Embassy Suites by Hilton Santa Ana Orange County Airport

We recently stayed at the Embassy Suites in Santa Ana with our family and had a mixed experience. I want to be fair — no one on the staff was rude. Everyone we interacted with was polite, but at times they were not as helpful or responsive as we would have hoped. There are only two luggage carts for the entire nine-floor hotel. At check-in we waited about 15–20 minutes to get one, and guests must leave their driver’s license at the front desk in order to use it. We stayed in Room 608 on the sixth floor. There are ice machines only on the third and eighth floors, and there is no signage marking their location. I was directed toward the end of a hallway and eventually found the ice machine through an exit door. Without propping the door open, I would have been locked outside. Unfortunately, our first room had several maintenance issues. The phone did not work, making it very difficult to reach the front desk. The sofa bed was broken, there was a stain on the sheets, and the WiFi connection was unreliable. The most concerning issue happened at 2:30 a.m. when I woke up to water dripping from the ceiling onto my head, soaking my pillow. After repeatedly trying to call the front desk (the room phones do not connect properly to housekeeping or the front desk), I had to go downstairs in person. To their credit, the young man working the desk immediately checked us into a new room. We did have to pack up and move everything ourselves at that hour, but he handled the reassignment quickly. The second room was better in terms of no leaks, but the air conditioning did not seem to function properly. The room felt very stuffy and humid, with condensation covering the interior windows. It consistently felt damp and uncomfortable. They comped the First night and one day of parking for the mishap. Overall, while the staff was courteous and did respond when we spoke to them in person, the property itself appears to be in need of significant maintenance and updates. From the broken phones and furnishings to the leaking ceiling and inconsistent air conditioning, the hotel could benefit from a thorough renovation and deeper attention to upkeep. We hope management takes these concerns seriously, as the Embassy Suites brand typically delivers a much stronger experience.

Location

Incompetent and unprofessional staff!

I liked the free breakfast and the variety of food they serve for guests during breakfast time. I liked the indoor pool, jacuzzi and the location of the hotel. I also liked having microwave and fridge in the room.

The number that was listed in the email to contact for any information does not work or nobody’s picking it up. I’ve called multiple times prior to arrival but nobody ever answered until I decided to call the main hotel number. The phone and TV in the room does not work. Some buttons on the elevators doesn’t work. The pool water is cold Towels are very rough and some have ripped and stained The pull out bed mattress is the worst I’ve ever laid on, it’s like lying on a spring only with no mattress support. Giant cockroach in front of the elevator

So there is water leaking from the ceilings on several levels. I can say several because I had two rooms during my stay before I finally gave up. This hotel is a public health and safety issue. Yesterday I overheard several guest complaining about issues in their room issues related to my issues like the air-conditioning and heat not working, water coming out of their ceilings, things of that nature, so the fact that this building is completely in disrepair and needs extensive renovations, it really should not be operative at all. The amount of water coming back through the walls- it’s literally flooding the walls. I can see it behind the wallpaper, not just near the ceiling, but even under the air-conditioning vents at the very minimum this level of compensation should’ve been a be my guest certificate or a sincere apology from the hotel general manager. As a long-standing Hilton diamond member who has had over 1,000 nights in a Hilton hotel property they are usually pretty great. however, for this hotel we gave up hope that it would get any better and then the next day I overheard a guest complaining about his room for the same issues. And he was several floors away from me. The best thing you can do for this hotel property would be to contact the Code Enforcement division for Santa Ana California. This way they actually are required to get some work done for the next guest at least. Do not think for one moment this is a one off. You’re not the only guest experiencing this. By far, they know how bad the hotel is. At one point I saw his hotel log he had to take a page off of it, and put a fresh page on top as if there were no issues so the guest would not see but almost every room had the same problems it seemed.

We stayed at the hotel for one night before a cruise out of San Pedro. It is undergoing renovations which the website does tell you ahead of time but figured it was one night so couldn't be that bad. When I booked it originally, the site said done by January and as we were staying it said end of April which we were told would probably last for most of the year. As hard as they are trying, it probably would have made more sense to just close it for 6 months for six months and renovate. We got to the hotel early and staff was very accomodating to get us into a room. The first room, however, had no air conditioning working and was missing a few grill vents and didn't look at all like that was a room they had started renovating. They were able to change us to a different room but that bed made noise every time you sat on it but otherwise wasn't bad. The hot water was fantastic as well as the breakfast in the morning and the happy hour at night (even though the snacks are not really there anymore like they used to be). The elevators were hit or miss as far as if they were working or not, and one was totally down. As far as for a one night pre-cruise, I would still do it again at that location as they have a free shuttle from the airport and the drive to the cruise port was reasonable with Uber. I would wait till it's totally renovated before going back but they are trying.

there's a reason the rates are lower than other hotels in the area... wifi is horrid. can't even stay connected long enough to read emails. and I am a hilton diamond member, so i am supposed to have enhanced wifi capabilities. Handicap parking has been blocked off because they are trimming the palm trees and leaving them laying all over the parking lot. Wifi couldn't stay connected long enough for me to submit this review.

The cook to order breakfast.

Everything was old and rundown. The floor was warped by the bed. It had a significant slant. The slider door didn’t close properly. The bathroom was rusted.

Breakfast.

The room was cold and we were unable to adjust the temperature. We had to wear sweaters in the room and sleep with sweatshirts on. The room was old and not that clean.

Indoor pool and room service

Our room smelled like mildew. The phone didn’t work inside the room. There was no balcony or little ledge to walk out on, and our window was broken