shermanolo

I'm a Diamond member.

I have been staying the same Doubletree for the last few weeks.

My first bad experience with this particular hotel was one week when I was checking in, the room was not made. No biggie, I ask for another room and I switched.

The week right after that, I check in. In the morning I realize that the lights in the bathroom are not working. On my way out I ask the front desk to fix this.

When I come back to my room The lights are still not working. I called the Diamond line to get this fixed, and they conference me with the front desk and then they send someone to fix the lights. I ask that if there are no lights, how was the bathroom cleaned. I get no answer.

The next morning I get an e-mail from the Hotel manager apologizing and asking what can be done to fix this. I said that I was not expecting anything, except that if I ask for something to be fix that they should fix it.

This week I check into my room, and the first thing I notice is that the remote control has tape on the back side, instead of a real cover. Again no big deal, I just go down to the reception and ask them to change the remote. They did.

Then in the morning the alarm clock doesn't ring. Why the clock was 12 ahead. I go in to take a shower and the shower is broken.

I go to the front desk again asking for this to be fixed. I also send an e-mail to the hotel manager and copy [email protected]

The hotel manager replied that everything is going to be fixed and that the president of operations was going to fix everything personally.

I go back to my room at night and the shower is fixed, but the alarm clock is not.

I call the Diamond line and ask for some help. They call the hotel and after I said that I'm getting very bad service in this property they say that maintenance issues can happen. I said that I not angry because a light bulb got burned, but I am angry because when I asked for that to be fixed nothing happened. They basically said though.

The maintenance person shows up and says that the clock is on time but that he was going to check the clocks in some other rooms to verify it is right. He come back and put in a new clock. In the morning the new clock is on time, and the old clock shows PM. So I can tell for sure that nothing was done to the clock when I asked.

In the morning I drop the clock at the front desk and showed then that it still had the wrong time.

In the morning I sent another note to both the hotel manager and [email protected]

No answer so far.

What should I expect now?

Bondiboy

The Diamond desk exists to help Diamond members with their reservations and membership issues (awards, points, promotions, etc.). In my view it is a complete misuse of the DD to complain about showers and an alarm clock.

If you are not happy with any aspects of your stay then complain locally (Housekeeping to Assist Manager to General Manager, etc). If you are still not happy and if you still want to stay at the offending property, then take it up with Hilton Customer Care.

osutraveler

If you are a diamond member that means you should have plenty of hotel stays. If you have plenty of hotel stays you should know that inevitably sometimes things go wrong at hotels.

Some of your complaints are valid but I agree with the post above that you don't need to work through the diamond desk for every single issue. If you are using the alarm on the clock then you should be able to easily adjust the time on it. I don't think its reasonable to get upset because you demand someone to adjust the clock which you should easily be able to do.

It sounds like the hotel manager responded to your maintenance requests promptly and professionally handled the issues for you. I wouldn't expect too much more from them because they have many other guests to look after besides you and it sounds like they have addressed your concerns. If you are that upset with the hotel then stay elsewhere.

By the way, welcome to Flyertalk!

rnovak

__IT Happens....

However, the hotel's unresponsiveness to your requests is unacceptable. I would talk to the General Manager and explain that you are going to take your business elsewhere if they don't start responding in a timely manner to your issues. Calling the Diamond desk is going to get you nowhere.

If they don't respond to your moving to another property, then you should file a complaint after your stay with a full explanation of what occurred and what response (or lack of) you got from the hotel management.

Welcome to FT. Let us know what happens.

boilers

I agree and disagree. I have complained to the front desk and gotten no response. After my stay I have complained to gold customer care which got me in touch with the general manager. They did what the front desk should have done, however sometimes it takes that extra email. The shower and lighting are key but perhaps just start bringing your own alarm clock or switch to a different hotel when in this location.

BamaVol

I'd be looking for another place to stay if issues are not addressed promptly after a second request. Most of these things should have been caught by housekeeping. But, don't you know how to set an alarm clock? My gawd, man. Do you need a nanny?

dietwater

Make your next week's reservation at another hotel?

Seriously, I would complain to the local asist. manager and general manager and ask a refund for the nights that things don't work.

BearX220

Did you really contact the Diamond Desk to complain that your alarm clock was 12 minutes off? Really? Wow.

andrzej

I believe (but I may be wrong) that the OP was saying 12 hours, not minutes...

That said, why keep on going to the same place for the 3rd week? Am I missing something?

rnovak

I've had several Hilton Hotels where the clocks are 12 hours off (show 6 pm when it's 6 am and the alarm doesn't ring). The problem with the new clocks is that you have to unscrew the top off the clock to change the time and unless you bring a small philips screwdriver with you, you have to call housekeeping to get it fixed.

I've gotten into the habit of setting the alarm on my cell phone just in case.

BamaVol

All HH clocks or just Hilton? I'll have to look at my ES clock more closely tonight.

edited to add: I apologize to the OP. My ES alarm clock had no visible means of changing the time. There were several screws showing, but I didn't want to start disassembling it. What happens when the power goes out? Does someone have to reset hundreds of clocks?

andrzej

I never had a problem adjusting the clocks without unscrewing anything

formeraa

I always take a battery-operated travel alarm clock -- just in case. Also, the alarm on the cell phone is also a great option.

With the hotel alarm clock, I get creative if I can't figure out how to change the alarm clock. If it is 12 hours off, then set your alarm for 12 hours off of the time you want to get up. For example, 6pm instead of 6am, etc, or just ask the front desk how to set it.

rrz518

What should you expect now?

What do you want? FWIW, the comment regarding "how do you clean the bathroom without lights" suggests that you might be somewhat of a difficult customer (it's rather accusatory). You really haven't stated how you would like the situation resolved....

You need to get closure to the issues at hand. Get all of them (ALL OF THEM) fixed, and request some sort of compensation for your inconvenience, and end it.

If the same types of issues happen repeatedly, obviously the inspection process of the hotel housekeeping dept. isn't up to snuff. That's easily fixed. Ask for someone higher up to inspect the room prior to your arrival (typically the Housekeeping manager reports to the Dir. of Ops or the GM...and typically both or either have been a Housekeeping manager earlier in their careers).

I'm a hotel GM, and have been an Exec. Housekeeper earlier on. I've personally inspected rooms (pre arrival for guests who have had issues in the past) and in so doing, developed a great relationship with those customers.

Overcoming service obstacles sometimes creates a more loyal customer than if the customer had a perfect experience from the get go.