Homewood Suites by Hilton Columbia/Laurel

The bedding and TV’s were good.

Everything is ok

We appreciate being offered and moved to a new room when there were problems with the first room. Staff was friendly and helpful.

We are local to this particular hotel property and stayed here for 1 night due to an ongoing electrical issue at home. I have stayed at a Homewood Suites before during a recent trip out of town. This 114-room property is an older one, but seemed to be maintained with exception to some minor issues.

This property is located right off Route 29, about 5 miles south of ‘downtown’ Columbia and its mall.

Upon arriving at this property, I noticed that the lobby was was dimly lit and it felt warm and humid inside. Since we were just arriving from another hotel in the general vicinity (it was sold out) that had a similar sized lobby/breakfast bar space, I can just assume this Homewood Suite’s HVAC system not being able to keep up with cooling and reducing humidity. The outside temperature when we arrived was lower than when we were at another hotel the day before that was located less than five miles away, so the conditions inside cannot be simply chalked up to the outside weather.

The room was a little warm when we entered, but fortunately we were able to adjust the thermostat to a comfortable setting. Room functions that we needed as expected (no burnt out lights, ceiling fans worked, toilet, sink and shower worked fine). Guests have to place one key card into a holder by the door in order for there to be power in the room. There were many wall switches for lights, some of which were in curious locations: the light switch for the room the shower and toilet were in was outside that room.

The furnishings are a little frayed, chairs at the work table in the suite don’t sit as high as they should to the table and the cushions on those chairs seemed to have lost its cushioned padding. In addition, the power outlets that sit on the table (they also have USB ports) were not live, which I found out after plugging in my laptop and phone. I thought I was charging my devices bit was only draining whatever was left the battery. The plug outlets on the wall above the table WERE live, so I was able to switch to those after a half hour to charge up my laptop while I worked. In addition, the battery in the clock in the sleeping room was dead so the clock displayed the wrong time, which could be unfortunate to anyone who doesn’t wear a watch and happens to have a dead (or missing) phone.

The room was clean and quiet; even though the hotel was sold out, and we did not hear any voices or conversations through the walls, only the occasional bumps and thumps as guests shut doors.

We noticed in the second floor corridor that there was a ceiling leak near our door: a ceiling panel was moved, exposing overhead pipes and wires in an attempt to catch water into a wastebasket placed on the floor of the hallway. I don’t know whether there was a leak in the waste can or a staff person was careless in emptying the can, but the carpeting along the entrance of our door was saturated. This can create a mold and mildew problem (not to mention an eventual public health hazard to future guests) if the carpet is not adequately dried out.

The free hot breakfast (served from 6:30 to 9:30 on weekdays, 7 to 10 on weekends) had adequate selections: hash browns, sausage, eggs, make-your-own waffles, yogurt, oatmeal, cold cereal, one type of cut up fresh fruit, bagels and bread for toasting, orange juice (no other juice type was available). There were also urns of regular, decaf coffee and hot water, however the regular coffee ran out while we were there around 7:00 and I did not see any staff around to replace the emptied urn. There did not seem to be any staff to monitor and refresh the supply of food set out during the time we were there, which was unfortunate, since almost all the diners in the dining area around 7am were business travelers who needed to refuel quickly and leave early.

In short, while the lodging and hotel amenities were adequate for our one night’s stay, things were kind of worn out, needing repair and/or renovation at this property.

Being pet friendly and the suite was roomy

Clean, and good breakfast

Nothing

Staff was pleasant and rooms were very clean!!

Kitchenette and gym were very convenient

Good location with adequate parking.

Clean Rooms and only the Rooms, Easy Check-in. Housekeeping is outstanding.