Hilton HHonors - Hilton Woodland Hills Trip Reports and Reviews

Just wanted to compliment the staff at the Woodland Hills CA Hilton. Very professional group of Hilton employees. Cheerfully answered my repeated phone calls for 1) directions due to my forgetting that there is no exit for Canoga off 101 from the East and 2)help with receiving my lost golf clubs before checkin (thanks a lot NW, I had a new set all picked out hoping they be lost forever). Restaurant staff was polite even at 6:30 on Saturday morning. I was upgraded to a 12th floor Executive room with great view of the mountains (wonder if the executive floor rooms are any different from non executive floor rooms) with free full breakfast and two bottles of water in room. Executive lounge was closed for the weekend but I prefer hot breakfast anyway so no big deal. Only complaint is the $8 night parking fee and distance from the hotel to the parking garage. All in all a very enjoyable stay. Now if Hilton could just do something about the horrendous traffic in LA !

I've had about 8-10 stays and 20-25 nights at this property in the past 18 months and they are always great. During the week they handle all of your check-in/out upstairs in the lounge. The upgrade rate for me has been about 90% and the rooms all have high-speed internet access. Another great thing about this property is that they give you a pass to the gym next door, which is one of the best facilities in the area.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Soonerman:
Just wanted to compliment the staff at the Woodland Hills CA Hilton. Very professional group of Hilton employees. Cheerfully answered my repeated phone calls for 1) directions due to my forgetting that there is no exit for Canoga off 101 from the East and 2)help with receiving my lost golf clubs before checkin (thanks a lot NW, I had a new set all picked out hoping they be lost forever). Restaurant staff was polite even at 6:30 on Saturday morning. I was upgraded to a 12th floor Executive room with great view of the mountains (wonder if the executive floor rooms are any different from non executive floor rooms) with free full breakfast and two bottles of water in room. Executive lounge was closed for the weekend but I prefer hot breakfast anyway so no big deal. Only complaint is the $8 night parking fee and distance from the hotel to the parking garage. All in all a very enjoyable stay. Now if Hilton could just do something about the horrendous traffic in LA ! </font>


&gt;&gt;&gt; Love this hotel! Good post.
This property is one of my favorites. Weird, as I am a relative local(and where I grew up). The staff are wonderful, rooms are huge and comfortable, and the lounge(sorry you missed it), is nice and spacious. Lot's of goodies for bkst, which I did and skipped the freebie downstairs. Was on the 15th floor http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. It just doesn't get much easier. Views of the SFV are incomprable. I had a room facing South-mountains, where I grew up, so sentimental http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

I still need to check out their gym, but I belong to Spectrum, all over LA, so nothing big.

As for the 101, fyi, Canoga has an exit East to West, but not the reverse, I know, a pain, have to go to DeSoto and backtrack.

As for our traffic, from your mouth to God's ears http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. About the only way something will be done about it. The only thing I have seen people do about our traffic: move, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.


------------------
Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

"Only complaint is the $8 night parking fee and distance from the hotel to the parking garage "

&gt;&gt;&gt; So sorry, almost forgot. I wanted to comment on this. I don't like the $$$ for parking, but I will tell you, it is an expensive commercial area. I used to work in the building across from the Hilton and the monthly for parking is $$$$$$$. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif The parking(service fee http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) for lunch at the nextdoor cheesecake factory is about $3 for a lunch, crazy. However, I recommend, go visit. The food is wonderful!!! A very good place to entertain if needed.

Also, use valet, it is the same cost, plus, of course, tip. I am good with the tips here as the valet are nice and helpful. Also, it is a good security precaution, as those garages are big. Hope this helps for next time.......

$8 a night is not really too bad for that area. I work about a half mile from there and most garages are in the $10/day range.

