This hotel is in the strangest area! It says "University Mall" which implies it is an area with a shopping mall, as well a college area. It is neither!!
I will tell you about our experience and let people judge for themselves, since I know what is a big deal to some, is not to others.
We (my husband, teenage son and myself) needed to be in Pensacola for 4 nights (would have stayed 5 if it was nice enough) to attend an event my son was participating in, so we weren't looking for a "beach vacation" even though they were very close by. I had specifically booked a suite with a King and a Queen since my husband and I are both tall and my son is already 6'4". I booked directly through Hilton Honors, am only pointing that out because sometimes hotel management likes to say they aren't as responsible when people book "through discount 3rd party sites". They made no mention of this being a problem of any sort. We arrived at 2:30 after a long 7 hr drive, hoping to check in, even knowing ck in is at 3. The front desk people were VERY rude and just said -- sorry, ck in is at 3. Ok -- we're easy going, we went to get my son something to eat and then ran in the Walmart to pick up a few things for the week -- we got back at 3:40 -- not only did she rudely say it wasn't ready -- she offered not apology, nothing! It was a VERY hot day and at this point after driving we were exhausted. I don't get upset about much, but manners and customer service are VITAL to me! We sat in the lobby and she never offered us a bottle of water, an apology for our wait.... nothing! At 4:05, she glances up and says "it's ready".....we didn't get an "enjoy your stay", thanks for waiting patiently -- nothing! We would be out of business if we ever treated customers that way!!! So..... we get off the elevator and we notice there is wallpaper hanging off of the walls, the carpet strip is rolled off.....clearly, something is going on, but we don't know what? We get to our room and discover it's not what we reserved, but a King bed with a double pull out couch. Well, let me tell you, put a large teenage athlete on one of those things and you have misery!! I call downstairs and she rudely states, "that's ALL we have". Again, no, apology for not giving us what we asked for! If we hadn't been up since 4:am and driven in the car, waited for room, we would have gone somewhere else!!!!
So.... back to this "mall" -- there is NO mall...... there are 3 stores and the rest has been torn down to the ground!! A VERY old Sears, JC Penney and a Belk.... they are all seperated by debri and garbage -- it looks like a bomb went off. I asked someone "did you have a storm or tornado here too?" They said -- no, they just tore it down because another mall was built not far away and business went down. Okkaayy?? So.... there is no "University area" or mall or anything! It is a very rundown area. There was noise ALL night every night -- there was a military family in the room next to us and she said her children were awakened also -- there were actually people drag-racing in the empty, deserted "mall" parking lot and roaring their engines until 4 am!! The morning we checked out a business group had just checked in and at breakfast they said they were planning on calling the police if it continued tonight!!
The breakfast every day was ok, pretty typical but nothing special. The hotel itself is relatively clean, but they did have a Flooding issue on the 3 rd floor which caused all of the rooms being ruined. Would have been nice if I had been told that they didn't have any of what I booked and hadn't for months! Makes me pretty mad to pay extra for something I don't get, then be stuck in discomfort!
The housekeeping staff was very friendly but the front desk people, seriously, were the most rude I have ever had contact with!!! And I don't complain about stuff like that, in general, but this was unbelievable!
The ONLY bright spot was that we found a wonderful little Italian restaurant a few miles away. The owners greeted us at the door, were originally from Sicily -- the food was simple but DELICIOUS!! We also ate down at the beach at Peg Leg Pete's -- good seafood, decent prices, and good wine.
But I would NEVER stay there again!!!