig coffee maker came with two Maxwell House house blend pods, one decaf (not Maxwell House), & one generic tea pod. There were also sugar packs, some fake creamer, & a plastic stir stick. The coffee maker wasn’t filthy, but it had visible coffee residue in the brew chamber & around the needle area. The tray it sat on had a little debris, & the microwave had stuck-on food on the tray & interior walls—not clean. Room lighting is good, with various overhead & lamp sources, including USB ports at the desk & between the beds. The built-in TV shelving was useful, & I liked the little table & soft chair in the corner. Unfortunately, cleanliness fell short in high places. Thick dust had built up on the top edges of picture frames over the bed & desk, on the bathroom picture, & above the closet area. You could rake it into piles—clearly untouched for many months. The most concerning issue was the bathroom ceiling. Overnight, something degraded or broke loose above the tub—a large circular stain or repair area started shedding debris into the tub. I reported it to the front desk, who were apologetic & professional. Since I was checking out the next day, I declined maintenance but asked them to flag the room before re-renting it. Another small maintenance note—the bottom edge of the bathroom door shows clear signs of moisture damage. They might consider installing one of those protective slide-on door bottoms to prolong the door’s life & appearance. Despite these issues, the overall room cleanliness was decent. The bathroom corners were clean, floors swept & mopped—the room gets regular maintenance. The dust above the 5½-foot level is the biggest oversight. There is a bar & restaurant area downstairs, but I didn’t try anything. I believe there’s a dinner setup of some kind, but it’s unclear—no one told me, & the hotel website is unhelpful. It doesn’t mention food offerings or amenities accurately, & the Wi-Fi splash page should really be updated to reflect what's available. There wasn’t even any information in the room about food or bar offerings—just a vague “buffet” sign downstairs with a price. Guests should be informed at check-in about breakfast, dinner, & other amenities, especially when they’re not listed online or easily found in the room. At checkout, the front desk was once again super friendly & professional. As it happened, the maintenance man was standing nearby, so I brought it up again. There was no record of it—he’d checked the log & found nothing, & the front desk agent couldn’t find anything either. I explained that the night before, I had reported it to the young man at the desk, who wrote it down—but apparently the ball got dropped somewhere. On the plus side, they do offer complimentary coffee in the lobby, which is nice. Their snack & beverage area is well-stocked, with healthier options. They also have a full bar & a food area, but I still have no idea what food they actually serve. It seems like they’re not really promoting their food offerings at all.

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“Disappointing for a Hilton”

Most of the staff are friendly, but some were quite terse and unhelpful. Recently remodeled so the place is in decent shape. Lots of nice outlets and USB ports! However unlike many chain hotels in the same price range, there is no free coffee - and there is never free hot water. Yes there are in … more

Most of the staff are friendly, but some were quite terse and unhelpful. Recently remodeled so the place is in decent shape. Lots of nice outlets and USB ports! However unlike many chain hotels in the same price range, there is no free coffee - and there is never free hot water. Yes there are in room Keurig but still that’s suboptimal if you want tea or another hot water item. There is a resturant in the lobby - but we never saw a menu or anyone eating food. None-the-less, 2/3 of the lobby is devoted to this mysterious food from 5-9pm, so don’t you dare sit at one of the tables! Note that Hanes Mall area - there are so, so many restaurants in the area - you hardly need one in the hotel here. The pool and hot tub are permanently closed. Sheets on the bed were obviously cleaned but worn out, ugh. There is only a trickle of water. Hopefully you won’t a good shower. The shower is also fairly narrow so you will bump your elbows, the doors are hard to slide open/closed, and they leak. There is a very long door in front of hte mini-fridge, makes it hard to get to. So I can see why this was one of the few hotels that still had a rooms on a weakened when every other hotel seemed ot be booked or $350/night. Note that this is a popular hotel on the weekend for youth sports teams.

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