I stayed at this property in August '24 for the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival. This was the second year in a row I've attended and stayed at this hotel and the second year I've experienced the same level of service, or lack thereof. It's a complete disappointment.
Upon my arrival, Farid at the front desk was kind. But after settling into my room, I found there was no hand soap or toilet paper in my room. I picked up the landline phone in the room, only to find it completely useless--none of the buttons worked and the phone didn't connect to anywhere in the hotel. I dialed in to the main number of the hotel using my cell phone, only to be put on hold by Farid who, after 15 minutes on hold but, still very kind, told me he would send up the necessary items. In the meantime, I just leaned into the shower to use the bottled body soap in the shower to clean up for dinner. I went and bought a roll of toilet paper before dinner and by after dinner, it was 8 pm. I had travelled that day all the way across the country but wanted to take a shower, so I waited. And waited. Another hour. I went downstairs--no one at the front desk. Having now had a 17-hour day, I decided to just go to bed and try again in the morning.
In the morning, the front desk was mobbed and only one employee, a large, very brusque African-American women, who I remembered from last year being very rude, was at the desk. I wasn't going to start the morning off with her, so I returned to my room and, hoping I'd reach someone else if I called in, I phoned the main line. Seven times. I let it ring at least 25-30 times, seven times, and no one ever answered. So, I took a chance that later, I'd run into a housekeeper in the hallway, which I did. I ran into five of them. None of them understood what I wanted and when I finally found one who I was able to communicate with in (my) broken Spanish, she told me they had no hand soap, but they would supply me with toilet paper when they cleaned my room. I was aware from my previous stay that one had to "request" that the room be cleaned, so I asked if my room was going to be cleaned for certain. Again, no comprende.
During my morning break from classes, I came back to find that they had been in the room, and the toilet paper had been supplied, but now no washcloths and still no hand soap had been supplied. I had made coffee that morning and that hadn't been restocked. The trash in the bedroom hadn't been emptied. This was all made even more annoying because I had purposely paid $16 more per night to "upgrade" my room in hopes of getting a cleaner, more well-maintained room than I had the previous year, and it was turning out to be even worse.
Fast forward to the following day, I was finally able to procure a bar of soap from the rude woman at the front desk who indicated they were having a "vendor problem" with hand soap but "someone" had made a run to the store and bought half a dozen bars, so I "could have one." Seriously? How can you run a hotel, which was clearly packed full of people for, as best I could tell, not one but several major events with six bars of soap? If you knew you were having a supplier problem, wouldn't you have dipped into petty cash and run to Walmart at the very least? This was ridiculous.
My quest for towels continued throughout the stay and was never really resolved, despite daily requests to the obviously over-worked housekeeping staff, one older blonde woman who appeared to just bark orders at housekeeping staff, and, of course, the mostly scary front desk.
I am, and have been for years, a Hilton Honors member and I paid upwards of $170 per night for this stay. Which, based on what appears on the website today, appears to be almost double the rate on an average day ($93). So, for almost double, I got: to deal with my own trash, no hand-soap, no toilet paper the first day, usually no clean towels, one morning of coffee, no guaranteed daily housekeeping service, one friendly front desk person and one rude one, not to mention, micro-sized bed pillows, filthy windows, and horrible on-site food.
Listen, I get it. Running a property like this, pleasing everyone 100% of the time, managing multiple, multi-day events is complicated and difficult. But there are some basics that you absolutely have to get right. Every time. I want to stay at this property because it's convenient to be at the same property as the festival and classes, but if this is going to be the norm, I'd rather travel a few minutes each day down the road from the Hampton Inn or the Holiday Inn for a few dollars more or less. But I just can't buy that you can't even get these few small things right. read more