In hindsight I suppose the $8 parking fee is not all that bad considering I pay close to $20 per day for the pleasure of parking at the DT, ES and HGI in New Orleans. Just a little surprised that a parking fee was charged at all since the hotel is pretty much out of LA. Talk about a nice property. I was at the Westlake Village Inn for a wedding and they have free parking! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The cost for parking here was very low compared to all places, the Hilton in Pittsburg. The parking was a hefty $21.00. Granted this was Valet, but if you didn't use them, you had to walk over a block away to park. This isn't that good when it's late at night and very little lighting between the parking area and the hotel.

I'm going to throw cold water on this, since I checked out of the hotel about 4 hours ago, and met the most incredible incompetence I've seen in a while. The clerk, an older gentleman, couldn't handle the fact that I wanted the parking charge they had erroneously added to the bill removed (Yes, I had an $8 parking tab, but not $8 twice.... I arrived at 11pm, and was checking out at 7am.) He just couldn't seem to be able to remove it. He fiddled and fiddled, seemingly re-typing my bill over and over, while about 8 others checked out at the clerk next to him. Finally I suggested that he ask for help.

Not only was he rude, but when I asked to confirm that the HHONORS number, the AA FF# and my Thrifty bonus were in the record (nothing shows on their invoice), it was as if I had asked for something special. He assured me they were, then said they weren't, took my number an inputted them (all this after my "Zip check in", which should have been routine); then, neither he nor the other fellow could get the Thrifty bonus in---- hell, they sort of denied it existed.

As a diamond, with 12 stays so far this year, this is the most incompetence I've encountered. If it's true you can check out in the lounge, I'll try that. But I must say I'm not too anxious to run back.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SST:
I'm going to throw cold water on this, since I checked out of the hotel about 4 hours ago, and met the most incredible incompetence I've seen in a while.

As a diamond, with 12 stays so far this year, this is the most incompetence I've encountered. If it's true you can check out in the lounge, I'll try that. But I must say I'm not too anxious to run back. </font>


&gt;&gt;&gt; I am surprised by this. I have never seen the older man in question-the staff at this hotel have been nothing but professional... Please try it again, I think you will be impressed...

First the good. My nephew (brothers son) and I flew from the east coast and stayed at this property fri-sun jan 31-feb 2nd. We are both Gold VIPs.

We arrived around 2:30 and were "upgraded" to a Towers floor. Of course on the weekend, their Towers lounge is closed. They did provide us with full breakfast buffet coupons. So far, so good.

We were there for a family event, a bar mitzvah (his mothers, younger brother's son), which were to be held on saturday after services.

He was excited, (he's 31) his mother is deceased, and he has several close cousins, uncle and aunt in this branch of his family.

He knew that there were evening services around 5 at the temple, but did not know the exact time of family pictures. He tried with his cell phone to call his uncle (the bar mitzvah boys father) and home, but neither answered....big day, big weekend, everyone was very busy.

We get to the evening services and they are in disbelief.....where were you?? We don't understand. Didn't you get the note we left for you at the hotel???? We dropped it off at 10am this morning. We took family pictures.....you missed them!!!

My nephew was visibly upset, almost shaking. We went to an informal dinner at one of his aunts home, and he remained distracted and fuzzy for much of the night.

When we returned to the hotel, we stopped at the front desk, and they said oh yes, there was a note for you and we slid it under your door.

When I pointed out to them that the note hat been dropped off at 10am, the desk person checked the computer and indicated that the fact that a note was there for us had been entered in the computer st the desk person at check in should have known. The person apologized that it had not been given to us at check-in....duh...what kind of business are they in! The apology seemed semi-sincere. I said semi because it seemed to me that that verbal recognition by the front desk staff seemed to that person as that they had satisfactorily done there job, and that now all should be right in the world.

As I thought about this over night, I got madder and madder. I realized that indeed my nephew had missed these family pictures; pictures given the age of some of the family members, and the fact that they are on the west coast and he on the east coast, would NEVER be replicated.

More troubling, professionally (and this is supposed to be a Towers facility in a business center) is that the delivery of a document for a guest &lt;or lack of delivery&gt;(in our case personal, but at other times for me and you professional) appeared to be no big deal to the front desk staff.

