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-   -   Closed hotel refers me to another Hilton- it refused to honor my reservation! WWYD? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hilton-honors/2016483-closed-hotel-refers-me-another-hilton-refused-honor-my-reservation-wwyd.html)

uncommonsensical Apr 25, 2020 11:37 am

Closed hotel refers me to another Hilton- it refused to honor my reservation! WWYD?
 
Curious what people think is fair for the multiple rather egregious CS fails...

I had a reservation at a property that was closed for lack of business. 2 days before check-in I received an email stating that the hotel was closed. I was given 2 hotels to choose from that would honour my reservation (interestingly, one is a Marriott property with the same owner as the closed property). The email stated that both properties were expecting me whether I replied or not (replying to the email got a auto return email stating not to reply, and there was no phone number).

Arrived at the first hotel and they knew nothing about me. After 45 minutes, they said they had found it and slipped me a piece of paper saying they would give me a special rate. The rate was 25% higher than the refundable rate online! Further, my reservation was on points. I was then told that they would not honor the points reservation- even though they read the email I was sent. They then told me that they would allow me to book a room at a points rate that was, yep, twice that of my reservation! Worth noting, this hotel had less than 10 rooms occupied= about 3% occupancy.

Talked to the highest person on duty at the hotel and she wouldn't budge.

After 90 minutes, left for the other (Marriott) property. That took 2 hours of my time and they agreed to honor my reservation but needed input from Hilton/the ownership group as to how to book it. Fair enough. Went back to my soon to be closing other hotel to get my stuff. As I'm abt to get in the taxi, the front desk yells that I have a call--- it's Hilton. The call is to tell me they won't honor the reservation at the Marriott despite the email. The Marriott manager is emailing me telling me they wanted to try to honor it but Hilton refused. The FDM at the hotel I was leaving tells me I can have my room for another 5 days (it was not bookable). Hilton then offered to now honour the reservation at the Hilton that had refused me 6 hours earlier. Disgusted, hungry and approaching curfew (If I'd gone to the Hilton I'd have only had convenience store food to eat), I remained at the hotel at a much higher cost than my Hilton points booking.

The Director of the closed property has apologized on behalf of his property and the one that refused to honour the booking/email. After 5 days I moved over to the property on a different reservation because I had to go somewhere. The GM of the refusing property has said hello to me in the lounge- no apology of any sort. Curious whether he knew what had happened I asked him and he replied that he knew all about it (ie: I don't want to talk about it), and took zero responsibility for anything (frankly, kinda get the feeling the tone deaf upsell attempt was HIS policy!).

Zero offer of compensation. Heck, I didn't even get a generic welcome letter in my room, nor the question of arrival gift vs points (I got neither). I waited 5 days from after the initial incidence to contact HH Diamond desk. The rep was great, but, of course, these things are handled by the property. It's been 10 days now and they clearly aren't offering me anything.

So, WWYD and what is a fair outcome?

craigthemif Apr 25, 2020 11:40 am


Originally Posted by uncommonsensical (Post 32324111)

So, WWYD and what is a fair outcome?

Fair outcome is the stay is comped with your points returned to you...

uncommonsensical Apr 25, 2020 11:58 am


Originally Posted by craigthemif (Post 32324117)
Fair outcome is the stay is comped with your points returned to you...

I was thinking the same as a minimum. For the hotel that refused to honor the reservation, that would amount to less than 2 normal nights of points (combination of 5th night free and the current points per night being below normal rates).

storewanderer Apr 25, 2020 1:33 pm

"The GM of the refusing property has said hello to me in the lounge- no apology of any sort. Curious whether he knew what had happened I asked him and he replied that he knew all about it (ie: I don't want to talk about it), and took zero responsibility for anything (frankly, kinda get the feeling the tone deaf upsell attempt was HIS policy!)."

Did you ask him directly for an explanation as to what happened and why you wasted 2 hours then got turned away from his property?

Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it, but frankly, he needed to talk about it.

Given the low volume of customers these properties have right now, this should not be that hard. As you noted they were at 3% occupancy... what in the heck is his staff and shift management doing that they couldn't figure out how to make the reservation work on the first visit?

I kind of get the failure at the Marriott property since you were using points... but no excuse at the other Hilton property.

Often1 Apr 25, 2020 2:42 pm

Where did this occur? Which property closed and what is the Marriott the property that did not honor your points reservation?

There are many people who may know one or both properties and may or may not have contacts or similar experiences. But, without identifying them, it's hard to help you.

IluvSQ Apr 25, 2020 5:32 pm

Yes, why are you not specifying the 3 properties involved? It would make your story much easier to follow, and knowing the exact properties/city
we might be able to give better advise. Further, better to name and shame properties that do not honour commitments.

uncommonsensical Apr 26, 2020 5:09 am

Original reservation was at the Doubletree BKK.

Conrad BKK refused to honour the Doubletree reservation. Refused again to honour the reservation via email later in the day. As per my OP, Conrad changed its tune after the Doubletree Cluster Director heard what happened whilst he was telling Athenee to reverse course. As stated, I am at the Conrad now.

