mphall

I had no idea that Embassy Suites was part of Hilton Chain. It has never been my choice after staying in one 20 years ago. When the conference board in Baltimore couldn't seem to come up with more rooms, I looked for other Hiltons. Embassy Suites Baltimore was my only choice. From booking to online to online check-in and several calls in between, it's really been a very poor experience. I called the hotel to find out the conference rates and they had no idea what I was talking about. It took a few days to get it settled. I tried to see if the shuttle was going to conference center and neither the front desk or sale dept had a clue and were not interested in helping me. Conference board wasn't helpful either. When I tried to check in online, the screen didn't say that it was an early check in request or upper room away from elevators. What??? This has never happened. I called and after loud classical music and an eternity online, they grudgingly said maybe early check in. Maybe. Some rooms have opened up at another hotel so maybe the one night stay will work out. But the Trip advisor reviews for this hotel are 49 people with really lousy experience and that was this week. Why would Hilton keep such a marginal property?

Hippster

I'm very confused. What conference? Was this Embassy listed as an official conference hotel? If not then I can see why they would not have any idea what you were talking about when trying to get a special rate or shuttle service. Did you have a special group rate code that you used? Embassy has been part of Hilton since 1999.

Online check in gives the earliest time as the check in time for the hotel, for what you can specify as when you will arrive. Early arrival is always based on availability and the system cannot know many variables, which is why calling is best for that. It will not let you check in for early arrival online. Requests such as high floor/away from elevator are also based on availability and are not guaranteed. Online check in will show you a map of rooms available and you can pick one, unless there are no other rooms available due to occupancy and there is only one available that is assigned to you. This is true of all Hilton hotels and how they behave online, nothing is different for Embassy hotels.

writerguyfl

If you're referring to the Embassy Suites - Inner Harbor, there are also plenty of positive reviews on Trip Advisor. Of the 1,096 reviews in English, there are 528 "Excellent" ratings and 293 "Very Good" ratings. That makes the average rating 4.06 out of 5. I'm not sure I'd call that marginal.

It seems as though a lot of your frustration is related to issues with your conference. Unless the hotel has a block of rooms for your conference, I think you're expecting too much with regard to your shuttle questions. If the people running your conference couldn't answer your questions, why would you expect the hotel to know?

jerry a. laska

Apparently you waited to book your room until the block of rooms reserved by the conference organizers at the conference hotels were already booked up. Then, after the conference organizers could not find a room for you at any of the conference hotels you decided to book at another Hilton property and you found the ES (even though you never knew that ES was part of the Hilton chain). When you called the ES to book at the conference rate the hotel didn't seem to know what you were talking about, was the ES one of the conference hotels? A conference rate is often only available for booking up until a certain date before the conference, after that you have to pay the going rate, if this was a conference hotel were your reserving a room within the time required in the conference materials?

With regard to the shuttle, was this the regular hotel shuttle or a conference provided shuttle? If this was the regular hotel shuttle why would you think that it would be providing shuttle service to the conference? Did the conference materials and organizers state that shuttle service would be provided to and from the ES?

It's also not clear which Baltimore ES you stayed at, was it Inner Harbor or the one at the airport? I've stayed at both and would not classify either of them as marginal. Looking at Tripadvisor for ES Inner Harbor and ES BWI for the last week I see a lot more good reviews that bad reviews and I certainly don't see 47 bad reviews in the past week.

With regard to early check-in, why do you think you were entitled to early check-in? How early were you trying to check-in? With regard to your room away from the elevators, what do your preferences say on Hilton.com, have you checked them lately?

As noted by writerguyfl, just picking out the negative reviews and ignoring the positive seems somewhat deceptive.

dgparent

How do you have over 600 posts on here and not know that ? Like the other posters have mentioned the hotel may have no idea what conference you are talking about, it may be a conference that is specific to a certain Hilton and the other Hiltons would know nothing about it. Really blaming your troubles on a hotel is silly, you should be talking to the people putting on the conference not the hotel.

Kacee

Sometimes you just gotta love the internet

BJfly

I've stayed there and it was just fine. The breakfast was very reminiscent of my college dining commons, but the hotel was clean, quiet, modern, and friendly.

BJfly

jwhuffman

Can anyone give current feedback on ES Baltimore Inner Harbor? I am trying to plan an upcoming stay and want to know how was treatment for Diamonds and how close is this hotel to things to do and John Hopkins?

Thanks,
Jwhuffman

curleydbr

I'm A Lifetime Diamond and I live in Baltimore. I have never stayed at this ES, but I frequently book rooms for friends/family at the Hilton Baltimore (right next to Camden Yards) or the Hilton Garden Inn or Homewood Suites in Harbor East. The Executive Lounge at the Hilton is nice and they have a nice gym/indoor pool on the 4th floor. The 4th floor also has an outdoor deck on the roof to watch the O's games. Having said that, the hotel is really nothing to write home about, besides that. The Balcony Suites are really nice and typically open up availability the day of or day prior for around $650-700. Haven't seen any confirmed pay upgrade on them though. If you're leaning towards the ES because of the size of the rooms, I would check the HS, as Harbor East is an up and coming area with restaurants and pretty easy walk to Fells Point/Canton and touristy activities in the Inner Harbor. In regards to location to Hopkins, it depends on if you are talking about the University or Hospital (and which hospital location). If talking about the University, you'd need to drive or uber/taxi from every hotel except probably The Inn at the Colonnade. If it is for the main hospital campus (I would advise not walking there from any hotel, if you are not from the City and don't know your way around), I would lean towards either the HGI or HS in Harbor East, easier commute.

curleydbr

Also, I was just looking around on the Hilton site. It appears that the small outdoor pool that the ES had is now permanently closed, there is a banner warning on the website, but the hotel pictures still show one of the pool..

jwhuffman

Sorry, will be going to John Hopkins Hospital or the Out Patient Clinic.

etsmyers

Dont walk anywhere in Baltimore if you cant see water. Worked there for 10+ years.

BrlDsguise

The HGI/HS (which share a location) is slightly more convenient to JH Hospital (and the Bayview location) but ES works as well. HGI/HS has a good pub across the street and as mentioned is walking distance fo Fells Point and a couple of blocks from Little Italy. ES is close to restaurants and bars on North Charles Street. I think there is also a H2S around the corner from the ES.

pauleeepaul

Sad but true.

jcresq

I stayed at this location last week. The hotel experience was ok...pretty standard ES I thought. Front desk people were nice and efficient, room was good.

But the food service was horrendous. I went to the bar/restaurant for dinner at about 8 pm. There were a few people who seemed to be regulars, and the server spent most of the time yapping with them. I ordered an appetizer and an entree...they arrived together about 40 minutes after I ordered. I commented that typically the appetizer comes out first, and she said "oh, i didn't realize you wanted it as an appetizer." Huh? Then, it took her about 20 minutes to bring me a check. My "dinner at the bar" took an hour and a half.

The breakfast buffet was also terrible. Dirty dishes and silverware, picked over food, cold eggs. Possibly the worst breakfast I've ever had at an ES.

I would also echo the comments about the neighborhood. I just ubered to and from the hotel, it's not an area you want to go out in at night.