In the morning, I went again to the front desk and asked to speak to the manager on duty. I, as clearly as possible, tried to explain what had occurred and how it had effected one of thier guests/customers (a gold vip). I was professionally courteous. That is, my voice was calm and I was careful to use only proper words, but the nature of the problem was direct and to the point.

Sadly, I received the same response from this "manager" as the front desk person the night before.

Quite frankly, there is nothing this facility can do to ever make up for the lost transaction (in our case personal, but perhaps for one of you business), yet although expressing our discomfort and indicating that the damage was irreperable, I did expect that eventually there would be some recognition by management that they had done something incorrectly. In fact, perhaps this is wrong, but I walked away from my contacts that the people I spoke to would "cover" for their buddy, as opposed to making sure of the smoothness of the guests experience.

Three weeks have gone by. Neither my nephew or I have received any written or verbal comminication from management. Disappointing.

The Ugly: We used Valet parking. "Call us 5 minutes before you need your car or leave a message on our voice mail and your car will be there." A bit later on saturday morning we were heading out and I needed my car.

I called 20 minutes before I needed it, and got the voice mail. Clearly gave the ticket number and room number. When we got to the Valet area the car was not there. There were 3 men on duty. "Where is my car?" Well we were a little busy. "I left a voice mail." Oh, what is your ticket number...I handed it to the valet. Another gentleman exits the hotel almost immediately after this and hands his ticket with a $1 bill to the valet. Guess whose car appears first? In fact, when I pointed this out to the valet, he said oh yes we're getting it it will be here soon.

I indicated to him that having contacted the voice mail, what is now almost 25-30 minutes ago that my car should have been here. He told me "this is my name, you can tell the people at the front desk."

Now I finally got it. They don't care. They know (front desk, valet employees) that management must just not care. That enough money is rolling in that proper service is not important to them. The employees are not held to task when they mess up, the employees can do what works for them, and "good luck" to the guests.

I have stayed at this facility 2 or 3 times before and it had in the past been a plesant experience. It is the attitude and efforts of the staff there now (at least those working that weekend) that makes me feel that this is a substandard facilty, attempting to present the facade that they are an Executive property.

If you are going to be staying there... I wish all the best of luck.



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US CP,Starwood gold
HHonors gold,
Hyatt diamond

Sorry to hear that this happened to you, but what I would do is take your posting (removing any inflammatory remarks), stick it on letterhead and send it to the General Manager of the hotel and to Hilton and HHonors. Make sure you mention that you've stayed at the hotel previously and that you're very disappointed in the reactions of the staff and would seriously consider staying elsewhere when traveling to the area the next time. I've done this a few times and wound up with some nice swag (although it works best with the airlines).

First, I am very sorry to her the hotel screwed up your pans. That is terrible and you should be WELL compensated.

However, I would place an ALMOST equal amount of blame on the person that relied solely on the hotel to make sure you received such an important message.

Again, it is the hotel's screw up, but if it were me who needed to get a time critical message to someone, I would not stop at leaving a message for them at the front desk. I would demand they handed the note to you in person, indicate the message light on your phone, callme back with a verbal confirmation of delivery, as well as make repeated telephone calls to the room.

If these measures we taken, it would have helped ensure timely arrival.

Again, if you get voicemail or a busy signal at valet, call the front desk and demand they walk to valet and get a verbal confirmation that your car will be ready 30 minutes prior to your coming down.

My wife used to think I was being rude by letting the car sit in their way for a half an hour until the same thing happened to her. Now she has a different idea on what rude is. Rude is being forced to wait for your car after you've called ahead.

When there are steps we can take (even though we sholuldn't have to) to ensure our own smooth trip, we must take them and not lay blame on the others. Let's face it, they are often incompetant and if you need something done the way you want it, then you have to personally supervise.

This is with every hotel, even the best. The next guy could stay there and have a compeltely perfect experience.

