Hilton HHonors - Hilton Vienna Plaza Disapoints - sorta

When attempting to check in for a 3 night stay we were told "Unfortunetly we do not have a room availabile for tonight and we will be sending you to the Hiton Vienna Danube for the night". After questioning this as I had a reservation and received a conformation email (looking forward to your upcoming stay..). I reminded them of my Silver status which they acknowledged but said nothing could be done.
The biggest issue was they did not really say they were sorry or appologize at the time. I requested some compensation and they offered to upgrade me on my return the next day. I demanded dinner as well which they agreed to (80 Euro - which does not go very far there actually).
There ride back and forth to the other hotel, packing/unpacking, etc. took a good chuck out of our limited vacation time in Vienna.
However, the next day when we returned they were much more appologetic and helpful.
I had sent an angry email to Hilton CS but they have not yet responded other than a form letter. I don't expect much but I'd like to know why they bumped us from the room.
(We did see Donald Sutherland in the executive lounge and my story is going to be that he bumped us from our room.) ;)

Why did they bump you? They just overbooked (it happens), so they needed to walk you (industry term for putting you at another hotel for the night). Were you comped the night at the other property (and, naturally, not charged for the first night at the Hilton Vienna Plaza)? If that's not the case, I would request that processed immediately. And writing angry letters rarely gets the results you want - much more productive approach is a calm letter succinctly describing the issue and specifying what exactly you request in compensation.

Why did they bump you? They just overbooked (it happens), so they needed to walk you (industry term for putting you at another hotel for the night). Were you comped the night at the other property (and, naturally, not charged for the first night at the Hilton Vienna Plaza)? If that's not the case, I would request that processed immediately.

They did not tell me why - they just said they did not have a room available. (We checked in at 2PM so it was not like we got there very late).
They did not comp us the cost of the other hotel room for the first night (but only charged us for 2 nights at the Plaza). This trip was partly for business so getting the comp doesn't help me much - does help the company but they probably will not appreciate it even if I went to the effort to get it.

And writing angry letters rarely gets the results you want - much more productive approach is a calm letter succinctly describing the issue and specifying what exactly you request in compensation.

True. But it made me feel better at the time.

They did not tell me why.

Sorry for not being completely clear - I was not really asking the question; just repeating yours and answering it... ;)

photo_guy:

Overbooking happens. Walking happens. It's unfortunate, but the host hotel has an obligation to you: Paying for your first night stay at another, comparable hotel, as well as associated relocation costs and (normally) one long distance phone call made from the hotel phone to inform friends/family/ colleagues of your situation.

Why were you walked at 2pm? Well, imagine you had arrived at 2am to find that your room wasn't available... I'm sure you'd much rather deal with it in daylight!

Ok, lets summarize: You as a (sorry) HH nothing (aka silver) got walked. This is not the best thing what can happen to you but it happend and it happens once in a while. You diid not pay for the one night, the hotel gave you 80 Euro for dinner, you were upgraded to executive level for the remaining two nights of your stay.

The question is: What else would you expect. Unfortunately you do not give any indication. Without making any (reasonable) claim, nobody can consider any compensation.

... You diid not pay for the one night, ...Actually, the OP did have to pay for that one night at the other property:...
They did not comp us the cost of the other hotel room for the first night ...

Ok, lets summarize: You as a (sorry) HH nothing (aka silver) got walked. This is not the best thing what can happen to you but it happend and it happens once in a while. You diid not pay for the one night, the hotel gave you 80 Euro for dinner, you were upgraded to executive level for the remaining two nights of your stay.

The question is: What else would you expect. Unfortunately you do not give any indication. Without making any (reasonable) claim, nobody can consider any compensation.


I understand this happens and I understand that, in the scale of things a Silver member is pretty low on the pecking order.

A few minor clarifications:
1) I did not get a free night - that was not offered and was not sure if it was proper to request that. I payed for the night at the other location. (They did comment that I was fortunate that it was less expensive at the other location and I should be happy).
2) The Upgrade was offered but dinner was not. I had to start making requests/demands to get that. At first they did not even metion paying for our ride to/from the other location. They did say OK when I demanded it.

What did I expect that I did not get? We would have been much happier if they were a bit more appologetic when this first happened. We did not get appolgies until the next day. At that point they were falling over themselves to be helful and try to make ammends. (Hence the "sorta" in my title for this thread.)

If something like this happens in the future, ask to speak to the Manager of the hotel. And if you want to complain [or compliment] after departure, again - email the Manager. IME you'll get a far more satisfying response.