To: Hilton Customer Care
From: Terry Tingle
Acct: XXXXXXX95
Re: Very, very poor experience at Hilton property
I love writing notes to my preferred travel partners about great experiences. I rarely write about poor experiences, primarily because no one is perfect, and everyone eventually misses. But in this case, I feel that there are too many failures that should not go unchecked.
I traveled to Columbia, MO on Thursday February 14th, 2013 with reservations for 2 rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn. I also had 2 rooms reserved for the February 15th which I was hoping to release, but since I could not get a room with a king and a sofa sleeper (or a double), I had no choice but to take one of those rooms for one night. It’s been my experience that Hilton properties go above and beyond to take care of Gold members with respect to room requests, and I was hoping that I could get that service. WOW, was I ever wrong!
Let’s start with the most egregious of any error that could be committed by a hotel, that which involves the safety and security of the hotel guests. On Thursday, February 14th, we had two rooms – 114 and 120. At approximately 4:30 PM a young man entered room 120, and acted surprised (more like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar) when he found two adults in the room. When he was confronted with how he got in the room, he held up a room key and said he was looking for the pool. Apparently some hotels put swimming pools in guest rooms. Before any other conversation took place, he left the room and disappeared. We notified the front desk of this a short time later. Their response – “sorry.” No real probing how it happened, just sorry. In fact, their response was along the line of they mistakenly gave him a key, and assured us it would not happen again. Since we were working on the presumption that it should NEVER happen, this assurance meant nothing. No other comments. No other offers of apologies. Nothing really. In hindsight I assume that they wanted to ignore it and/or put it behind them.
The next morning, I caught wind of two rooms checking out early. I asked the guests if they had doubles or kings with sofa sleepers. They had doubles. Awesome for us as that this would solve our problem. I went back to the front desk and asked if we could move. They denied that anyone checked out early, and told us that we would have to likely get the additional room. Talking about feeling gouged! Again , no apologies. No explanations. Nothing other than “show me the money.”
At this point , I was honestly tempted to check out and get rooms at the Hampton Inn in Jefferson City. I let my family talk me out of it. Perhaps my biggest regret in years.
That night I returned to room 249 at approximately 10:30 PM for the evening. After 2 calls to the front desk seeking assistance to quell the noise from the neighboring rooms, I was eventually able to fall asleep at around 2 AM. I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 AM feeling like crap. This was, by far and away, the worst night that I ever had in a hotel and that title now belongs to a Hilton brand. Knowing the pride of Hilton in a good night's sleep, I did not think that this was possible.
Punch drunk from a horrible evening, and anxious to check out, I left room 249 and traveled to 120. Confident that we cleared that room, I went to room 114. After a frantic effort to gather our belongings, I visited the front desk, and made sure that I let them know that not only was I not 100% satisfied with this stay, it was perhaps the worst experience I have ever had in a hotel. Way below Hilton standards. I was told by Jamie that she would check with the manager on comping one night’s stay, and would definitely "post points" to my HHonors account. One week later and I’ve seen neither, but it gets worse.
After visiting my daughter’s apartment, we started to head out of town when I realized my iPad was not in my briefcase. I checked the tracking program from my iPhone, and the iPad registered as still at the hotel. I called and spoke with Jamie, relayed my problem, and told her I was on the way. Upon arrival, Jamie apologized (these apologies are really getting old) and said it was not there. When I told her that I had evidence to the contrary, she again apologized, and assured me that she would look into it.
Within the hour, my iPad dropped from my tracking program, meaning it was shut off or was disconnected from the network. I called later that evening, and was told it did not show up. I asked to speak with the GM, and they transferred me to his voice mail. I left a message that based on my memory of leaving it 114, and the tracking that it was at the hotel, I was confident that it was definitely at the hotel. I really wanted to speak with him prior to filing a police report.
Six days later and I still have not heard from him. Based on the fact that his staff gave a stranger a key to my room, his staff ignored my request for the room that suited my needs (presumably for an additional night’s room and tax), his staff could not provide with a sound night of sleep, and topped off with a stolen iPad, I guess I can see why he did not want to talk to me. But again, I expect more from a Hilton. (I did eventually hear from Jamie, and she acted surprised that I was expecting a call from the GM. She apologized on his behalf. Really? Another apology?)
I'd love to tell you that this story has a happy ending. The happy ending may be that I discover that Hyatt or Marriott can offer what Hilton does not. Stay tuned....