And defeintly write a letter to the hotel and informthem that you are posting your dislikes on FlyerTalk with 30k members.

This "messages getting lost" thing seems to be a Hilton Trademark, in my opinion. I've had messages undelivered to me in the last year at the Paris Hilton (Three times), Sacramento, BWI Airport, and a couple of others.

I've been so disappointed by this that I now specifically tell people to either call me on my cellphone or just forget it.

And I'll second the "uncaring" comment, because nobody, anywhere, seemed to think it was a big deal. I missed seeing a friend in Paris because of it, and I *do* consider that a big deal.

We stayed at this hotel over New Years. Since I'm not even Gold, we got an ordinary room. They claimed to have received an award for the best 2001 renovation. We agreed the room was OK, not fabulous, and -- if renovated -- was already looking a bit worn.

They forgot to make up my kid's room one day, and when we discovered it at 4pm, they alleged it was "too late." I asked for a rebate on the room and they discovered it wasn't "too late" after all.

If you self-park, don't violate any parking structure rules, no matter how silly they seem.

Biggest plus for this hotel: adjacent to the "Cheesecake Factory" restaurant.

A standard, average hotel; acceptable with nothing in particular to recommend it.

Though it was a special event that they screwed up with the note there is a limit. I mean that is why when ya film gets developed if something happens you only get a free roll..
Ask yourself this.. If the note wasn't screwed up then you wouldn't have been pissed about the valet. And they could have called to make sure you knew..
I think you should get points for half a nite at the hotel/maybe a full nite and an apology. But it was an honest mistake that can occur everywhere

And btw: Were you both REAL gold vips? cause your nephew being a gold vip seems to mean that he was given status. The hotel may have saw that and put less weight if u keep on waving it at them.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by welookgood.com:
your nephew being a gold vip seems to mean that he was given status. </font>He's 31!

starboy340, definitely write a letter, as was already suggested. You've got to be a squeaky wheel.

You should copy, or threaten to copy, AAA (http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline.woa/6008/wo/kd5B6HFlOgp72t8qAx8CE12POMk/20.11.29) and ExxonMobil (http://www.exxonmobiltravel.com/mtg_home_prop.jsp?id=21775) travel guides. Both guides rate them 3 diamonds/stars respectively. Being downgraded to 2 would be a serious problem for them.

Decide what you want ahead of time. Don't take their first offer. If you want cash, don't accept points. If you want points, make sure they make it worth your while. For this situation, I'd value points at $0.005 each.

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

If you really wanty sometime comp to Hilton Diamond based on Hyatt Diamond. then u have more power..

but really your nephew is a gold through promotion. i mean if u were just gold it would mean more value. but if i was a hotel clerk and saw a teenager (who cant get a room by himself) and u as bboth golds it would just devalue it

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by welookgood.com:
If you really wanty sometime comp to Hilton Diamond based on Hyatt Diamond. then u have more power...</font>

Does Hilton comp Diamond status? I am Hyatt Diamond (comped originally but WELL on my way to earning) and Starwood Platinum (earned). I don't stay as much at Hiltons because it is hard to give up the great treatment as Hyatt Diamond and Starwood Platinum while earning yet another top elite level.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Rut Dog:
Originally posted by welookgood.com:
your nephew being a gold vip seems to mean that he was given status. </font>He's 31!


Exactly - how this has anything to necessarily to do with how he achieved status is irrelevant. After all, I'm 29 myself, and not only did I make Gold on stays last year, I'm on my way to doing it again this year.

"Nephew" doesn't always mean young. It means your sibling's son - that's all.

Mike

Thanks all for your replys, they have been interesting to read and ponder.

First lets answer the question of my nephew, Andy's gold status. Yes, he came in under a promo for 4/5 stays. He is 31, completing a Phd in BioMedical Engineering and starting to work in April for a pharmeceutical company in NJ, making as much money as I do. He loves to travel and has oodles of airline points. He is exactly the type of young professional that the marketing people want to toss the promos at to build a loyal clientele.

