<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by nehopper:
I had a very enjoyable stay at the Westin Seattle (nice room, no upgrade or breakfast) last Sat/Sun on a free Sat. However, upon recovering our rental car from the garage (valet parked due to the crowded conditions in the garage) we found significant, new damage to the car - a tear in the plastic bumper cover. Have gotten good treatment from hotel so far, but what is the experience of others with such events. Has the hotel/parking co. been helpful or have they resisted helping. Can the hotel be useful in exerting pressure? What should one do? I just filed a report with the parking manager and then reported to the rental agency.</font>
I have had almost an identical experience at the W in Seattle. I took my brand new Jag XJR for a weekend highway test and holiday. Valet'd at the hotel, becuase they did not have a self park option and in the morning discovered the LARGEST door ding possible. Went through ALL the hoops: hotel management, customer service, right up to president of the Valet company - to no avail. No means NO from the valet company. Only option was to sue, and my time is much more valuable than the time and effort required to get the couple of hundred dollars to fix - although proving the point would have been fun!
My advice would be similar to others: ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PARK YOUR CAR WITH VALET SERVICE - PERIOD.
I also had another experience with a restaurant valet with much more extensive damage to the front (dented grill and scraped hood) which I did not notice for several days - so I had to do a 'hit and run' claim. PAINFUL