Hilton Garden Inn St. Louis Shiloh/O’Fallon IL Review

Booking & Stay Details

The year was coming to an end and I needed a few more nights and/or points to requalify for Hilton Diamond status. That’s why I decided to move from the TownePlace Suite just up the road to the Hilton Garden Inn St. Louis Shiloh/O’Fallon IL. I booked through the Hilton App on my smartphone.

Location

Be aware this hotel is located in O’Fallon in Illinois. St Louis is one of only a few towns who has two suburbs with the same name. There is also an O’Fallon, Missouri but it is on the opposite end of St Louis and is about a 50-minute drive away from this location.

From the Hilton Garden Inn St. Louis Shiloh/O’Fallon IL it is about a 20-minute drive to St Louis. The hotel is situated conveniently to the freeway if you need a hotel for the night on a road trip. It is far enough from the road so that noise is no issue.

There are a ton of restaurants located close to the hotel. Most of them are on the other side of the freeway. But it is a very short drive.

Parking

The hotel offers complimentary parking for all hotel guests.

Shuttle Service

There is no shuttle service offered by the hotel.

Check-In

Check-in was quick and easy. The usual ID verification and I was able to get my keys. They double checked if I wanted to keep my selection for points of $10 food and beverage credit for my stay. I pre-selected the points as I booked a rate with breakfast and didn’t plan to eat dinner at the hotel.

During the check-in process the agent wrote me all my breakfast vouchers for my 7-day long stay.

Check-In: 3 p.m.
Check-Out: 12 p.m.

1 Bedroom 1 King Sofabed Lakeview (Room 306)

Unfortunately, the hotel uses the old-style room keys with the magnetic strip where you have t swipe your room key to open the door. You enter the suite into the living space.

Living Space

It has a work desk with an office chair right next to the door. Behind the room door is a closet.

The rest of the living space is comprised of a sofa bed, sofa chair and a flatscreen TV on top of a dresser.

At the end of the living space, across from the bathroom is a small kitchenette. It comes with a coffee maker, sink, microwave and mid-size refrigerator. On top of the counter are two water bottles which are complimentary for Silver, Gold and Diamond Hilton members.  

The controls for the A/C unit is located on the wall outside of the bathroom. For whatever reason, it only controls the temperature of the living space. The system in the bedroom was broken.

Bathroom

The bathroom has vanity with a single washbasin and large mirror. Opposite the vanity is a shower bathtub combination unit. The hotel still uses single use plastic bottles for the shower amenities. The water pressure and temperature of the water is great. The pressure of the washbasin faucet is even too high.

Bedroom

The bedroom is separated from the living space by a door with a glass window. The King Bed comes with nightstands on either side. Opposite the bed is a dresser with another TV on top of it.

The TV’s can be used with the same remote but the channel list is completely different. Changing a channel on the TV in the living space takes forever.

A small closet is hidden behind another door in the bedroom. The window in the bedroom gives you a view of the big pond behind the hotel and of the hospital across the pond. The hotel calls it lake view room but I wouldn’t consider this man-made pond a lake. You also get a glimpse of the hotel’s garbage containers outside. So not a very scenic view.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

Half of the lobby is used for seating for the restaurant, which is mainly used during breakfast hours. The other half, near the front desk, has many chairs and seats to hang out and relax. There is also a fireplace in the lobby. From here you can also exit the lobby to get to the patio area just outside the lobby.

Business Center

The hotel’s business center is located along the hallway to the elevator. It is called Zoom Room but my keys did not work to open the door.  

Fitness Center

The fitness center has a good selection of workout equipment. It is next to the indoor pool. Windows in the fitness center overlook the pool area.

The gym is open 24 hours a day.

Pool

The hotel has a nice indoor pool. The pool area is very spacious and there are a few tables and chairs in the pool area.  

The pool area is open every day from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m.

Guest Laundry

There is a guest laundry facility at the hotel. It comes with 2 sets of washers and dryers. All of them are coin operated and laundry detergent can be purchased at the market next to the front desk.

Dry cleaning is also offered. According to the paperwork in the room, if you drop it off by 8 a.m. you will get it back the next day in the afternoon. I dropped my bag off Monday morning and received a phone call from one of the front desk agents that the dry-cleaning service won’t pick up laundry until Thursday.

Housekeeping

Housekeeping was offered every other day during my stay.

Dining

The Garden Grille & Bar is the hotel’s on-site restaurant. It serves breakfast and dinner.

Breakfast

The hotel offers three different breakfast options.  

• Continental Buffet $10
• Hot & Cold Buffet $13
• Cooked to Order Breakfast $15

The different options vary in price. The vouchers I received during check-in are good for any of the three breakfast options.  

The cooked to order breakfast menu is rather short. You only can select between a few items and it is the most expensive option. During my stay the waffle machine broke and that was not available anymore.

You can also choose to get a to-go box rather than dining in. That was my choice during the week as I started work early and wouldn’t make it to work on time otherwise.

The buffet selection is decent. The eggs were real eggs and good. However, the whole 7 days they only served hashbrowns once and all the other days breakfast potatoes.  

Dinner

The on-site restaurant also serves dinner and has a bar space as well. I never had dinner at the hotel.

Market

The market next to the front desk has a pretty good selection of snack items. You can also get brewed coffee there. It’s just regular brewed coffee sitting in a carafe. Other hotels offer complimentary coffee 24 hours a day but not at Hilton’s Garden Inn brand.

Conclusion

The stay at the Hilton Garden Inn St. Louis Shiloh/O’Fallon IL was good. It was nothing special. I worked a lot of long hours every day and just came back to the hotel to rest. Didn’t use any of the amenities besides breakfast. Breakfast was actually better than at the TownePlace Suites I stayed at before this stay at the Garden Inn. I was a bit annoyed how horrible dry-cleaning service is here but that won’t affect most people anyway.