First Review - Hilton Garden Inn (Atlanta, GA)

Hey everyone,

I took a trip to Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and stayed at the brand new Hilton Garden Inn, located on Baker Street in Centennial Park near the Aquarium and new World of Coke.  This is the first review for Hotel Hopper, so as a guideline of how I intend to look at things, be sure to check out the rating guidelines page for a more detailed explanation of the review process.  To reiterate, a rating of 5 in a category means that is what you would expect from a typical luxury hotel.  So a 5 is actually pretty good, and a 10 means the hotel far exceeded expectations. A 1 doesn't mean the hotel was bad, it just means the hotel can't compete with the best of the best.  Here's the story on the new Hilton Garden:

Overall (2):  A great place to stay.  Reasonably priced, great location, and very practical.  However, I would argue that this is more of a higher end 'regular' hotel and would not qualify as a luxury hotel.  You certainly would not find this hotel in the Kiwi Collection. But, I won't give it a 1 because they did do a nice job in a couple of the categories as you will see.

Room (2): Decent sized room, although it was oddly rectangular in shape, almost like a hallway.  It did have two big windows and a great view of Atlanta.  Bonus for beds with adjustment controls for firmness for each side.  Nice 32" flat panel TV and also an alarm clock with an auxiliary port for an iPod or other .mp3 player.  The room had a workspace with an office chair and a desk, and also offered complimentary high-speed wireless internet and Ethernet.  There was also another lounge chair in the room if you don't like hanging out in the bed for too long.

Bathroom (3):  This is one area where I though they did a pretty good job.  Nice modern fixtures and a huge tub/shower combination with good water pressure and temperature.  But again, I still think it falls short of what I would call a luxury bathroom.

Lobby (2): Nothing overly special here, but it helps that the lobby is brand new.  There is also a fairly large flat screen TV, lounge seating, and a convenient store.


Amenities (4):  This is the other category where they succeeded fairly well.  The Hilton Garden Inn has two swimming pools, one indoor and one outdoor, and a jacuzzi tub on the 7th floor, all of which are heated.  The outdoor pool also has a pretty great view of the Centennial Park area and Atlanta skyline.  There is also a fitness center on the 7th floor, which again, is helped by the fact that everything in there is new.  Hopefully, all of these facilities will be kept up over the years.  There is also a nice restaurant right off of the lobby and again, the location of the hotel itself gives you great access to the attractions in the area.

Service (1):  Nice staff, but there always seemed to be a slow moving line at the reception desk and they gave away the last king room to the guy in front of me who came in without a reservation.  Didn't get the warm, fuzzy feeling that you get when you are somewhere special.  Parking was also available in an attached parking deck, but you often had to park on the 8th or 9th floor when there was something else going on in the area.

So there it is, the first Hotel Hopper review!  Again, I would highly recommend the Hilton Garden Inn for someone looking for a nice, practical place to stay, but if I had to do it again, maybe I would have sprung a little more for the W Hotel a few blocks away.  The Garden Inn didn't quite cut in this more competitive arena.

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