Spark by Hilton Vestal Binghamton University Area

The staff was amazing. This hotel however was extremely disappointing, especially given the price we paid. It It was old, dirty and tired: the rooms reeked of cigarette smoke from what felt like decades of smoke. The entrance into the hotel was broken - so that you actually had to put your hand in and slide the automatic sliding door open. The room had not been cleaned! There was old makeup remover tissues on the counter when we arrived!! Staff know they are working with these issues and they do their best. But owners should be ashamed of themselves: this right here is the opposite of the hospitality business.

Room could have been a little cleaner. Bed was comfy but pillows were like rocks. Coffee was terrible. Breakfast was the same every morning--watery fake sausage and dry scrambled eggs. Not a good selection of yogurts. On check in, the AC was not working properly and it was HOT in the room. Told by front desk clerk there were no other rooms available. Maintenance came and checked and confirmed AC not working properly. This wonderful man showed us that other rooms WERE available and let us choose which one we wanted. Will never stay here again. No wonder the parking lot was so empty!

If you are looking for a hotel with amenities, this is not your place to stay. I will say the shower was great. The shower curtain smelled horrible. Apparently housekeeping does not believe in laundering them or changing them. We went downstairs for breakfast expecting some eggs and sausage or bacon. Nope. Waffle maker, cereal, yoghurt and bagels. That's all folks. People were really disappointed. We were guaranteed a king room. Had the confirmation and everything. They put us in a room with two queen beds. When we complained, they said, "Sorry, we don't have any king rooms available now". We will definitely not return to this hotel

Our stay here this time was not nearly as good as in the past. The suit was clean and comfortable. The shower was clean and refreshing as well. TV reception was excellent. The people at the desk were pleasant. The problems were getting into our room. I had to go back to the desk 3 times before they could get me room keys that worked. The coffee pot lid was broken and the pot also leaked. Sometime during the night the refrigerator stopped working. Obviously, maintenance need to be emphasized more.

Let me preface our story with the fact that over the course of 15 years (including once last summer during a lull in the COVID pandemic) we have stayed in this Comfort Suites on the Vestal Parkway whenever we have needed to be in the Vestal/Binghamton area – but we will NEVER, EVER stay here again. The quality at this Comfort Suites has declined through the years, but it was never this bad. There has obviously been a poor change in management/ownership, Because of a death in the family, we made reservations to stay at this Comfort Suites for two nights: Friday, April 29 – Sunday, May 1, in a room with two queen beds and a fold-out couch for 3 adults. Because of the timing of the funeral arrangements, we asked in advance if we could check into the room at noon on April 29 (instead of the normal check in time of 3 pm) and the hotel was agreeable to our request. Our experience went downhill from there. As we walked down the hall to our room, we noticed many people standing/sitting outside room doors. We soon learned why. Their card keys did not work and neither did ours. During our entire stay, we never had consistently-working card keys. And even when the front desk finally got one card key to work, it didn’t work hours later! The room temperature was cold and the fan was blowing cold air. So we changed the setting to “heat,” and a hour later the fan was still blowing cold air. We reported this to the front desk, expecting the problem to be corrected by the time we returned to the room. The tube of hand lotion in the bathroom had been used, and there was a toothbrush rattling in the heating vent, which we removed and threw away. There was no TV remote, and there were no “complimentary” items in the room such as cups for coffee/tea, note pad, pen, nor plastic bag for the ice bucket. There was a water stain on the ceiling of our room, but rain was not predicted that weekend, so I hoped it would not be a problem. When we returned to the room later in the afternoon, the heating/fan problem had not been repaired. The room was still cold, the fan was still blowing cold air, so we turned off the fan. When we reported this to the front desk again, the manager “Kim” offered to move us to another room, but we had already unpacked and were extremely tired, so we declined. There seemed to be enough blankets on the beds to keep us warm through the night. When we went to shower Saturday morning, there were only enough towels for two people, not three. The complimentary breakfast was mediocre. The bananas were excessively bruised and unappetizing. There was no plain instant oatmeal. They ran out of yogurt just after 8 am and never replenished it. By Saturday evening, the heating/fan problem in our room had not been repaired and we were not notified. We found black insect parts in the ice bucket from the melted ice from the ice machine. The Wi-Fi did not work. And again, we never had consistently-working card keys. Upon checking out Sunday morning, we wanted to

Worst stay EVER. I first arrived @ 5:30 & they said I already checked in. I hadn’t, but someone initialed my statement. It showed my name, but someone else’s credit card, & an extra day. We were finally assigned a new room (208), but keys didn’t work. My husband went to front desk, was told to try again. Still didn’t work. Gave us room 210 instead & 1 key that worked. Then, toilet didn’t flush. Lotion was half used. Dirty plastic utensils in desk drawer. We went out, returned & key didn’t work again. A lady had to come use an actual key! No one gave us one that worked!!! Same lady then knocked on our door at 1:15am to see if the room was vacant b/c of other discrepancies she was having with people checking in and being told they already had. Breakfast was 7-9, and yet at 8:40, no coffee & no waffle mix. Pool was cloudy, looked pretty gross. Vending machine was sold out everything. Checked out, wanting to make sure we don’t get charged for another night, and we’re told we have a balance due of $117 for the visit. We booked through Priceline, shouldn’t have a balance since we already paid! She had my name wrong again. Room number wrong again. CC number wrong again. I felt so bad for front desk agent because it wasn’t her fault, but it sure was a MESS! No manager ever came around. No one ever fixed the messes. Honestly, I’ve traveled a lot in 40 years and never had such an awful experience.