Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center

I normally don’t write bad reviews but I felt the need to share our horrible experience with the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. We've been to downtown Baton Rouge many times both personally and professionally and stayed at other locations like the Watermark and hotel Indigo. I prepaid for a two night stay through American Express. Had change of plans that required us to cancel the first night. I called American Express and they contacted the hotel. The hotel was unwilling to work with us to accommodate a change despite being less than 24hrs outside of the change window and being a Hilton Honors member. The Amex representative made sure that the hotel was aware that we were checking in a day later due to our travel changes. A few days later, we called the hotel directly. Same outcome. While we were on the phone with them, we made sure (3) separate times that the hotel knew we would be checking in a day later. Flash forward to arrival—no valets greeted us despite walking up and down the street, slowly, while they looked down at their phones. Because there didn’t appear to be any bellhops present, we used a trolley that was left on the sidewalk to load our luggage while the valets walked by. The “feels like” was in the low 20s °F, so this wasn’t an overall fun or convenient experience. The lobby was overwhelmed with Mardi Gras ball participants and the ingress-egress to the building was choked with guests and employees. The hotel lobby layout seemed unable to accommodate large groups, especially with the valet stand and line indoors, and walkways were a cluster as a result. I have a feeling the Louisiana State Fire Marshall wouldn’t like it either. The front desk was a disaster. Despite informing the hotel we would be arriving a day late they tried to charge us an early arrival check-in fee of $50. Once we reminded them at length that we gave them prior notification we would be checking in a day later, they dropped the fee. Surely there should be a clean room waiting for us because, after all, we paid for a non-refundable room the night before? The front desk’s version of escalating it to a manager was to disappear into a back office for a couple of minutes and reappear with the same response. We guess the manager was too cowardly, lazy, self-important or a combination of thereof to speak with us directly. At this point, we weren’t surprised that it was managerial policy to pass the buck. The front desk assured us the same room would be available. They stuck us next to the extremely loud mechanical room (thanks for that, guys). Every 2-5 minutes the loud rushing sound of water passing through pipes could be heard for roughly a minute. This woke us up throughout the night. “River views” were as expected and of the industrial port. The underwhelming view wasn’t made any better by the dirty windows. The shower door handle for the glass shower door was very loose. Shatter hazard. The elevators require each person riding them to scan their room key to access their floor. In theory this sounds great for security purposes. In practice, it was chaos. The hotel was packed and so were the elevators. Every single time we got in an elevator this was causing confusion and awkward interactions for guests. On more than one occasion another guest missed their floor and had to catch them on the way down. This could be solved with one room key accessing all floors. Overall, this is an embarrassing property lacking the customer service one comes to expect from a Hilton flag. We won’t be returning to the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center and instead will be opting for more reliable choices like the Watermark or Hotel Indigo the next time we stay in downtown Baton Rouge.

Very historic building, well maintained

The breakfast buffet was good, but expensive. There should have been more staff working during the very crowded Sunday morning hours.

Not enough staff during busy Sunday morning buffet hours. We never got coffee and water until we eventually got someone's attention. Staff was stressed out.

A dated hotel but great service and location. The breakfast was excellent!

The furniture in the elevator lobbies on each floor needs replacement. Not enough lighting in our room.

I was very disappointed with the value of this hotel. I Paid 300 USD for room which included an early and late checkout plus 50$ property credit. I paid extra for this service. Upon arriving i was told room was subjected to availability and was not able to check in until 3pm. I was not given the 50$ credit as well i was only given a breakfast voucher worth 25 USD. I was granted one extra hour on checkout. When it was time to leave i was asked if they could call a cab for me the flat out said no. I then asked could you please call an uber and then they proceeded to say the uber can reach the property because of the louisiana marathon.

Value for money.

I liked the location. I also like friendly staff.

Would have liked a microwave.

I have stayed here before for the Mardi Gras ball, and it's nice; however, I will never stay here again. I go to Baton Rouge every year, and I am from Louisiana. This year, I booked through Expedia to get a good rate. Unfortunately, an ice storm is expected the night of the ball, which will make my travel from Texas dangerous, so my plans are being canceled. I contacted Expedia to cancel the reservation, which in turn contacted Stacy (the Hilton manager) to request a refund. She declined. I called her to explain my situation. She said call Expedia. I then told her that Expedia had contacted her and that she could grant the refund. She then told me she doesn't refund un-refundable rates, and since I didn't book through them, it was basically too bad. This is just poor customer service and a manager who has a superiority complex. No worries, Stacy, I won't be staying at your hotel again.