Homewood Suites by Hilton Sarasota

This hotel is okay. We needed a hotel that could fit 5 people since we were attending a wedding at Siesta Key. This was the closest and cleanest looking when we were researching. Plus there was free wifi. Not the newest and you could tell they needed some renovations but it fit what we needed.
We got a double room studio suite for $ 119/​night. We called the day of to ask for early check-​in and they told us that the room was already ready! There were two double (full) beds and a sofa couch. Since the Homewood Suites is an extended stay property, there was also a small kitchenette with a full size fridge, dishwasher, sink and a stove (just the burners, no oven– we didn’t use anyways). There were also plates, bowls, utensils, cups, napkins, toaster, etc. Pretty much anything you would need to cook. Since were were only staying one night, we didn’t cook anything.
The room was clean but not as spacious as the online pictures made it seem. Not to say the room was small though. There was a balcony but you could tell that it was old and molding. Since I am a HHilton Honors member and booked directly through the hotel, I was able to check-​in online and even choose our room. Taking the advice of other Unilocalers, we picked a room on the west side and there was plenty of parking. The plus side was that we were able to see our cars from our balcony. There are side entrances allover the property that have card key access. The hotel is a two story building and we picked a 2^nd floor room close to the elevator but away from ice machine in case of noise. We honestly didn’t have any noise complaints during our stay. The only negative is that the front desk/​lobby area is in a separate building so you have to walk outside and walk to your building. Then use your card key to open the door. The rooms are all inside so there are no outside doors (unlike a motel).
The bathroom sink/​vanity is outside of the bathroom itself which worked out for us getting ready for the wedding. Extra mirror along the wall by the closet. There was also plenty of room in the bathroom with the toilet and tub. AC unit had a control on the wall and there was also a ceiling fan. We were able to get extra towels, soap, shampoo and conditioner at the front desk, even though the night attendant had no idea at first if they even had soap… and even told us we could buy soap from their little convenience room. He eventually found us soap bars. The management definitely needs to train their front desk staff a little more.
The best part about staying at this property was the free breakfast! It’s a full hot breakfast buffet! The buffet area was spacious and there was plenty of seating. That day they served sausage, scarmbled eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy. There were pastries, scones, bagels, english muffins, and sliced bread by the toaster. There was a waffle station where you make your own waffle and included toppings like strawberry topping and whipped cream, and there was a hot oatmeal station with brown suagr, granola, raisins, cinnamon and powdered sugar. Beverage station had ice water, orange juice, and apple juice. Coffee and tea station had a large variety of tea bags and coffee mix-​ins. Lastly, there was fresh fruit (bananas, oranges) and yogurt cups.
There’s a manager’s reception Monday-​Thursday and but unfortunately we checked in on a Saturday.
There is something I did want to note: my cousin slept on the sofa couch and he had a punch of little bites around his ankles. Now I’m not sure if there were bed bugs but we did report it to the management. They apologized but offered little else other than lotion that my cousin asked for the itching. Since I travel a lot I am always cautious to check the corners of beds before laying down but I forgot to check the sofa bed since it wasn’t taken out until night time.

Homewood suites is one of the few, if not the only, Hilton property in Sarasota that has a full functioning kitchen; stove, full size fridge, microwave and dishwasher.
Located on fruitville road and in close distance to lots of main attraction areas in Sarasota, such as St. Armand’s circle, the mall at university, siesta beach … Etc.
Rooms look like they have been remodeled, very clean carpet, mattresses and couch. Balcony is a little outdated and could use some remodeling, I believe the balcony floor had some sort of carpeting that had ingrown algae.
Free breakfast in the morning between the hours of 6 – 9 during the week and 7 – 10 on weekends, a much better selection that Hampton Inn’s, they also offer free hors d’oeuvres in the evening between 5 – 7, Monday — Thursday.
Looks like a new location is coming soon at the university plaza and we’ll sure checkout it out once they open.

Worst Homewood Suites I’ve stayed in. The shower head is from the 1980’s, the bedding looked like it’s 20 years old, and the overall feel was one of a hotel that’s milking last decade’s upgrade. It wasn’t cheap either, so look elsewhere.

I thought the hotel was very clean and that housekeeping took care of everything quick and efficiently. I liked the décor in the lobby and thought it was modern (they must have updated it since the last reviews). It is a bit pricey but I felt the room was very nice. We had a living room with a plasma TV and couch with a door that shut to the bedroom so you could be separate from the noise of the other room. We had a bed with TV, full fridge, pots/​pans/​silverware, stove, microwave, coffee pot, large closet, huge extra blanket in closet.
A lot of Amish stay here and it’s close to a popular Amish marketplace.
The food was generally pretty decent for breakfast and dinner. I liked that they had more than a couple things you could take back to your room like Light and Fit yogurt, bagels and fruit. Coffee all day. Dinner is not served on weekends. Two kinds of draft beer with dinner.
It has a 24-​hour gym, hot tub and clean pool which is centrally located and well lit so you wont be afraid to swim at night. Pool was open till 10 I believe.
Location is really good since its surrounded by a lot of places you may need to go to such as stores. McDonalds right across street and Walgreens next door, 5 minutes to downtown and the water, 15 minutes to the best beach in America (Siesta Key).
The huge downside is that 98% of the parking lot is far away from walking to your room and its scary at night to walk to your car. It’s sort of hard to figure out how to get to the parking lot since there arent any signs and you have to go through a stairwell door to get to it. Literally, there’s this one row of spots that me and my boyfriend would point to and laugh because they were so freaking creepy and hidden back by bushes with no lights. You could say its lucky to get the few rooms that have parking spots right in front of their room but I bet you its loud to hear the car doors so close to you and we did not hear a peep in our room and it was the weekend.

Rooms are large. Had a kitchen with a full refrigerator. Only think negative to say is the complimentary Wifi is 870 Kbps. Pretty terrible.

Refer to my pics of the roach and you’ll realize why I only gave this place 2 stars. To be fair I’m on a first floor room in florida… but still, it’s pretty bad to almost trip over this thing when getting outta the shower

Good and decent. Comfortable beds, full fridge and kitchen, clean. friendly accommodating staff that asked for feedback. Located near downtown. Breakfast was fine but eggs left much to be desired.

This a below average home wood. The rooms are dated, but the real issues are the complete lack of sound proofing in the hotel and the terrible parking setup. There are two parking lots. One that has about 10 spaces which are near about 80% of the rooms while the rest of the parking is tucked over on the far side of the hotel where there are a small number of rooms

Just ok. Bad logistics parking elevators. Loud hallways. Poor plumbing

The hotel is in need of a good cleaning. The water cooler in the gym has mold in the tray, there s visible grime in the eating area and I left early because there were cockroaches in my room. The staff is not overly friendly either however the manager seemed concerned about the roaches and didn’t charge me for the night. I would not recommend or go back.

Average home wood. Clean… decent hotel. Staff somewhat pissy. The manager is nice though. Pool is clean and nice… food was decent. Nothing special. I would stay again. I am a Marriott guy though