Flying Buccaneer
Oct 26, 10, 7:46 am
I have stayed at the HI CC 9 times in the past three years, and the quality of the service I have received has always been inconsistent. The most recent stay was my worst by far, but more about that later.
Location: Being a short walk from the Civic Center BART/Muni Station makes it convenient. I have read some negative comments regarding the homeless and street people in the area, but you see that all over San Francisco.
Facilities: The hotel has undergone a renovation during the past year, so it's much nicer than it was before the upgrade. The lobby is actually inviting, unlike the old lobby which was drab and cramped. There are still some issues with the rooms, though. The sliding doors to the balcony are tough to open and close, there is noise from the hallways, and the hot water can take some time to get hot.
Priority Club Recognition: I was Platinum during my two most recent stays. The first was on points, and the only room I could book was a 2-double bed room and that is what they gave me. The second was a paid stay. I booked a king room and got a king room on the 14th floor. Access to the 12th and 14th floors is restricted. Other than that, I see no difference from other floors. I think all PC members are given a coupon for a drink in the bar, but there was no recognition of my status, other than an "upgrade" to the 14th floor on my most recent stay.
Other: On my most recent stay, I returned from dinner to find that the hotel's wifi was not working at all. I called the hotel operator to report the problem, and she told me that it would be down until the next afternoon at the earliest. I have stayed in hotels where the wifi was flaky, but I have never stayed someplace where there was a long-term outage. I asked her what the issue was and she connected me to someone who was supposedly a manager. His attitude was very dismissive. He said that they were surprised by it too, but the provider decided to go ahead and change systems without telling them. Interestingly, the wifi was working OK before dinner (around 5 p.m.), but not when I returned after 7 p.m. I find it odd that the provider decided to wait until the evening to change the system. Why didn't the provider or hotel have some sort of back-up system in place for guests? I asked the manager what guests who needed wifi were supposed to do. He said that the business center was free because of the wifi being down. That's OK if you don't need to use your own computer or if you don't mind waiting to use one of the two computers for the 389-room hotel. The other options? Move to the Whitcomb or get a refund and look for another place to stay (in the evening without the ability to see online what was available).
The day i checked out, I sent an email to Priority Club. Later that evening, I received an email response from the hotel's guest relations manager with a general apology that did not address my concerns. In fact, I received two identical responses within the space of 30 seconds, one addressed to me and one addressed to someone else and both sent to my email address. Nice.
I responded again the next day, and after not receiving a response for 4 more days, I contacted Priority Club once again. They sent an apology, offered 3000 points, and said my comments would be forwarded to the hotel. That was a week ago, and I still have not received a response.
I've always considered the HI CC a decent alternative when my favorite SF hotels were full or prohibitively expensive. As someone who relies on the internet to access work and personal email, make travel arrangements, and check the status of flights, I consider the lack of a reliable internet connection to be a serious flaw. Even worse was the response of hotel management during my stay and in the two weeks since then. I won't return.
Location: Being a short walk from the Civic Center BART/Muni Station makes it convenient. I have read some negative comments regarding the homeless and street people in the area, but you see that all over San Francisco.
Facilities: The hotel has undergone a renovation during the past year, so it's much nicer than it was before the upgrade. The lobby is actually inviting, unlike the old lobby which was drab and cramped. There are still some issues with the rooms, though. The sliding doors to the balcony are tough to open and close, there is noise from the hallways, and the hot water can take some time to get hot.
Priority Club Recognition: I was Platinum during my two most recent stays. The first was on points, and the only room I could book was a 2-double bed room and that is what they gave me. The second was a paid stay. I booked a king room and got a king room on the 14th floor. Access to the 12th and 14th floors is restricted. Other than that, I see no difference from other floors. I think all PC members are given a coupon for a drink in the bar, but there was no recognition of my status, other than an "upgrade" to the 14th floor on my most recent stay.
Other: On my most recent stay, I returned from dinner to find that the hotel's wifi was not working at all. I called the hotel operator to report the problem, and she told me that it would be down until the next afternoon at the earliest. I have stayed in hotels where the wifi was flaky, but I have never stayed someplace where there was a long-term outage. I asked her what the issue was and she connected me to someone who was supposedly a manager. His attitude was very dismissive. He said that they were surprised by it too, but the provider decided to go ahead and change systems without telling them. Interestingly, the wifi was working OK before dinner (around 5 p.m.), but not when I returned after 7 p.m. I find it odd that the provider decided to wait until the evening to change the system. Why didn't the provider or hotel have some sort of back-up system in place for guests? I asked the manager what guests who needed wifi were supposed to do. He said that the business center was free because of the wifi being down. That's OK if you don't need to use your own computer or if you don't mind waiting to use one of the two computers for the 389-room hotel. The other options? Move to the Whitcomb or get a refund and look for another place to stay (in the evening without the ability to see online what was available).
The day i checked out, I sent an email to Priority Club. Later that evening, I received an email response from the hotel's guest relations manager with a general apology that did not address my concerns. In fact, I received two identical responses within the space of 30 seconds, one addressed to me and one addressed to someone else and both sent to my email address. Nice.
I responded again the next day, and after not receiving a response for 4 more days, I contacted Priority Club once again. They sent an apology, offered 3000 points, and said my comments would be forwarded to the hotel. That was a week ago, and I still have not received a response.
I've always considered the HI CC a decent alternative when my favorite SF hotels were full or prohibitively expensive. As someone who relies on the internet to access work and personal email, make travel arrangements, and check the status of flights, I consider the lack of a reliable internet connection to be a serious flaw. Even worse was the response of hotel management during my stay and in the two weeks since then. I won't return.