Talk about a tale of two hotels: The Good HGI and the Bad HGI. If you're into location and a clean, comfortable room, enjoy the Good HGI. Harbor East is a great spot - literally steps from the best Baltimore can offer. You can spend an entire weekend within a half-mile radius of the hotel and never run out of things to do. It's all there for you: Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Little Italy, water taxis, the aquarium, Starbucks, movies, live theatre, Maryland Athletic Club (MAC) and unique, upscale shopping. The hotel is priced right - even a bit of a bargain for Baltimore, and the smallish-rooms are bright and attractive. The only potential negative is that by Christmas the water view from the harbor-facing rooms may be blocked by the rising Four Seasons/Legg Mason towers.

If you need anything, anything at all, from the front desk, welcome to the Bad HGI. The attitude of the employees of the Bad HGI is somewhere south of indifferent. Regardless of the issue, you will be confronted with an unsmiling clerk with attitude. You will never hear "I'm sorry" regardless of the level of problem or disappointment you experience. Need a taxi? Well, we're too busy to call for you, but you can get one over at the Marriott you're told. Looking for a newspaper? No, we don't provide them, but you can get one over at the Marriott you're told. The obvious response is why am I staying here and not the Marriott? Call the front desk from your room for assistance - good luck getting someone to pick-up (although after about 40 rings, we called on our cell phone - holding the endlessly ringing internal phone in the other hand - and the call was answered in one ring. Bad HGI!

I had stayed here during President's Day weekend and this past weekend (July 19-20). The location is perfect, the gym facilities are state of the art and the service was very friendly and accommodating. I had read the other reviews regarding the service and I have to disagree. The gentlemen that were taking care of the front desk we very helpful. It only took about 10 minutes to check in and 2 minutes to check out. They kept the line to a minimum and it looked like everyone was in and out without any problems. The rooms are very clean and the beds were very comfy. The only complaint I have is that I wished they had a better gift shop, only because I forgot a hair brush and toothpaste that night.

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.