The Athenee was the Marriott property. Athenee did nothing wrong. Again, they DID want to honour it- the Doubletree Cluster Director told them they would not be compensated (He told me the same and said I should not have received the email that included Athenee bc my reservation was on points). Obviously a Marriott property isn't going to put me up for 15 nights for free bc I booked a Hilton! lol

Obviously the owner of both the Doubletree and Athenee (AWC- a Thai billionaire's Co.) wanted any revenue from his closed hotels to go to his nearly empty open hotel- Athenee. He does NOT own the Conrad. AWC did a terrible job with this, as did the Doubletree. Athenee DID take in Doubletree revenue guests at their original rate. There was no mechanism to charge a points reservation, so Athenee called Hilton. Hilton originally told them they were good to go. Then The Cluster Director found out and stopped it. The email came from the other Doubletree/Hilton Sukhumvit cluster manager (but from a no-reply email address). As near as I could tell, from the way I observed this being handles, Conrad employees were following policy. Seriously.... I think trying to upsell was procedure! The Duty Mgr was so confident that she was doing the right thing that she sent an email later to double down. The non-apology "yeah, I heard about it" attitude of the GM has bolstered this opinion.

uncommonsensical Apr 26, 2020 5:21 am


Originally Posted by storewanderer (Post 32324397)

Did you ask him directly for an explanation as to what happened and why you wasted 2 hours then got turned away from his property?

Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it, but frankly, he needed to talk about it.

I was just kinda stunned at the way the conversation went. Filled with blaming others with a "yeah, I heard what happened" dismissal of his hotel's terrible treatment of me. All he did was come up, not use my name and say, "I trust you're enjoying your stay with us". Hence me asking him if he knew what happened. The rest was chit chat, him bragging that they'll rebound quicker because the surrounding buildings have 9,000 employees, and ignoring the hotel's total fail with the situation.

I kept thinking something else must surely be coming, then he did a little wai and exited to talk to another guest. If he felt the duty manager handled it wrong, nothing in his words or body language gave any hints.

He had thought his #2 had talked to me already. But when told he had not, he didn't seem to care.

IT all felt like someone higher told him to apologize and thus he had to talk to me, but wasn't going to apologize. I could be reading too much into the weird vibe, but the fact remains that nothing has been done. I guess he figures the apology from the Doubletree guy covers it. I would disagree.

DJ_Iceman Apr 26, 2020 10:02 pm

With GM behavior like that, it's no wonder the rest of the problems followed. If it makes you feel any better, once travel and the economy recover, properties like that will be hit the hardest (and we can all hope GM performance will be judged accordingly).

storewanderer Apr 28, 2020 11:22 am


Originally Posted by uncommonsensical (Post 32325607)
I was just kinda stunned at the way the conversation went. Filled with blaming others with a "yeah, I heard what happened" dismissal of his hotel's terrible treatment of me. All he did was come up, not use my name and say, "I trust you're enjoying your stay with us". Hence me asking him if he knew what happened. The rest was chit chat, him bragging that they'll rebound quicker because the surrounding buildings have 9,000 employees, and ignoring the hotel's total fail with the situation.

I kept thinking something else must surely be coming, then he did a little wai and exited to talk to another guest. If he felt the duty manager handled it wrong, nothing in his words or body language gave any hints.

He had thought his #2 had talked to me already. But when told he had not, he didn't seem to care.

IT all felt like someone higher told him to apologize and thus he had to talk to me, but wasn't going to apologize. I could be reading too much into the weird vibe, but the fact remains that nothing has been done. I guess he figures the apology from the Doubletree guy covers it. I would disagree.

I think the GM had no clue it was you that he was approaching, then when he found out it was you, he tried to exit the situation as quickly as possible.

He could have turned the interaction into at least a nice personal recovery with a genuine apology and show of concern. But instead he buried the hole even deeper.

Either this guy is clueless or simply doesn't care. Might be fearing for his job right now due to the low occupancy/closed hotels, but I am going to put out there that not properly taking care of guests and not properly responding to the changes this situation has presented (like having closed hotels put their guests into your hotel) in a smooth manner is only going to bury the hole further down.

flyerCO Apr 28, 2020 9:27 pm

I know lots of people love the Conrad BKK. However I'm not one of them, exactly because of the nature of its employees in regards to upsell. Also with the recent renovations the place has been a mess IMO.

BobH Apr 29, 2020 11:52 am

Sounds like you got walked in advance -- question of the day --- did you get a written confirmation (aka Email) from the second hotel?

Bob H

formeraa Apr 29, 2020 12:41 pm


Originally Posted by storewanderer (Post 32331820)
I think the GM had no clue it was you that he was approaching, then when he found out it was you, he tried to exit the situation as quickly as possible.

He could have turned the interaction into at least a nice personal recovery with a genuine apology and show of concern. But instead he buried the hole even deeper.

Either this guy is clueless or simply doesn't care. Might be fearing for his job right now due to the low occupancy/closed hotels, but I am going to put out there that not properly taking care of guests and not properly responding to the changes this situation has presented (like having closed hotels put their guests into your hotel) in a smooth manner is only going to bury the hole further down.

I agree.

This was the time to lead with a sincere apology, once he realized who he was speaking with. Then, listen attentively and try to resolve the situation by taking down the guest's information and taking action on the service recovery.

Frankly, I've had better recovery with minor situations at a Hilton Garden Inn (they actually over-compensated me, but I accepted gratefully). When staff acts like the OP describes, I choose to never stay at the hotel again (assuming there are choices).

craig44485 Apr 29, 2020 6:05 pm


Originally Posted by flyerCO (Post 32333236)
I know lots of people love the Conrad BKK. However I'm not one of them, exactly because of the nature of its employees in regards to upsell. Also with the recent renovations the place has been a mess IMO.

Not huge fan either, I will take the WA anytime over Conrad BKK, not so much due to the staff and upsell, but the fact the property seems old and run down. Ranks as my least favorite Conrad I have stayed at.


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