I need some help, and your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

From February 8 to March 4, my secretary's mother (hereinafter referred to as "Mom") stayed at the Homewood Suites Oakland-Waterfront in Oakland, California. During that time, Mom stayed at the hotel along with 10 people who work for her. Mom spends 2-3 months/year traveling with at least 10 people in tow, and she selects the hotels for each city they travel to.

After Mom checks out, she realizes she left $280 in cash under her pillow. (Yes, I know--not the most brilliant thing ever. But, I digress.) Before she even calls the hotel, she receives a phone call from the (then-)head of housekeeping saying that the housekeeper (they told mom the name of the housekeeper) found $280.00 under Mom's pillow. She thanked them and said she'd look out for it in the mail.

She never received it.

Mom called again and spoke with the then-acting supervisor, and they too said they would return the money. Nothing was returned.

My secretary (Mom's daughter) called again (we're now in June), and spoke with the acting manager and she said she would happily return it. She said the money has been in an envelope in a vault with Mom's name on it but she just didn't know who to send it to. (!) Now that she received a call, she would send it to her promptly. She said she would have it on Monday. Now three weeks later, she still doesn't have it.

You would think that someone there would be able to follow through on their word to mail back money that one of their housekeepers found and was honest enough to turn in.

So now what? I don't know how to put this, because $280 is a lot of money to anyone, but the hotel is nuts if they think they're better off keeping the money and risking all the revenue that Mom has the potential to bring to Hilton. I've never stayed at a Homewood, but for 11 rooms for a month, it seems like they should spend the money to mail her money back. Should a complaint letter be directed to the property, or to Hilton, or what? My secretary asked me to help with the situation, and I want to help them out, but I don't know where to start with this one.

Thanks for any advice you can give.