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Hilton Washington Dulles Airport {US-VA}

Hilton Washington Dulles Airport {US-VA}

Old Feb 13, 2001, 2:30 pm
  #16  
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When I'm in the area, there is no better place than the Mc Lean Hilton (I don't mind to drive).
The Towers service is great, the neighborhood quiet and nice, and shopping malls within 5mins drive.
However, they are very tough about late check-outs, which is not convenient when you have a night flight...
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Old Feb 15, 2001, 10:15 am
  #17  
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BigTex --

Thanx. Spoke to the wife last night and she was upgraded to a mini suite upon check-in. In reality it was a large room, rather than a suite. Rate was $205, but that was because there were hardly any rooms left at the hotel.

Homewood and E/S did have availability, respectively $159 and $199, but room service at E/S ended at 11, whereas Hilton's was open all night. That was the major reason why she chose it.

Finally, she took a cab at your suggestion and she was glad that she did. However, she said it cost approx $10 from the hotel! That seemed a little steep to me for a hotel that bills itself as near the airport, and there was no traffic, as she came into IAD very late. It does not really matter as it goes on the client's dime, and I did save them an additional $40 by being able to lower the room rate on the day of her arrival, but it still seemed inflated to me.

Thanx again!

 
Old Feb 16, 2001, 12:30 pm
  #18  
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DOC 2 BE -

Glad to be of some help to y'all. That is what I like about FT - people are always willing to help and it is usually very good help too.

As to the cab fare - yes, the hotel is "close" to the airport, but only in the sense that the airport property LINE is just west of the hotel's location. The hotel is at the bottom right sorner of the airport property and the terminal sits close to the center of the sirport property. You exit out the north end of the airport and then go east to Hwy-28 and then south on Hwy-28 to the Hilton. I would guess that the actual milage from the terminal to the front door of the Hilton is on the order of 6-7 miles. Dulles to the hotel is a rather long trip since it is easily a couple of miles just to get from the terminal to the boundary of the Dulles property and then 4-5 more miles to the hotel. I also assume that the $10 your wife paid included a tip for the driver. Seems to me that cab fares in the DC Metro area are VERY HIGH.

I once was "cabbed" from IAD to National by AA, when they cancelled the last flight from Dulles, and the charge by the cab driver was over $50. Glad all I had to do was "sign" the voucher and AA had to pay the bill!

In Dallas, I actually live about 8 miles from Term-A (just out the North exit and when I take a cab from DFW to home I "spend" $20 for fare and tip inclusive. Cabbies got a 30% fare increase in Dallas last year! So - the $10 at Dulles seems in line for "high rate" areas.

dAAvid -
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Old Feb 16, 2001, 1:41 pm
  #19  
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Big Tex --

Thanx again,I understand you loud and clear. As for the tendency of FTers to help one another out, I am glad that you and I can be cordial in light of the somewhat acrimonious debates that are now going on concerning FF and F. Stay programs. I gather that you and I might be on oppostie ends of the spectrum on this one, but that is no reason why we can't help one another out when it comes to travel and point earnings strategies.

Much obliged, and if I can be of any assistance, do not hesitate to holler!
 
Old Jun 23, 2001, 2:07 am
  #20  
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Hilton Washington Dulles Airport

Oh god.

We needed a place to sleep with our flight arriving in the evening (June 21) and the next fligt leaving midday the next day (June 22).

The rate of 165 USD seemed really high to us but we figured price and quality go hand in hand. We have sinced gotten more wisdom.

Checked in around 10.30pm after the shuttle ride from the airport. Was handed a real key, not a card. First bad sign. The keys are kind of magnetic but still. This place is more or less a dump.

I asked if I had been upgraded and was told yes. I asked three times and was told yes. Got the third floor which does not require key access.

I thought this seemed strange and called down and asked. Appearently (according to this hotel employee who referred to my floor as the "tert" floor - meaning [I]third[I] - who told us the concierge lounge opened at 9 am when it in fact closes then and seemed unable to speak English) out of the five (5) floors the floors 3,4,5 are executive floors although only 4 and 5 require key elevator access (the elevator by the way was so old the stairs were probably faster).

Found 1 robe in the room and a small bottle of sparkling water - I guess they figured only one of us deserved water. I found no rainbath or lotion.

The room was not that small, but maybe a bit above average. Very old. The bathroom was awful, torn and dirty.

My rice with the room service was very salt. My friend told me he liked salt rice so I asked him to try it out (I could not eat something so salt). He made a horrible face and started saying not too nice things about the cook and this cook's excessive use of salt (atleast one thing this hotel did not save on).

I called Guest Services Hotline and was told that room service would contact us at once. They never did. I called down an hour later, got the front desk, asked for Guest Services but the man on the phone did not know what that was. I asked for the lady I had spoken to and was told she had gone home.

To add insult to injury my friend read an info card stating that the hotel had spent "millions for you" in renovations in fact "More than a face lift. We have totally renovated our guest rooms..." and "We've set the standards for accomodations in the Dulles Coridor..."

Was this a bad joke? Did they think that if they wrote the above it would become true? I do not know about the millions spent except for one thing: they were NOT spent on this room on the "executive" floor.

What a dump. For 165 US dollars this is an outrage.

