sj22

+1 I have had a whole 20-person dinner waived for just seeing something like this happen just outside a restaurant, plus a complimentary night at their top-level suite.

I am glad you took a picture so that the hotel doesn't play it down.

Please ask for a refund.

skywalkerLAX

Reply to that Manager with the pictures you took.

The saying 'A picture says more than 1000 words' is certainly true and I'm sure they will agree to anything what is reasonable (up to a 2 night value so refund + 35k IMHO is fair).

This would indeed look horrible on a site like Tripadvisor and scare off many people especially with the recent press about unsafe buildings.

Is there a public entity like the city of FLL that can be contacted? I think something like this should not happen at a hotel. It is a safety hazard that endangers the public.

ZeppoX

All Hilton properties have such guarantee. Confirmed it with a phone call.
This is an error on the web site.
Expect errors on Hilton websites.
Especially errors that benefit Blackstone.

dave1013

If customer service is a value to which Hilton truly subscribes, then someone would have, or should have, gotten the manager out of his/her meeting. Or find another management official that could act in his or her stead. Telling you that the manager "was in a meeting" was tantamount to blowing you off. Not acceptable, IMHO.

Puppenstein

Yes, I think that was definitely a poor choice of words for anyone in customer service. There are many managers within a hotel and certainly one could have assisted.

oenophilist

You should be refunded plus the additional 35k points for your trouble.

This is not an insignificant thing. This is a major safety issue. I agree with the poster that you should include the picture in your email. If the general manager refuses, reply again but copy hilton corporate with the picture. If the general manager still refuses, put it on Tripadvisor. Be polite, be factual, but do not accept anything less than a refund plus something in addition.

They are amazingly lucky that you were not injured. The liability alone for this type of thing would be tremendously expensive. I wonder what their insurance company would think...

puregold86

While they gave you points to cover another night, you were out one night's rest at the very least, not to mention that you could have been in harm's way (they were lucky that you were not). From that perspective, you have not been made whole.

whimike

The amount of hyperbole in many of the responses are truly surprising

While I agree there needs to be compensation, I stand in the camp that thinks a free night is adequate, whether in the form of a refund or points to give a free night in the future to an equivalent property.

Structure integrity?! A piece of drywall came off, this has nothing to do with structural integrity of the building.

As far as wondering if the rest of the ceiling would come down... Water leaks from the bathroom above likely waterlogged the drywall and caused it to come apart. The likelihood of this occurring anywhere in the actual bedroom is nearly zero.

If one takes a shower for 15 minutes on average, he had a 1 in 96 chance to be in the shower when the material fell. So, amazingly lucky to not get injured when the likelihood of being in the shower at the time being near 1%? I think he would have been amazingly unlucky to have been injured by it.

There are many things in life that occur where you "could" have been in harm's way. But, when harm hasn't occurred, one doesn't go around expecting compensation as if harm had occurred.

When my car has a mechanical issue I don't tell the car dealer that I could have crashed because of it and they owe me. When I flew in the Boeing 787, I didn't go back and tell them that I could have died because of the battery issue, so they owe me. One could clearly state that I could have been in harm's way with both of those scenarios.

I am not making light of the OP's experience. I, too, would have been upset by being woken up at 2 AM and having to switch rooms. For that I would expect compensation. It is just a matter of what each individual feels is adequate compensation. But, lets not make up untruths about structure integrity and being amazingly lucky in order to make a mountain out of a hill.

dietwater

^ ^ ^

InkUnderNails

Yeah, get some compensation. Whatever.

Now to the part that gets me.

I am a maintenance guy. This is bad, really bad. This takes two rooms out (at least if not top floor) for a while. I wonder how many times they painted over the water stains rather than fixing the leak above. The bathroom on the floor above may need a complete renovation. A leak UNDER the tub. Oh, this is bad.

If the upstairs leak was bad enough, the moisture may have moved through the walls down multiple floors. This can be really bad.

That is bad enough. The moisture could have (probably did) cause mold. Ugh. Rip the walls out to get it all.

If they ignored this, they had to know, what else are they ignoring?

If not the top floor, someone upstairs could have fallen through the floor into your tub. Now, that would have been even worse. Well, for them it would have been, as they would have likely been in the tub and naked.

Maintenance hat off now. Comp the night and throw in a few points or a free night cert somewhere else. Probably fair.

Islander--

I checked out Sunday. After I got home Monday I e-mailed them the pictures and a request for full refund. Now as of Wednesday night still no response. I am moving to the next step and e-mailing the Diamond desk in addition to the hotel.

oenophilist

A 1% chance of being seriously injured is actually quite high. Think about it: you have 200 clients in a hotel any one night, at 1% chance, that is 2 clients injured every night. 1% is not insignificant.

And as I said, the hotel is amazingly lucky that he did not get injured. If he had been injured, the liability of the hotel would be massive, and costly. Not to mention lost business through publicity. This would certainly exceed $100k and probably go much higher.

No hyperbole, the hotel is amazingly lucky that he did not get injured.

It'sHip2B^2

I'm not sure that this drywall that fell would have injured an adult beyond a few cuts and scrapes (if that). We are talking about maybe 10 lbs of wet drywall that would have only fallen 2 or 3 feet before hitting an adult. It likely would have just grazed the person showering. I'm skeptical that any injury would have befallen an adult. A very small child perhaps.

colpuck

There have to be cat 1 properties for that to happen. There are at last count only 5 Cat 1s in the USA.

IcHot

To be surprised in a shower with something dropping on your head could easily cause a slip and fall and a broken bone or bones.