Click here to reserve a room at the Homewood Suites in Rochester
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The Good: Room size, Breakfast, Amenities, Atmosphere
The Bad:Just a little more expensive than I would like, Over-chlorinated pool.
The Basics:The Homewood Suites from Hilton in Rochester, NY is a worthwhile location for a long-term stay or a short staycation!
There is something pretty wonderful about reviewing a hotel and being ready to critique one aspect of it only to discover the hotel is already on that particular problem. Recently, I stayed for a week at the Homewood Suites hotel in Rochester (Henrietta, actually), New York and when I first arrived at the massive collection of beautiful, large rooms, my thought was that the carpeting in the hallway was pretty shabby. But, before I could actually review the hotel, there were notes left in the rooms and there was a pretty massive carpet cleaning operation working on the hotel! By the time my stay ended, the carpets looked mostly new.
That left remarkably few flaws with the Homewood Suites in Rochester and made it very easy to recommend as a place for visitors to Rochester, NY (reviewed here!) to stay for an extended period.
Location
The Homewood Suites is located at 2095 Hylan Drive, Rochester, New York. There is a sizable enough parking lot around the hotel to provide adequate parking away from anything resembling a main road, for all patrons. 2095 Hylan Drive – which, technically is off on its own little driveway/street with a Cracker Barrel and Comfort Suites - is easy enough to find from the expressway and online mapping sites like MapQuest.
The Homewood Suites is visible from the 390 expressway that runs near it and it is situated very close to a major shopping area in the Rochester area. This means at rush hour and a few other peak times, traffic around the Homewood Suites can be a challenge to get through.
Check-in was quite easy and the staff was friendly and knowledgeable. Parking for the building was easy enough to find as the hotel is virtually surrounded by a parking lot. There are limited grounds beside the property, enough to take your pet if you bring them for bathrooming purposes. But for all of the comforts inside the hotel, outside the grilling area in the hotel’s courtyard space, the Homewood Suites is not exactly preoccupied with providing activities or space for anything but parking outside the hotel.
Room Size
I had a suite with a queen bed (all rooms at the hotel are nonsmoking) and I was impressed the moment I unlocked the door. This twenty-six and a half (end to end) by eighteen and a quarter foot chamber was segmented into three rooms: a walk-in living room/dining area, bathroom, and bedroom. This suite was bigger than my first apartment and four times as nice! The suite is entirely self-contained and did not connect to any other rooms, adding to the feeling of security.
The kitchen/living room is connected to the bedroom and bathroom by a door that can be closed to segment the suite for privacy or to allow one group of people to work in one room while others rest or relax in the other. The bathroom was wonderfully large and easily fit two people moving around one another. The main room was huge and could easily have fit three to five visitors.
Cleanliness
The bathroom was perfectly clean and it was no surprise to me when it passed the first flush test. All of the linens were clean, dry and fluffy. Every surface in the bathroom was spotless, including the entire mirror, the bathtub and the toilet.
The bedroom was similarly clean, even the surface of the television, which I have found is frequently an undercleaned part of the average hotel room. The bedding was all clean, well made up and comfortable. All of the rugs were spotless, by the time I left the hotel, which was nice and led to the illusion that no one else had ever been in the room (an ideal for me!). The room smelled like a nonsmoking room and if this ever had been anything other than that, they did an awesome job of cleaning it up to remove any previous scents!
The living room was in great condition, with important surfaces like the microwave, refrigerator and television all being free of dust, debris or food. The table and chairs in the room were clean as well. In fact, the Homewood Suites did an excellent job of making me feel like everything in the room was brand new.
Amenities
This is where the Homewood Suites truly excelled. In addition to pretty awesome shampoos and conditioners – Bath & Body Works individual Rain Kissed Leaves Shampoo (reviewed here) and Conditioner (reviewed here!) – each room had two types of Nutrogena soap and microwave popcorn restocked daily! The Homewood Suites also had the standard coffee, coffee maker, microwave and refrigerator in the room. In addition, there were two televisions in the room, extra pillows in the closet (making a total of eight pillows in my suite!), dining counter with two chairs, a couch, and endtable.
In the main lobby, there was coffee, tea and cocoa throughout the day, which was especially nice when I first checked in. Also in the main lobby there were two computer terminals with internet access for the patrons of the hotel. Each room has Wi-Fi that was easy to connect to, as well. There was a Cracker Barrel restaurant (reviewed here!) within walking distance on the other side of the parking lot from the Homewood Suites.
The breakfast dining room was also downstairs, near the lobby. Breakfast was from 6:00 - 9:30 in the morning, which was a full, hot breakfast that changed each day I was there. The spread was quite nice featuring the usual bagels, muffins, fresh fruit, orange juice and three cereal options each day. However, the hot breakfast changed each morning. One morning it was scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, the next pancakes or waffles, the next sausage biscuits and gravy, and another was simplified omelets!
But the real amenity which made it impossible for me to kvetch too much about the price of the rooms at this Homewood Suites was a complimentary dinner from Monday to Thursday nights. From 5 – 7 those days, the hotel provides balanced, nutritious meals – they did a grill out, personal pizzas, pasta and chicken pot pie on the days of my stay! – as well as free beer and wine. This was the first hotel I had ever stayed at with such a decent, free spread for guests!
The hotel has an indoor pool with a whirlpool, but when I went down to it, it made my eyes water from the chlorine and someone at the pool and tub was vocally complaining about how chlorinated the water was. I opted not to get so burned and instead spent time in my room. There is a weight room that looked fairly well-stocked as well.
Overall
The Homewood Suites is a pretty wonderful place for an extended stay, especially for business travelers who want a place to set up a work space. It's a very comfortable escape from virtually everything (including Rochester). This is ideal for a traveler or couple looking to get away and stay in as the room is nice, though I still gripe about paying over a hundred dollars a night for any room anywhere (this was $114.99 + many taxes). The free meals, though, made it feel worth it all. For a clean, generally affordable hotel option for a suite hotel, the Homewood Suites from Hilton is a worthwhile hotel when Rochester, NY is your destination!
For other hotels in New York State, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Comfort Suites – Buffalo, NY
Day’s Inn – Canastota, NY
Comfort Inn Fairgrounds – Rochester, NY
9/10
For other hotel reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
Click here to reserve a room at the Homewood Suites in Rochester
through Hotels.com
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