Great Hotel W/O: Hilton Garden Inn - Boca Raton: The Exceptionally Exceptional Accepted Hotel
Written: Aug 28 '03 (Updated Aug 30 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: great rooms, free upgrade, very friendly staff, huge and welcoming lobby
Cons: overpriced gift shop, small pool
The Bottom Line: I'm not quite sure how to say this, but...this hotel is one of the best I've been too!
|
|
|
| jetbluefan1's Full Review: Hilton Garden Inn - Boca Raton |
We recently went to Florida visiting Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood and Naples. My employer sent me down to Florida to give a presentation, and she let me bring my wife along. We extended our trip from the original three days in Boca to a week and five days in Southern Florida.
We had originally been booked for the Residence Inn across the street from Hilton Garden Inn, Boca Raton, but my boss told me that the Hilton Garden Inn was of higher quality and was much nicer.
Hotel
Hilton Garden Inn, Boca Raton is located about ten minutes from Town Centre - a large mall in a residential part of the city. There was also a nearby Wendy’s, Taco Bell and Burger King. The hotel is located 22 miles for Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, and 44 miles from Miami International Airport.
Hilton Garden Inn, Boca Raton is a 4-story hotel with about 40 guest rooms per level except the first level which has just a bit less. Its air conditioned indoor hallways play classical music while the clean elevators play annoying elevator music. There are two elevators in the center of the hotel which are large enough for about six people to fit comfortably.
The hotel has a small parking lot in the front with free parking. Between rows of lots were small gardens with beautiful flowers, green grass, and not a weed to spot. In front of the hotel is a drop-off zone covered by a canopy. The canopy came handy for my wife who made me drop her off there while I had to park the car and get soaked. Each level also has an ice dispenser and soda vending machine.
The Hilton Garden Inn, Boca Raton has a pool, fitness center, two conference centers and a business room. We didn’t use the pool, but we did see that it was tiny. We didn’t even see the conference centers, and the business room had only one computer and few brochures. The fitness center features two treadmills, a stair master, and a bicycle. There were also two tv’s, towels and a bathroom inside. Thankfully, it was air conditioned.
Check-In
Check-in was at 3:00. When we got into the hotel and to the check-in counter, we were welcomed with smiles and open arms (well, not open arms). Check-in was done quickly, and there were a batch of fresh cookies sitting in a tray on the check-in counter. We were given an upgrade for a $300/night suite without additional charge towards my employer. Hey! Who doesn’t want extra room? Our original room was $175/night.
The lobby was beautiful and gave us a great first impression. It had a high ceiling with many windows, a lot of wooden furnishing, many couches and chairs. On one side of the lobby were many chairs and tables for the restaurant. There was also a small “bare necessity” shop with combs, toothbrushes, ice cream, chocolate, drinks, nail clips, and other little things. They were just a tiny bit overpriced. Right outside the lobby in the elevator hallway were three pay phones.
Room
The room was very large and very, very clean. The two beds had clean linens, there was no dust on the tv or any of the furniture, and I could see the vacuum marks on the carpet. The bathroom was spotless and everything seemed to fresh and neat. Each room has a cable internet line to use for free, and if you don’t have a laptop, you can order the internet over the tv for $10. A keyboard was provided in the room.
There was a sitting room when just entering the room. The other rooms that don’t feature the “suite” title don’t have this sitting room. It had a fold-out couch, cable tv on top of several drawers, two tables, a desk, and two chairs. One was a very comfortable chair with an unattached leg rest, and the other one was for the desk. The desk also had a pad of paper, pen and a lamp.
Between the sitting room and the bedroom was an armoire with a microwave, mini-fridge, several cabinets and coffee. There were also some plastic cups, four glass cups, an ice box and a coffee maker. Since there wasn’t a sink on the counter, we had to use the sink in the bathroom.
The main room was the one with the beds. There were two queen-sized beds, another tv, a night table with a lamp and drawer, and a huge window to look out onto the parking lot. There was also a/c and heat which worked just fine. Since this was the only air condition vent in the room, it took a little while to cool off the room since it was so large.
The bathroom was very large. It had a marble counter top with a large sink. On the counter top were two soap bars and a shower cap. There were also many fresh towels and washcloths. There was also a hair-dryer connected to the wall with a green night light on it. The shower had perfect water pressure, and it was very easy to control the temperature of it.
Dining
We had six passes to a free breakfast. We used the passes every morning for breakfast. Breakfast is served from 6:00am to 10:00am, but they didn’t start taking away food until 11:00am. The breakfast was served in the lobby. We were seated by the hostess who would occasionally ask if everything was good. We didn’t see a need to tip her, however, since we got our own food at the buffet-style counter.
There were assorted fruits, muffins, cereal, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and yogurt. There was also a chef who offered to make us omelets for free. I had a cheese omelet while my wife ordered a cheese, ham and tomato omelet. The omelet was well cooked and tasty. The bacon was all fat with hardly any meat.
We did have a company dinner on the last night we were there. There were hors d’oeuvres in a buffet style also. There was were eggrolls and pasta salad. The eggrolls weren’t too good and the pasta salad had onions which I don’t like in pasta. Instead, I ordered chicken wings, chicken quesadillas and nachos (with cheese and beans melted on top) for my co-workers who enjoyed the appetizers immensely. Each appetizer was about $6-$7.
Conclusion
In my opinion, Hilton Garden Inn - Boca Raton is an excellent hotel. I usually don’t give hotels or resorts a 5-star rating, but this hotel deserved it. I was given a free upgrade into a huge, clean and awesome room. The lobby was a great first impression and the staff was excellent. The Hilton Garden Inn - Boca Raton is also located near many attractions. If you are in the area, I would definitely recommend this hotel.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.