Hotel Blackhawk, Autograph Collection

The staff were very nice to us and the hotel is an interesting place to visit; like stepping back in time a bit. The bathroom was clean, which is great. We found the beds, however, to be terribly uncomfortable. At this price point, comfort matters.

Everything was exactly as described. Loved it all

Great service from everyone
@ the hotel

Got it — here is the corrected shortened version with the shuttle wording adjusted and without blaming the driver:

2 out of 5 stars

I stayed at the Hotel Blackhawk, Autograph Collection by Marriott, in the Presidential Suite for five days. The hotel has historic charm and clear historical significance, which was the main highlight of the stay. Unfortunately, the overall experience was very disappointing and did not meet expectations for a Marriott Autograph Collection property or a premium suite.

The room had several maintenance and cleanliness issues, including a broken refrigerator, a broken living room thermostat, dirty windows, moldy caulk and peeling plastic in the shower, rusty vents, burned-out lightbulbs, excessive dust, and worn-out outlets that would not hold plugs securely. The door to the deck also did not lock and was so stuck it had to be pushed open with full body weight.

Housekeeping was inconsistent throughout the stay. On multiple occasions, the room was not properly stocked with basic items such as soap and bottled water. The sofa bed was also not made upon request, and pillows were not provided.

The property showed signs of poor upkeep, including a full ashtray left on my personal balcony, drywall pieces in the hallway, dirt in the pool and hot tub, and a bar bathroom floor that looked like it had not been cleaned properly in a long time. I also had a spider climb up while I was using the toilet.

Service was below average. The hotel was sold out Friday and Saturday, but each bar appeared to have only one bartender, which was not enough for the number of guests. I waited about 15 minutes for a drink and observed a bartender making drinks for staff who had just gotten off work before serving waiting guests.

The stay ended with a concerning shuttle ride to the airport. It was raining, and the shuttle did not have working windshield wipers, which made visibility unsafe. We should have pulled over and waited for the rain to stop, but we continued. This was not the driver’s fault, but it was still a serious vehicle maintenance and safety concern.

While the hotel’s history is impressive, the poor maintenance, cleanliness issues, inconsistent housekeeping, understaffing, and safety concerns made this a disappointing stay.

The Hotel was clean and the staff was friendly and accommodating. A bonus was that the Hotel was connected to the entertainment venue we had booked; didn't need any transportation once we got there.

Hotel is beautiful inside.

So this hotel manager and staff really went out of their way to make our 50th Wedding Anniversary visit special. We had our wedding reception in their famous Gold Room on April 3, 1976, and came back to celebrate with friends and family, all the way from Texas.

I'm one who likes to give good reviews. The only good review I have about Hotel Blackhawk Autograph Collection is that there night auditor Dana was the only person who cared enough to help myself and my husband survive a hotel room with no heat.
We were there on business for 3 days and 4 nights. When we checked in the temperature in our room was 58 degrees. The front desk clerk that night, the front desk clerk the next morning, even the housekeeping staff person gave us the same speech: "turn off the control, wait a few minutes and turn it back on and it should go up. If it does not please let us know and we will seen someone from engineering up right away." Interesting that I would know this speech that was obviously part of there training to say if this problem arise. This says to me that this has happen before. No engineering person ever showed up and by Sunday night as the room temperature went down to 52 degrees and none of the front office staff (except Dana) followed up with us to our detriment. Once Dana found out about what happen she had us change rooms and made sure that the room we changed to had a consistent warm temperature. Marriot properties had strict policies that front desk personal follow up with any problems with guests and unfortunately that didn't happen until our last night. Dana is a treasure and if she wants to move up in this hotel I highly suggest that you promote her.
The pool and hot tub need a major renovation. The pool floor was peeling and had cracks in it. The windows in the pool area looked like they haven't been cleaned in years.
Shout out to your wonderful bartending staff. They were very accommodating to our group.
Despite our bad experience we will be back next year as the hotel is close to the River Center where we worked and we hope that we will have a better experience.

Where it was located.

Location
Staff was nice and professional

We started coming here years ago for anniversary celebrations. I’m not sure if it was after covid or what but it’s definitely gone downhill in the past few years. Our past 2 stays have not been great. Last time we stayed our room was dirty and reeked of smoke and I wasn’t sure we’d return, but we tried it again due to location, bar/bowling on site and jacuzzi rooms. We were in a non River view suite this time which was much smaller& not as nice of a layout, very dark & just not as homey. Originally we were on the floor with the pool with kids running by constantly screaming. We got moved but the worker seemed very put out to stop looking at his cell phone to help us. He was extremely lacking in hospitality, don’t even tell us our room # when we arrived just handed us our keys & was very rude when giving us our new set of keys. There was no one else around, he wasn’t busy or helping anyone else. Younger guy. Blinds were absolutely filthy in the bathroom (harder to see with the sunlight shining behind) and our heat didn’t work. Someone had to come fix it. The bowling alley didn’t have a single soul playing on a Friday night which was odd, a not a very lively vibe. Ceiling when you walk in from parking has so many water stains, I can’t imagine why they don’t fix that. The place needs updated and cleaned badly, in great disrepair, it’s sad they aren’t keeping it up. It’s those things that make or break your stay, a bunch of little things wrong makes it uncomfortable when you just want to come relax.celebrate etc. we’re not fancy people but expect common decency and cleanliness.