I stayed at this Homewood Suites at the very last minute. We booked a 1 bedroom King Suite and my 2 teens and I were very comfortable. I have stayed at other Homewood's and the rooms here do seem to have a much smaller square footage, but the comfort was fine.
The full kitchen had beautiful granite countertops, full size fridge, dishwasher, micro and sink. The LR furniture was comfy and the pullout sofa bed was actually pretty good! The king bed and pillows were deliciously comfortable and the shower was very nice. We appreciated having two TVs in our 1 bdrm suite and there was a very nice workout room and a computer room. The lobby is lovely and a comfortable place to "come home" to each night.
The maid service here was NOT the best. The room was "sort of" clean. There were hairs and lint on tiled surfaces and in the sinks and shower, They were VERY stingy with toiletries, tissues and towels and this was not appreciated. I lost track of how many times I ran to the front desk during our 2 day/2 night stay, but I did go for tissues, toilet paper (both ran out and there was no backup), bar soap, dishwasher soap, towels and clean dishes/silverware. I like a bar of soap in the shower and also at the bathroom sink--only 1 soap was provided so I went and asked for another bar of soap. When the room was cleaned on day two, the bar of soap from the shower had been removed and no replacement left... Not enough towels were left for 3 people, so had to call for those twice. The first night we purchased ice cream from the sundry store by the front desk. I couldn't find any dishes in the cupboard, and I called the front desk and was told to look in the dishwasher. All the dishes were in there, but they were dirty from a previous guest. I had to walk to the front desk to get dishwasher soap, bowls/spoons to use to eat our ice cream. I then started the dishwasher to clean the previous guests' dishes myself and left the bowls and spoons in the sink, figuring the maid would clean it but they were still there the 2nd day when we checked out and no soap left for dishwashing, no kitchen towel, etc. There were also stains on the wall where people had "missed" the trashcan right by the entry door. (Why is a trashcan right at the entry door?). These were all "little" housekeeping details, but if they were attended to, I would give this property a higher overall rating.
The property itself is beautiful, the rooms are comfortable and the location is fantastic. It sits one short block off the highway but there is zero noise. Close to many restaurants, tons of shopping and the UF campus. There is a nice pool and a basketball goal. The "free" breakfast is not so great unless you like processed and canned and convenience food. But my policy is "beggars cannot be choosers" when something is free. Enjoy a cup of coffee and then I HIGHLY recommend the 43rd St. Deli for a super breakfast...there are 2 locations nearby.
Overall, this is a very comfortable, well-located hotel in Gainesville. The housekeeping service and quality of food need to be reviewed. Also, the rate was not competitive, in my opinion, but we needed a last-minute room and did not have an opportunity to "price shop"!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