Like nako, in a year or two he will be earning his status. the question is will he be loyal to Hilton, or Starwood, or Marriott or Hyatt,etc..

With that out of the way. the status is not crucial to the problem. It was the lack of handling things according to common sense and the hotels own procedures. Also the attitude that it "is no big deal and who cares", really stings.

Bluehen, PaulGQ, and Rut Dog, I will take your advice and send out those letters at the beginning of the week.

...and yes I probably only would have been a little put out and maybe smiled at the valet thing if the other thing hadn't happened first. I'm always the guy with the $ bill in my hand with the ticket, and I do tip valets both coming in and out (will review that for the future)...

The real problem is, it is not me who took the hit. It was Andy. He was the one who suffered most, indelibly. I guess when I write the letter should consider how to direct any response his way.

Will happily welcome any suggestions to fine tune this for Andy....thanks for everyone's help so far.....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by onedog:
Does Hilton comp Diamond status? I am Hyatt Diamond (comped originally but WELL on my way to earning) and Starwood Platinum (earned). I don't stay as much at Hiltons because it is hard to give up the great treatment as Hyatt Diamond and Starwood Platinum while earning yet another top elite level.

</font>

I was Hyatt Plat and they comped me to Hilton Silver, which I thought was pretty worthless and caused me to rethink any Hilton plans I might have in 2003.

Now I am Hyatt Diamond, and I am not very tempted to try again, should I?

By the way, I don't use valets...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/08/48hours/printable528682.shtml

Oops. Left something out (unintentional), that if anything makes the front desks non-effort even more of a concern(at least to me).

For this trip, Andy(nephew) and I had cut a travel deal. I got hom a roundtrip first class award airplane ticket, and he would take care of the Hotel room at the Woodland Hills Hilton with HIS HHonors points.

We were staying on an award stay. The note in question, not delivered at check-in, was for a guest who was a gold vip, paying for the stay with award points.

Am I mistaken, does this make not him more credible and the error even more of a serious omission?

I stayed here last weekend and had no problems whatsoever. Checked in late Friday night at the $71 AAA rate and they had already assigned me to a Tower room on the 15th Floor complete with free bottled water, robes, etc.
Alas no lounge on weekend (rather typical) but they did give us breakfast coupons for each day. Also all hotel guests have free access to the LA Fitness club across from the hotel entrance (not to be confused with the upscale LA Sports chain) which was rather mediocre by health club standards (i.e. bring your own towel) but much better than the gyms at most hotels.

Overall I thought the rooms were a small cut above the W.H. Marriott, my only complaints were:

(1) No a.m. newspaper delivery (I guess they couldn't cut a deal with the LA Times, though the LA Daily News was free at the concierge)

(2) No room service between midnight and 6am, further exacerbated by lack of minibar or even hotel bar. Your only option for late night food is to drive to the nearest Tommy's or Jerry's Deli, assuming you have a car.

(3) Lack of in-room refrigerators or minibars.

FYI - It is not too difficult to avoid the absurd parking fees if you are willing to walk a long block or two past the cheesecake factory as there is plenty free street parking at the next intersection. DO NOT PAY ridiculous valet charges for parking in the suburbs (unless you are in a rush or can expense it).

FYI - It is not too difficult to avoid the absurd parking fees if you are willing to walk a long block or two past the cheesecake factory as there is plenty free street parking at the next intersection.

For the benefit of non-locals, I presume Boraxo is talking about parking on Erwin Street, between Owensmouth and Variel.

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=BS4YHep_0TqKAXn0VHCURZOlZZ0-&csz=Woodland+Hills%2C+CA&country=us



Craig6z

For the benefit of non-locals, I presume Boraxo is talking about parking on Erwin Street, between Owensmouth and Variel.


Yes, that's it! I wasn't driving on this trip and didn't make a note of the street name.

