Stayed for two nights in July for a company meeting. The location is great as it is in the inner harbor area and near Little Italy. There's a Whole Foods three blocks away, and other places to eat/drink in the area.

The room was clean, well appointed with flat screen TV. The maid service and the service in the breakfast area were great (the conference services were great as well). You have free access to a state-of-the-art gym which is FANTASTIC!

As for the weaknesses, I have to agree with other posters that the hotel must either replace most of the front desk staff or Hilton has to do some serious customer service training for those folks. They just don't have the right attitude to work at a hotel front desk.

Also, while the hotel offers free wireless and LAN internet connection, I found the strength of the connection very weak. I also use a Verizon cellphone which I couldn't use inside the hotel due to a very weak connection. I have never had ANY problems with Verizon coverage, and I travel quite a bit. But my my colleagues on T-Mobile also had connectivity issues . We had to go outside to make calls.

Anyway, it's a nice hotel physically, a nice location w/free access to a fantastic gym. If they fix their connectivity issues and train their front desk staff, then the hotel would be much improved.

After reading many reviews on TA, booked one double room for one night in July 2008. Wanted to be near the Inner Harbor and within walking distance to sites. This HGI in Harbor East was great. Room was very nice (similar to other HGI's that I've stayed in). Nice beds, nice bedding, flat screen tv, microwave, fridge. Small bathroom but nice. Room 1109 was very quiet, even with all of the Legg Mason construction outside. Breakfast buffet was good. Pantry store in lobby was useful with two kids. Parking is self-park around the block but was easy to get to the hotel lobby with the luggage. Not too bad. $25 was paid when we left the garage. We didn't use the car during our stay.

We walked to Fell's Point which was very fun. So many restaurants and bars. Many on the water. Took the water taxi back to Harbor East via Harbor Place and Rusty Scupper stops. HIghly recommend the water taxi. Fun and a wonderful view!

Only complaint was that the lowest temp the programmable thermometer could be set to was 65 degrees and there's no exhaust fan in the bathroom. So, after 4 showers, the room was VERY HUMID. Never felt cold.

We had mixed feelings about this hotel. The location was good, just minutes walk from all the inner harbor attractions. The hotel was clean and our room was standard hilton garden inn size and well furnished.
However, the service wasn't great. I'd booked a bed n breakfast package via the Hilton Garden Inn official website. However after having breakfast on the first day I was told by the waiter, and then by the restaurant manager that breakfast wasn't included and that the front desk had no record of me being on a breakfast inclusive deal. They even asked me for proof that I was on a breakfast inclusive deal. Fortunately I had a print out in my room that I could show them.
They were polite about it all but it left a bit of a bad taste, it was my daughters birthday and didn't start the day well. It was particularly annoying as they obviously thought they were right and I was wrong - I was just very glad that I'd printed off the confirmation.
The sheets in our room also weren't changed when requested, which is a minor point,but fairly indicative of the standards of the hotel.
All in all, if the service was improved this place could be ok, but I wouldn't stay again.

Just returned from a mini vacation at the HGI Inner Harbor. On the whole, this is really a great hotel, but by the same token it does have some very serious shortcomings that prospective guests should be aware of - particularly if they're travelling with children.

What bothered me most about the hotel is the fact that the large pools featured on their website - which were chief factors in our decision to stay there - are not actually owned by the hotel. Rather they're owned by the Maryland Atthletic Club, which operates within the hotel - which is all fine and good - except for the fact that they do not allow children under the age of 16 to use either of their two large pools. Children are subsequently limited to using their small therapy pool, which is more like an exceptionally large bath tub than a swimming pool (yes...really, the water is about 95 degrees, like bath water). The fitness club staff also seemed to take a rather condescending and attitude towards the hotel guests. One staff member I spoke with actually said "we're required to let you ( hotel guests) in." Almost as if to say, that if they could deny us access they would.

On the plus side, the hotel is exceptionally clean, bright open and inviting and our non-smoking guest room, although small, was equally clean and fresh smelling. The hotel is coveniently located just a few minutes walk from the Inner Harbor.