------------------
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Old Jun 23, 2001, 8:32 am
  #21  
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I've never had a problem with this hotel and if you think its a dump now, you should have seen it prior to the renovation. I personally like the real key and wish this was more common then I wouldn't have to trudge my tail back to the front desk when the plastic key gets demagnatized. As for the Rain Bath and Lotion, I never knew that was what distinguished an upgrade or not. The food is usually pretty decent. I will say I never had the rice there. English as a 2nd language can be pretty common in the states at any hotel chain. However as you get closer to metropolitan areas it becomes more common. Asking 3 times about the upgrade may have been a problem. I know I wouldn't appreciate answering the same question 3 times in such a short time frame.
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Old Jun 23, 2001, 11:49 am
  #22  
 
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stayed here many times before the remodel. Though language was an issue, the room s( I always got upgraded without asking) were nice. food in conciegre lounge was decent. Maybe you caught them on a bad day. Now the Hyatt there was something else ( awful). The nicest, IMHO, in that corrider is the Marriot on the airport grounds
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Old Oct 17, 2001, 9:20 pm
  #23  
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Hilton IAD waiter scam

During our trip, we volunteered for the involuntary reroute (bump). United paid for our hotel at IAD Hilton plus $16(x4) for dinner.

We decided to go all out. I had the rack of lamb, my wife and children ordered their respective meals. Then I made the mistake of showing him our vouchers!!!!!

Voump! They dissapeared from the table with a dust trail, he snatched them so fast! As quick as he grabbed the vouchers, he dissapeared, for almost the entire meal. For service here and there, I would casually signal the Manager who seemed only happy to accomodate, as he made his periodic rounds checking the tables. The service was sorrily lacking. Starting from the moment the vouchers were presented.

When the check arrived, the $64 was deducted from the total, which still seemed relatively high for the items we ordered. I grabbed my cell phone to use the calculator on it. All items correct, all items total correctly, ok he added a tip "auto grat" it was called.

Hey. how much he added turned out to be 19% of the pretax total. Now I am a waiter. I will tip well when service warrants.

Talked discreetly to the manager, who informed me that the waiter must have pushed the wrong key. The waiter seemed really scared when he gave me the revised bill for 15% added.

Hey, I don't mind that they add a tip on. You'd think that once he saw the vouchers, he would give at least adequate service knowing that he was taken care of. This being the case, many would have left a few more bucks. Either way, win-win, right?

But for him to deliberately add 19%. Beware of the adjustable percentage key. And NEVER show the voucher until you've received the check.
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Old Oct 17, 2001, 10:05 pm
  #24  
 
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I stayed at the IAD last week. Service was poor everywhere: a) shuttle pick up took an hour and a half; b) at check in the clerk said the computer didn't show me as HH Gold (but at check out, it showed!); c) the room service button on the phone connected me to the valet; d)when I called room service directly, the phone rang for five minutes before I hung up; e) didn't get room upgrade, had to ask for breakfast coupon (which I couldn't use anyway since I checked out at 4:30 a.m.); f) at check out Mohammed said he couldn't accept my tax exempt form unless it is sent ahead of time by the head of my agency (I've never heard that ever during 23 years of service), g) he also said he didn't know anything about easy escapes booklets (but said he'd check into it after he saw I was booked under an easy escapes rate; he hasn't called me yet though). Each time I pointed out the above shortcomings, staff was very apologetic. The hotel was very nice looking, but the service didn't match the appearance. You would think that with 50% of staff laid off, and the threats of further cuts, staff would try a little harder. I give this hotel my "Bimbo" award. All looks, no substance. I will call Mohammed tonight long distance; I'm sure he will say no, he never said he would send me my easy escapes coupons.
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Old Oct 18, 2001, 1:07 am
  #25  
 
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Well, maybe this is a "post 9-11" phenomenon?

I stayed at the IAD Hilton in July. Really inexpensive rate (about $75). Got an automatic upgrade to a huge (and well-appointed) suite; the staff were very pleasant; and although I, too, had to depart before breakfast, the breakfast voucher was in the check-in packet.

I had a very pleasant experience, and hope when I stay there again that I have something similar.

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Old Oct 18, 2001, 9:28 am
  #26  
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If the service was indeed that lousy I don't think that I would have left him 15%. I would have told the manager that the service was lousy and left him something less than 15% say 10%, again pending how lousy the service actually was. I really don't like it when the tip is pre-billed unless its stated up front for large groups.
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Old Oct 18, 2001, 1:26 pm
  #27  
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You people are really generous. I would have left 0. I see no reason to reward unacceptable behavior...
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Old Oct 18, 2001, 2:02 pm
  #28  
 
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I was worried for a min there about them not honorning your voucher when u said that he took the voucher and dissappered, at least that didn't happen. But who knows...
But yeah, I would not give any tip at all.

------------------
Albert
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Old Oct 18, 2001, 4:45 pm
  #29  
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Does seem like a time to leave a note with a recalculation of the bill and a cash payment for what is owing.

One line would read:

Service: unacceptable Auto tip $00000.00

Then let they chase me out of the place if necessary.
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Old Oct 18, 2001, 5:54 pm
  #30  
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Slightly off subject, but I have noticed that many restaurants in London do the following:

1) Charge a fixed per person Couvert of between 2 and 8 pounds.

2) They then put in a "service charge" of anywhere between 12-17.5% on top of the amount.

3) Incidentally VAT is almost never broken down from the amount.

4) On the CC receipt they than leave the Gratuity space open and when you leave it blank, you get a CRAPPY STARE from the waiter!!!!!! (although many people automatically add another 10-15% on top of the "couvert" and the "service charge")

Depending on the bill, this mean that these restaurants are in fact trying to get upwards of 40% of the bill in "tips" and "service charges". Not only is this ridiculous, but in many cases illegal and fraudulent (although many do not realize this).

I scared the crap out of the manager or Vong a few months ago when in response to his arrogance regarding this practice I pulled out my phone and called the Police. He instantly removed all charges and apologized profusely.
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