Review: Hampton Inn Enterprise, Alabama

Shae and I recently visited Enterprise, Alabama for its 25th annual World’s Smallest St Patrick’s Day parade.

While there, we stayed at the Hampton Inn Enterprise – a great hotel and an even better bargain when using your Hilton Honors points.

Here’s a full review of our stay at the Hampton Inn, Enterprise in Alabama.

Check-In

Cody was the friendly front desk agent working when we checked in. As I had Diamond status with the Hilton Honors loyalty scheme, we were offered a couple of snacks or beverages in addition to the 250 bonus points that I’d chosen as my welcome amenity.

Check-in only took a few minutes and we were soon on our way to room 128.

Bedroom

As we entered the room, the bathroom and closet were on the left, with the main bedroom area ahead and to the left.

We’d booked a room with one king bed. The bed was very comfortable and so we got a good night’s sleep each night. The left side of the bed had a multi-plug outlet, while the right side of the bed had no unused outlets. I therefore had to unplug the clock radio in order to plug in my phone charger.

Opposite the bed was a dresser with a TV on top.

On the other side of the room was a desk, office chair and another chair, as well as a mini-fridge and microwave – two appliances we greatly appreciated having in the room.

Inside the closet was an iron and ironing board and an extra blanket.

Bathroom

The bathroom was clean and a fairly good size overall. On the left side was the sink and a long vanity, with a short wall separating it from the toilet.

The bathroom had the standard Neutrogena toiletries that are offered at Hampton Inn properties.

The shower area was nice and large, while the shower itself had good water pressure.

I’d initially thought that our room was missing a coffee maker, but it turned out to be in the bathroom. I’d missed it at first as it’s hidden behind the bathroom door when it’s open.

Breakfast

Breakfast was served every day from 6am to 10am; we appreciated that it was available so late rather than ending at 9:30am.

The food on offer was similar to what you get at all Hampton Inns. There was fresh fruit…

…breads, pastries, preserves and a toaster…

…as well as several hot options. These differed from day-to-day; the morning I took the photos there were omelets, French toast sticks and sausage patties. On other days there were breakfast potatoes, sausage links, scrambled eggs and more.

There was also oatmeal with various toppings…

…a waffle maker…

…cereals and milk…

…along with hard boiled eggs, yogurts and condiments.

In the breakfast area was a juice machine and water jug.

The lobby area had a 24/7 coffee station, but it doesn’t look like I took a photo of it. I was a little disappointed with the coffee station though; even though neither Shae nor I drink coffee, I tried to make a cup of tea on several occasions. Every single time the “hot” water was barely warm. It might have been an issue with the hot water container though as I think the staff got fresh coffee and hot water every few hours or so.

The breakfast situation was also disappointing though because nearly every morning there were several empty items. The morning I took the photos, there were no hard boiled eggs or yogurts; that was a consistent theme as I think I only saw those items on one of the five mornings we were there.

There were often breads or pastries missing, sometimes there were barely any hot options, while the fresh fruit salad was also often empty. One morning, a staff member brought out a large container of fruit salad to replenish the empty serving tray, but only added enough for one or two more servings. I’m all for reducing food wastage, but not when it means that several food options are unavailable for guests because the person in front of them took the last serving.

On the positive side, there was plenty of seating for breakfast. There were several tables and chairs, as well as a longer table in the center of the room where larger families / groups of friends could sit together.

Amenities

The Hampton Inn Enterprise has several amenities for guests. There’s an outdoor swimming pool with a fair amount of seating around it.

The fitness room wasn’t particularly big, but had a few pieces of equipment, weights and medicine balls.

There’s a guest laundry area you can use which was helpful for us seeing as we live in hotels & Airbnbs full-time now. Both the washer and dryer only cost $1 each which is good value.

If you need laundry detergent, you can find that in an area by the front desk which also has snacks, beverages and toiletries.

If you need internet access while staying at the hotel, there’s a business center containing a couple of computers and a printer.

The Wi-Fi at the hotel was a little frustrating. You have to reconnect every 24 hours, but for whatever reason we had to restart our computers every day as it wouldn’t let us reconnect without doing that.

Pet-Friendliness

The Hampton Inn Enterprise accepts small dogs (their website doesn’t specify what size they classify as small though). Their pet fee is $50 per stay which isn’t bad, especially if you’re staying for more than a night or two. As we stayed there for five nights, it effectively made the fee $10 per night.

There were several good-sized grassy areas where pets could be taken to do their stuff.

Service

All of the staff we came into contact with at the hotel were good, but Cody deserves a special mention.

She was very friendly and extremely professional all the time. Shae and I were working in the lobby one evening and a family were trying to check in, but their reservation through Expedia wasn’t showing up in the hotel’s system. Cody spent ages trying to get it resolved and remained calm and professional with the guests throughout, despite their frustration.

Location

The Hampton Inn is in a great location for everything in the city. It’s walking distance to several restaurants (including Shane’s Rib Shack and the Mellow Mushroom), 20 minutes to Fort Rucker and only five minutes from downtown Enterprise with its Boll Weevil Monument, Walmart and John Henderson Family Park.

We went to John Henderson Family Park several times during our stay as it has a great dog park. There’s also a large pond, walking trails, picnic tables, a playground for kids and more.

Cost

We paid using points as the Hampton Inn Enterprise only cost 10,000 points per night during our stay. Hilton Honors offers the 5th night free on award stays to members with status, so our five nights only cost 40,000 points, an average of 8,000 points per night.

Hilton changed the way their loyalty scheme works in 2017, allowing their properties to charge more or fewer points based on demand. The 10,000 point rate might therefore not be available all year round.

If we hadn’t used points, the cost for our stay would’ve been $113.62 per night. This represents a value of 1.42cpp (cents per point) which is excellent value for Hilton Honors as most people value their points in the 0.4-0.5cpp range.

It gets better though. Hilton were running a promotion during our stay called Points Unlimited. This offered 2,000 bonus points per stay, even on award stays. Due to my Diamond status, I also earned 250 bonus points as my MyWay earning preference.

That meant our stay had a net cost of 37,750 points, so we got a value of 1.50cpp from our points.

Final Thoughts

We enjoyed our stay at the Hampton Inn Enterprise. Our room was comfortable, it had some good amenities and their staff (especially Cody) were friendly.

The lack of hot water for tea most days wasn’t great, but it wasn’t a huge issue seeing as we had a coffee maker in our room, plus I have a small electric kettle in our portable kitchen. The breakfast was also a little disappointing at times due to items not being refilled. The worst part was the Wi-Fi situation though as I always seemed to have to reconnect when in the middle of working on stuff, but had to restart my computer in order to do that.

Overall though, the pet-friendly Hampton Inn Enterprise, Alabama is a good choice if you need somewhere to stay in the area, especially if you have Hilton Honors points you can use.

Truffles Approval Rating

Truffles gives this hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! She enjoyed having grassy areas to walk around at the hotel, as well as being so close to such a nice dog park.

Our Rating

Room = 4.4 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.3 / 5
Food = 4.1 / 5
Location = 4.6 / 5
Service = 4.6 / 5
Overall Value = 4.7 / 5

Total = 4.45 / 5

Address

Hampton Inn, 8 West Pointe Court, Enterprise, AL 36330