Homewood Suites by Hilton Ithaca

This is the second time for our stay in Homewood Suites by Hilton after 2023. The major reasons to choose this hotel are reasonable room fare, comfortable room with kitchen facility, easy for car parking as well as hotel location close to University Campus and Ithaca Mall. This hotel is highly recommended.

This is the preferred hotel for the technicians when they working in this area.

Needed to be in Ithaca for a week with family. So we booked this hotel as it has kitchen, sitting area, heated pool, etc. Normally would stay in a Marriott but the Residence Inn was too far away. A few things we learned/encountered upon arrival at night: - No Netflix or any streaming on the TV (in 2025, really?) - No safe in the room - Sofabed wasn't set up with sheets (apparently a fire code hazard? Never heard of this before) - A half eaten cookie at the base of the sofa (see pic) - An absolutely filthy trash can (see pic) Shared concerns with the front desk, they took note but that's it. No one reached out, the trash can wasn't replaced throughout the stay, we threw the cookie away on our own, made the sofabed ourselves (the bare mattress had large stains btw, forgot to take a photo). One of the big reasons for booking this hotel was the heated swimming pool. With two kids this was going to be something we did every evening on this break, family fun time. I even called a few days before check-in to confirm the pool was working. And on the first morning we were there, we saw a notice that the heater was out of service! Front desk just shrugged about it, gave no ETA. At this point we went around Ithaca to find another hotel. We found a couple of places, but when we asked Homewood they said since we booked through a third party, they wouldn't be able to modify our stay - we would lose the entirety of stay. So we decided to stay. We ignored some of the sub par stuff and we also tried swimming anyways. We managed for a short bit, despite the pool temp being quite cool. But a day or so later, the pool was shut down completely - we couldn't even swim in the cool water! The hot tub was at least working, so we used that a couple of times. Front Desk told me the hotel has a shuttle for nearby areas. I asked for a ride at 4 pm, no driver. I asked for the next morning at 9, was informed no driver would be there. So yeah, not useful. I emailed Hilton during my stay but I havent yet heard back from them. Overall the hotel rooms need a renovation, definitely quite dated. Paint chipping in the bath tub, the bottom of the doors showed a lot of wear. Common areas looked ok though and the room appliances were clean and in good working order. It's a pet friendly hotel, which is fine. But there were dogs off leashes in the hallway, and on two occasions I saw dogs in the breakfast dining area. I've never seen that before, outside of service dogs. The staff was generally polite. And if we asked for extra towels or sheets they fulfilled that. And they pushed my check-out time to 1 pm.

I really enjoyed the easy access to all the fun outdoor offerings of the Finger Lakes. This hotel had location if you like to get outdoors, take a of tour wineries or to explore local attractions. There was plenty of parking and the room was very comfortable. Although the room was a nice layout, had a comfortable bed. I liked the couch, kitchenette and abundance of lamps. Here are some improvements that could be made: I think that some of the chargers could be updated to fit iPhones, though.The breakfast was sad and unfortunate in my eyes. While most Homewood Suites try a little harder this breakfast was lacking. The main offerings were powdered eggs, and some greasy meats. There was no fresh fruit offered with the exception of apples and oranges that looked like they were from a supermarket. It was hard to get the juice out of the big plastic container. The coffee was medium to light blend. Most Homewood Suites or Hamptons offer dark and medium roast. I found something to eat, which I had for all three days.. I wound up eating low-fat granola and whatever yogurt they had. Most of the days we stayed, the yogurt selection was not great. They did have overnight oats and chia pudding, but that was about it. I think with some tweaks, it could be better. The chairs in the cafeteria area were very uncomfortable, as well. Too bad. It was a nice light area. My other issue was housekeeping. This hotel cleans every other day. It honestly was a very cursory job. I understand that they are not going to do a deep cleaning, but I think it was a five-minute stay (if that). The bathroom floor could have been lightly swept and a little wipe of the bathroom would have done some good. They made the bed, wiped the outer sink area down and emptied the garbage. I think for the price we paid, a light sweep of a 3 foot bathroom would have said, " We care". Otherwise, I would stay again (because of the location). Beware that even though the location has easy access, there is a big empty (abandoned hotel) behind the building and a mall that looks like it's seen better days. The mall actually has a fantastic thrift shop if you are into that. There's an Ithaca Bakery, but we did not get to try it. The hotel cannot help what is doing in their surrounding area. But they can freshen up a room and serve a much better breakfast.