Free validated parking is also available from the Cheesecake Factory next to the hotel (though probably not overnight) :D

I should note for the record that since my stay (above) with the addled old gentleman at the desk, I have stayed once more this past year, and neither the addled old fellow or the problem have resurfaced. In fact, the staff was pretty professional, despite not being able to tell me where to go OTHER than the hotel for a drink (early in the week, the bar had NOBODY in it and it was about 10 Pm. I know the area pretty well, so I was just seeking suggestions rather than going to the nearby TGI Fridays, but they had none).

The morning breakfast at the executive lounge was truly superior, and the staff there was welcoming. I, too, got a nice view room, and all is forgiven. I will be back again.

Just finished another excellent stay here. Front desk was wonderful and upgraded us to a huge room (supposedly not a "suite," can only imagine what those look like!) on the HHonors floor. Wish they were all this nice, particularly for the rate paid. :cool:

How far is this property from Universal Studios? It's about half the price of the Hilton Universal City.

How far is this property from Universal Studios? It's about half the price of the Hilton Universal City.

It's about 15 miles west of there.

Mike

How far is this property from Universal Studios? It's about half the price of the Hilton Universal City.


It is about 17 miles away. The drive can be a bear if you are going during prime time, but well worth it to get a decent rate.

Just want to add to the "nice experiences" at this hotel. Both the weekend buffet and the lounge breakfasts are good. We were given a room on the top floor (15 I think), and it was at the very end of the hall. I'm not sure if it was a suite b/c there was only one room, but it was quite large. The wierd thing about the room was that the room door opened outward into the hall, as opposed to the usual opening into the room itself. Has anyone else had this room? There's nothing wrong with it, but it was just odd.

We stayed at the Hilton Woodland Hills this past weekend -- regular room, 3rd floor. The room was spotless, and the staff was helpful. Parking is annoying -- not only is it $12/day, but you've got to be very careful to drive around the parking structure to find the area where hotel guests can park, and then make you way back through less than wonderfully marked pedestrian walkways -- it isn't attached to the hotel.

Only three (minor) negatives:
I had to use the business center computers to print out boarding passes, and the keys on the keyboard felt like they'd been carefully greased for my convenience. Ditto on the glass tabletop the keyboard rested on. Ick.

And maybe it is just me, but I'm not in love with the duvet system -- I was too bloody hot underneath the duvet, but really wanted something more than a sheet. With the all-in-one packaging I kept sticking my legs out, then pulling them back under the covers when I got cold. Pillows were plentiful and very, very dense.

The air conditioner in our room was very noisy every time it turned on -- it sounded like a buzz saw. It woke both of us up several times during the night.

Overall, it was a good hotel and I'd stay there again.

lupine, were you able to take advantage of the "free" continental breakfast? When my wife and I stayed there four nights last summer, the executive lounge offerings were cheesy.

Agree about the AC system. Ours on the top floor was also very noisy.

Just returned from a 3 night Priceline stay at this location. Given room on 8th floor. As previous poster stated the Duvet makes things to warm. Not sure if it was the CA air or the hotel, but my cough started back up that had finally cleared while at sea the previous 7 nights. Plus, my father's allergies were horrible.

We also noticed a "stale smoke" odor in the room and hallways. I asked if there was construction going on, the sent a maintenance man to fix the constantly running toilet and check the filter (the ac filter was).

Room clean overall. Did not go into restaurant, but was told that Concierge lounge was closed for month and since I was only a blue (guess we've been staying more at Marriotts lately) was not entitled to anything.

Was woken up both mornings (including checkout morning) by 8:30 by Housekeeping knocking and yelling "room check" Our USA today's were still outside the door.

Valet Parking is $19; Self $14. I parked approx. 2 blocks own Canoga on Erwin. Felt safe walking back to hotel alone even after midnight. The empty Circuit City across the street has plentiful parking, but like all "mall" and other lots has large signs warning against trespassing/ and parking plus had security patrol so didn't want to risk it.

Have call into Corporate regarding our unplanned "wake-up" calls.