View from the Room: Homeward Suites by Hilton - Halifax, Canada

This is the hotel we chose after what we expected to be a glorious overnight train journey from Montreal. That trip in itself surpassed our expectations but it was still lovely to have all this space after being on a train - even one with wonderful observation decks and  a delightful restaurant carriage.Location - pretty perfect with great views over to the Citadel (if you look past the car park). It's also a few minutes walk to 'downtown' and the water and pretty much 10-15 minutes from the stunning must-see library, the main shopping street and in the other direction, the food market and the Canadian Museum of Immigration.Style/character - modern and comfortable suite. Luxury for solo travellers and spacious for families.Service - adequate and mostly friendly. Desk staff unable to advise us with confidence best way to get to an airport while the bridge is closed for long-term maintenance each weekend. (The lady was going to give us the number to call and then thought better of it and called herself. She didn't get through and perhaps should have offered to try again and let us have the information later) I always find I will state service as 'good' until there is an issue. However, staff were there for us in all departments whenever we needed so I'm perfectly happy.Value - excellent especially with free dinner Monday to Thursday and free hot drinks 24/7. Plus the laundrette service. It makes such a difference and I'll definitely stay in a Homeward Suites again, especially over the longer term.Room

• Heating – suspect, takes ages to warm up after tossing out cold air for a long time
• Power points 2 on each bedside, 6 at desk, 2 in kitchen
• Iron & board
• Plenty of storage everywhere
• Lighting – plenty all with separate easy controls
• Safe in the lounge

Bathroom

• Towels – fairly soft and in plentiful supply: three bath, three hand and two face, all
• Drawers – there were so many including three in the TV unit in the lounge
• Bedroom – six drawers in TV unit + two shelves and one in each bedside + a shelf.
• Shoe storage shelf
• Bathroom – with it's own door with vanity unit outside. Great design.
• Walk in wardrobe with ten hangers and shelf past the large vanity unit with two drawers and four open shelf units
• Very shallow but welcome bath. It's hard to keep the water in as the overflow sucks it out pretty quickly! Great shower curtain, soft tissues and toilet roll.
• Toiletries – just shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and bars of soap. (No shower cap, shoe shine or even shower gel to substitute as bubble bath)
• Overhead fixed shower
• Toothbrush charge point

Lounge

• The lounge has a sofa bed, large TV unit, ottoman/coffee table and good lighting and extra tables.
• Floor to ceiling windows in bedroom and lounge
• Desk and chair and plenty of storage.

Kitchen

• A roomy open kitchen linked to the lounge with a breakfast bar and two stools
• Kettle, toaster and Keurig machine (four pods left each day)
• A large fridge freezer, two-ring hob and plenty of cooking essentials including a dinner service for four.
• Microwave, kitchen towel roll, dish cloths, tea towels and some washing up liquid.
• Dishwasher (no tablets left, possibly as we were only there three nights)

BedroomMirrors – in right places, full length in walk in wardrobe.Large, comfortable bed with four pillows + spare blanket and pillowsFood & drinkKeruig machine in room and hot drinks  available 24/7 in ground floor receptionFree dinner Monday to Thursday. This is amazing and I've never seen it before. What a wonderful idea to have hot soups, pastas and other items available for those who have been out all day on day trips.Excellent hot buffet breakfast included with lashings of coffee in lovely big mugs.Hotel services

• Laundrette service – not needed on this occasion but fantastic option.
• Gym and a pool.
• Only two lifts which can get busy with 16 floors.
• Hot buffet dinner served every night Monday to Thursday

Overall, a great experience and could gladly have stayed in our spacious suite for a week.See the full article with photos on my travel blog: Reach up for the Sunrise