Homewood Suites by Hilton in Wichita Falls, TX

Photo (C) Homewood Suites by Hilton

Comfortable and quiet suites, heated jacuzzi and indoor swimming pool.  The front desk was a little bit disorganized.  When asked about breakfast being served at the hotel, the front desk clerk told us that you can go to any of several restaurants across the parking area for breakfast.  She didn't realize they have a daily breakfast buffet and manager's reception (Monday-Thursday).  Avoid the morning coffee since it tastes like dirt...burned dirt!  We had chicken alfredo penne pasta for dinner one night and breakfast is usually scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon, home fries, french toast, cereal, yogurt, and one of two juices.  This hotel is one of the better ones.  It's decorated in a Texas/Oklahoma motif, except the lobby, which strangely, has a reindeer head over one of the two fireplaces!

UPDATE:  Sadly, I returned here for Thanksgiving on the 24th through the 27th of November, 2011.  A few caveats since they have apparently changed over the years...the smoking room I received literally reeked of smoke.  If you're a non-smoker like myself, don't accept a smoking room.  The breakfast was frightening this time.  The coffee still tasted like dirt, (burned dirt), but the breakfasts were horrible...dry, overcooked eggs, bacon so thin that you could read through it, totally unpalatable home fries, french toast that crunched like eating a brick and cranberry juice (from concentrate) that needed much more dilution.  It was like drinking cranberry syrup.

The staff is normally pretty nice here, but the front desk totally ignored the fact that I was an HHonors member and demanded a freeze (credit approval) of almost an extra $100 on top of the room rate on my debit card.  Even though I informed the clerk it was a debit card and I would prefer if they just charged the room rate or even froze a "small" amount over the room rate, they demanded more.  Sad, since I have been to 5-star hotels like the Hilton Grand Wailea, or the Boca Raton Resort that were more amenable to a lower credit approval amount, but with a caveat that if anything is charged to the room above the room rate, then a higher approval amount would be automatically authorized.

UPDATE:  THE SINGLE MOST DEPLORABLE HOTEL EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFETIME!

Yet another bad experience at this hotel.  I checked into my room on Sunday 12/23/2012.  Monday morning I discovered the bathroom shower had no hot water.  The water temperature measured by a fever thermometer registered 96.7 degrees.  This is not even body temperature and when this was combined with extremely weak water pressure, this was very cold.  I notiified the front desk clerk.  She was busy handling phone calls due to holiday reservations and said it would be fixed immediately.  She wrote down "313-hot water" on a Homewood Suites note pad next to the phone and continued to answer incoming calls.  When I asked if there was another room to switch to, she told me she would check and call me later at my room.  That call never came.

Tuesday morning (Xmas day), I ended up taking yet another cold shower as the city became socked indue to an ice storm.  Temperatures fell to 16 degrees outside.  I opted not to report it again since it was a holiday and that was probably the source of their difficulty in getting it fixed the previous day. 

Wednesday morning, I had to take yet a THIRD DAY of cold showers!  I notified the front desk.  This time a front desk clerk and housekeeper were at the desk and indicated this wasn't satisfactory and that they would have it fixed immediately.  I told them I complained on monday and it had yet to be fixed.  I was planning on staying another day, and asked if they could switch me to another room for the extended reservation.  The clerk told me she would check what was available, but they were planning on moving us to room 405 for Wednesday night.

After speaking with my family, they indicated they didn't like this hotel at all and would rather cancel and move to the nearby Hampton Inn instead.  While checking out of the room, the maintenance man showed up to fix the shower.  Too little, too late.

We went downstairs to check out and I notified the front desk that I would not be extending my stay after all because the existing stay was completely unsatisfactory.  Three days taking cold showers was completely unacceptable.  I would not take the risk that the stay would continue being a disaster and was moving to the Hampton Inn instead.

I asked if there was anything they could do about the 100% satisfaction guarantee because three days without a hot shower is grossly unacceptable.  The front desk indicated the best they would do is cut 33% off the stay (1 day).  I told the clerk the 100% guarantee is really a 33% satisfaction guarantee?  She said that's all they would do.  I told them good riddance.

From Hilton's own website…

http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/portfolio/homewood-suites/

“Homewood Suites has been making guests feel at home for more than 20 years. And since every suite includes bundled services like hot breakfast, dinner, and select drinks Monday-Thursday*, plus high-speed Internet, workout rooms, and business centers - all with a 100% satisfaction guarantee-it's easy to see why.”

Making me feel at home?!!  REALLY?!!
My home has hot running water, but apparently it's OK if Homewood Suites doesn't!

I can honestly say (and I have been a Hilton Diamond Member in the past) that I have NEVER been treated so poorly by any so called, "hospitality" esablishment EVER, in decades of work and pleasure travel!  As far as I'm concerned, 3 days without a shower, when the city is snowed & iced in, at 16 degrees outside, is equivalent to camping in a public park...and without the colorful ambience of a decent camp fire!  Above all, the courtesy to honor the customer's 100% guarantee that Hilton imposes upon ITSELF, when it was invoked for a very good reason, was completely deplorable!

Probably the single most disappointing thing about this hotel is that I have continued to provide my written feedback on these visits to the Hilton chain and yet they have done NOTHING whatsoever to correct any of the issues I have pointed out to them for several years.  This sort of behavior clearly indicates that this hotel has a total disregard for customer satisfaction and comfort.

In total, this recent experience at this hotel has me seeking other alternatives such as the nearby Hilton affiliate, The Hampton Inn, or the Marriott's Courtyard or Fairfield Inn, which are located in the same area.

UPDATE:  3/18/2013 - After sending a letter of complaint to Homewood Suites Corporate Offices on December 28th and not receiving a response in a month, I wrote a second letter to Christopher Nassetta, CEO of Hilton Hotels on January 28th.  On March 18th, 3 months from the initial complaint letter, I have just received a response from Shea Lalani, General Manager of the Homewood Suites in Wichita Falls, who has indicated that they actually tried to resolve the hot water issue on 12/24 by changing out the shower head.  He also offered a free night stay at the same hotel and a gift certificate.  Why would I want to stay at the same hotel again?!  After further discussion, Homewood Suites decided to refund my 3 day stay on 3/19/2013.