Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Riverfront

Comfortable bed
No noise observed

I’ve always like the location

If I could give more than five stars, I would! Jess and Leslie completely made our night. From the moment we sat down, they were friendly, welcoming, and genuinely attentive. They somehow managed to keep up with a busy crowd while making everyone feel like they were their top priority.

Their drinks were made perfectly every single time, and their positive energy was contagious. They checked in often without being overbearing, remembered what we liked, and kept the good vibes going all night. You can tell they truly enjoy what they do, and it shows in the way they treat their guests.

We had an absolute blast, and a huge part of that was because of Jess and Leslie. Outstanding customer service like theirs is hard to find. If I were their manager, I'd be doing everything possible to keep them on the team…Including giving them the raise they deserve. They represent exactly what great hospitality should look like, and I'll definitely be coming back because of them!

Location

The staff was very inviting and the breakfast was great

We stayed one night for 4th of July.

Pros: nice location and pretty view of the river. The grounds/ outside is nice. Lots of festivities to go with the holiday. The lobby and on site restaurant is nice (though the restaurant is small). The room itself was fine.

Cons: funny smell in hallways, our check in time was at 3, we arrived at 4 and still waited 45 minutes to get our room. We purposely ordered a Riverviewroom so we could see the 4th of July fireworks. The screen was broken so we couldn't see outside. Maintenence took awhile to come and roll it up (it was not fixed), bathroom had no fan, pool is tiny so maybe one or 2 families can fit comfortably. Also the hilton honors member thing would not work so I could not get the wifi password to work. Sheets smelled funny.

OK, I gave 4/5; would've given 4.5/5 rather than a full 5 but that option isn't available.

The reason being that the exhaust fan in the bathroom wasn't functioning that I could tell: there appeared to be no "remote" exhaust pull working at the ceiling vent (clearly there didn't appear to be an in bathroom actual exhaust fan "in" the ceiling I could see; ADMITTEDLY I didn't complain to the front desk (until I checked out- for next guest) because I was already unpacked for a week stay and I didn't want "work" in my bathroom or to have to pack-up and move. I "learned" that if I put the AC temp down into the 60's after my shower to make it run that doing so would draw-out the dampness & moisture in the room air - - - so, this was my work around after a shower and going down to breakfast. (And the AC died one night, perhaps a storm power outage and never turned back on, but this was fixed next day when I told the front desk.)

All this said, this hotel was GREAT.

I had a riverside room and it was just great to be able to look out at the river from my room every morning/afternoon, from the lobby, from the restaurant at breakfast every day or at dinner. I read a review on here NOT to pay the up-charge for this hotel for its river-view; I was here on points. But I can say without a doubt that the river view from all the public area spaces on the first floor made this hotel present as a serene experience that calmed the soul! I stayed here years ago for a wedding; I'll stay here every time I visit Suffolk.

BTW, being a native NYer born/raised/lived in Manhattan the pizza crust here was the best; the best pizza crust since I moved to FL! ((don't go for pizza in FL!)) The dinner service is simple but adequate and tasty. And, the pizza crust GREAT.

The breakfast buffet one of the best and widest selection I've seen/used in many hotels; AND the hours, the length of breakfast service was GREAT - - - not a skimpy tight time-frame. The buffet selections didn't appear to change at all all week - but the base selections are all good! And for this reason they didn't need to change!
The buffet and the made to order items were ALL very good!!

But, the service person who greets you at table and gets you coffee or tea, NEVER ever EVER returns (on their own) to ask if you want/need more coffee or tea. Oh, you can flag them down when they pass-by, but without flagging them down they seem to present no situational awareness as they pass-by that the coffee cup is empty! In the buffet you can self serve juices but I saw no place where coffee or tea was out on the buffet, so the "server" is needed for refills. These were all young people at breakfast; it is a loss for their education & experience to not have been trained a tad better at what a "server" does, or should do, as a part of table-service ((as opposed to being a "greeter" but you need them to get/serve more coffee & tea!)); just my opinion.

I read this hotel had under gone a general renovation, clearly visible in the lobby, bar & restaurant areas ((but not for the still dirt streaked / stained streaked elevator walls)). <>

I can say my room was nice! BUT an under-cabinet lighting fixture above the small counter with the coffee maker and fridge below would have made this room renovation GREAT; but, sadly, there was no under cabinet lighting fixture. I felt this was a cheap item to skimp on doing in a "full" renovation, but no one asked me. It REALLY would've elevated the room experience several degrees!

Also, I found that only about 1/2 the "device" electric sockets were easy to use (or use-able at all); when I found an outlet that was "tooooo" had to push my plug into I just moved and used another outlet; sometimes even when my plug got into the socket there was no light or other indicator on my Kindle or laptop that it was getting electric current - - - then I also just moved my plug until I found a socket that ""worked"".

I'd suggest that management should have something like Quarterly Room Quality Inspections, actually done & written-up AND signed by the staff:: to ACTUALLY check every electric device outlet, and that EVERY bathroom exhaust fan is actually sucking air out of the bathroom. AND PLEASE clean those elevator inside walls or replace them; a very beautiful lobby experience is ruined when you step into an elevator car that looks like it was used in a Smithfield slaughter-house.

ALL THIS SAID, this hotel is steps and steps above many, many, others I've stayed out. I'd stay here again in a heartbeat. I guess I've nit-picked to try to nudge this hotel to be a 6 out of a 5! I'll also say the staff, everyone I spoke to, is a 5/5!!

Please! Do not let my nit-picking dissuade you from staying at this hotel. As it is, it is years better than many other hotels!

Beautiful location! Clean room and great breakfast for the price. Staff was very friendly

When I arrived a little early, they were able to fit me into a room immediately there was a small mixup on the room as far as having the river view that was immediately taken care of with no problems. The restaurant was magnificent and the staff I could not ask anymore. The one young gentleman that works on the staff was very courteous when I had him bring me up extra towels because I stayed an extra day and when I’m in that area again, I will definitely be staying there. Thank you.