Hampton Inn Heath-Newark

I really appreciated how clean this hotel was overall and how clean the bedroom was. Everything looked recently refreshed. The bed was very comfortable and there was good bedside lighting. Bathroom has lots of counter space and hooks for hanging clothes. My room was on the back of the building (third floor) and looked into trees. This hotel is in a very busy commercial area, so close to restaurants and a Starbucks. A car is really necessary as there are no sidewalks. I didn't try the breakfast. The only negative is that the bedside outlets -both regular and USB - are very loose and my cell phone charger did not stay in the outlet and my phone did not charge overnight. I noticed the loose fit before going to sleep and so did not move my phone once plugged in, but it still loosened up.

This is likely to be the cleanest Hampton you will stay in this year. The place is really immaculate, from the sleeping rooms to the lobby to the breakfast area. The front office desk staff were friendly and helpful. They are also gearing up to have small bottles of wine for sale in the food purchase area near the desk in the near future, a plus to relax after a long drive for some. As noted, the sleeping room was well appointed and from the carpet to the bathroom it was meticulously maintained. The bed was comfortable, and the place was quiet. I have given it four stars, and that's due to something that is no fault of the hotel, and which they are in no position to alter. They are located on a busy road with speedy traffic, and nestled behind some trees, and there is no sign on the road, so you invariably drive past it, see it from your window, then have to go down the street and find a place to turn around, then try to take a left across traffic to get in. I thought it was just me, but I was doing a consultation at an organization in Newark, and a long-term resident picked me up each morning, and she missed it each time, both picking me up and dropping me off. I took my car out to get some dinner, and again, knowing where it was, I drove past the entrance. It became humorous after a while, but my only suggestion for this lovely place is to put a more visible sign at the entrance to decrease the mild frustration. Please note that the best place to turn around is the used car lot a couple of blocks away. When you pull in to turn around, the sales staff high tails it out to show you a car, and of course you drive right back out. I think they would probably pay to have a new sign for the Hampton placed in a more visible spot, to avoid so many false starts. Otherwise, this is a winner. Would definitely stay there again.

The check in was smooth with Laci even though we went through a 3rd party booking. A 1st floor room was unavailable, but we hauled all our things upstairs pretty easily up to our 3rd floor room. I was making a wedding cake for a family wedding and was very nervous. Melissa was very helpful and compassionate to offer to clean the extra fridge in the work room to store the finished cake until needed. What a God send that was for me! My daughter and I were not familiar with the area and our appointments and event locations were pretty scattered apart. Melissa got the addresses from me and plotted them on a map and printed it. It surely gave me peace of mind to see where we were going! The room was clean, and very comfortable to sleep on the beds. Amanda, from housekeeping, helped me get my cake securely in the extra fridge and allowed me to use her personal space to store my trays. My daughter and I have traveled extensively and this hotel’s customer service was exemplary! I can’t say enough good about how well we were treated. Kudos to Melissa, Laci, and Amanda! If we are ever in the area again, we will stay there in a heartbeat! Thank you so very much!

The best thing about this Hampton is how well the HVAC sysem works. The room was comfortable throughout our stay, remaining at the thermostat set point. And no noise from the HVAC unit. In many hotels the temperature varies wildly from your setting.

We chose this location as a stop in a longer trip, and we wanted to see the Newark earthworks which are only a few minutes' drive up the road. The motel's location itself isn't at all scenic; it's on a busy business street. We've stayed at a number of Hampton Inns and have never had a bad experience, so we think of this chain as a reliable choice, though it's also a bit more expensive than some others. Our room was designed in a fairly standard motel way, so no surprises there, but the two queen beds were more comfortable than we sometimes encounter. A mini-fridge and microwave were welcome features. Everything worked well — plumbing and water pressure, wifi and tv, lights, etc. Everything was clean and felt hospitable. While we were there, I had to have a video meeting with a couple of people at work, and used the hotel meeting room to do it, since it was available. A nice touch is the Hilton digital key; we checked in on-line and when we arrived we could bypass the front desk and go directly to our room. A couple of other chains offer a digital key to elite loyalty members, but we didn't have to be Hilton elites to use this service. I've often wondered why, when you've reserved a motel room weeks ahead of time with a credit card, the front desk needs to see your credit card and your ID when you arrive; do they expect that a fraudster will find your credit card and motel reservation and decide to impersonate you? So I commend Hilton for its common sense in this matter.

Places nowadays push their premium wifi you can pay for but why would you want to if their base free wifi doesn’t even work at all. Why would I want to throw money into a premium option when it barely works in the first place. Their routers probably 10 years old, no way the internet should be running less than 1 megabyte per second. That hardly even qualifies as wifi at all. Pages on a cell phone won’t even load, had to turn off wifi just to write this review. They also never brought a microwave when asked for, since when did rooms start coming without a microwave in the first place? Complete trash.

For two years I have made a point of staying in Hilton-affiliated hotels because of their stated commitment to aggressive sanitizing efforts to combat the spread of Covid. Even in the face of staffing shortages I have not been disappointed by the conditions of Hilton-aligned hotels from coast to coast -- until now. This was the dirtiest room I have experienced in many years. There was visible dirt on the carpet in the room. There was debris on the bathroom floor. The bathroom sink and counter were not clean and the mirror was streaked. And the bathtub drain took nearly ten minutes to empty and the tub itself was stained with residue. (You can only imagine what may have been bubbling up around my ankles as the tub filled during my shower due to the slow drain.) I chose this destination by necessity for its proximity to a necessary visit and the available choices were bleak by my standards, many earning poor reviews for safety or cleanliness concerns. The area can best be described as an economically depressed industrial zone surrounded by impoverishment and blight. I reluctantly paid over $200 for this room because on face it earned here the best reviews among properties in the area. Fortunately I will have no future need to visit this area nor this hotel. I have years of experience in tourism and generally use my reviews to applaud good visitor and guest service. I realize every business and institution has its occasional bad days and sometimes falls short and I very rarely post a negative review. But this deserves to be called out. I take Covid seriously and I assume if the most rudimentary cleaning chores were ignored when this room was serviced, then it most likely did not receive the thorough sanitizing of surfaces I expect. I strongly encourage travelers to stay elsewhere.

We stay at Hampton Inns across the country. The majority, even during Covid, have caring and helpful staff. This Hampton Inn did not stand up. None of our concerns were corrected during our stay. As simple as repairing the loose toilet seat and refilling the fitness center water tank - not corrected. We should have known when one of the beds in our room was not made when we arrived. Bath towels were not there either. Our daughter will be in college nearby for 4 years but we will never stay here again.