Paid hotel stay with nothing but a room
 

I had a flood in my home and was forced to live in a hotel for four nights right in the middle of California's government forced shutdown of the economy and most everything else. The hotel in Carlsbad gladly took my money (over $100 per night), but had closed their pool and there was no food or any shops open in the hotel. As a Hilton Gold you get breakfast free, but in this case, nada. When I asked the clerk if there would be a discount or something else to make up for it, he just shrugged his shoulders. Is Hilton offering any compensation or is this just another byproduct of the fractured economy?

Sorry to hear about your home flooding--talk about bad timing! And sorry about the limited/non-existent services at the hotel you chose. I'd be disappointed and slightly upset, too.

That being said, when looking at it from a purely objective position, I can understand the hotel's actions and think they're justified. After all, Hilton has already extended all our statuses for another year, allowed flexible cancellations, etc. This is a remarkable situation that no one could have predicted even a few months ago, so I'm inclined to cut individual properties a little slack on things like not providing a complimentary elite breakfast.

Now THAT being said, times like these offer an opportunity for businesses of all kinds to potentially earn lifelong loyalty by offering more than the bare minimum. A hotel that continues to provide previously-expected amenities is demonstrating a true hospitality mindset rather than a "hunker down and see if we can survive this" mindset. And I can tell you which type of hotel is more likely to provide outstanding service as well during ordinary times.

Room reservations in California are available solely to those with essential travel. I take it that being forced out of one's primary residence for unrelated emergency circumstances fits that, but what you get for that is a clean room which meets the specific requirements mandated by the governor's executive order.

OP can always complain, but unlike the past, I don't see Hilton or properties doing anything here.

Also that $100 rate is probably lower than the hotel would typically charge when those amenities are available.

Wouldn't this normally be a $200/nt hotel? (A full-service brand in Carlsbad...)

If it's $100/nt., it sounds like the lack of services is kind of priced in already. I just posted on another thread where I believe the hotels can do a better job of providing good information for people who have to do a stay at this time, so I understand where you're coming from. But for now, I'd assume that *nothing* is open and determine the best value as such.

We have to do a 2-day stay next weekend in a Chicago suburb. Nothing will be open (besides takeout restaurants) and none of the Hiltons in the area have any kind of decent information on their property pages. So we're booking the Hampton and will assume that we're buying a bag of bagels for breakfast. If it has a pool or weight room (I didn't even bother checking), I assume they'll be closed. It is across the street from a running trail, so there's that...

Hotels are hurting right now, and the only people booking them are people that really need the rooms. That, combined with the fact that the cost of maintaining stuff like the pool doesn't go away during this time, means they aren't going to cut the price that much. Priceline and Hotwire probably have some inventory of rooms from properties that are willing to cut rates more significantly.

We have some upcoming bookings for a road trip that we are planning to take to national parks down in Utah that have opened up... and I'm expecting the bare bones, just the room and if we're lucky, a to-go bag with a granola bar and fruit for breakfast.

Sometimes, it's hard to get a room...


David

If it's a full-service Hilton in Carlsbad, then the $100/nt represents a pretty good cut in price.

The reference to shops (plural) and Gold benefits means this is Cape Rey or possibly a Tapestry Hotel I haven't stayed in yet called Cassara. In either case, $100 would be an excellent rate....not that I'm absolving the hotel of posting good information about amenities before people book. The other Carlsbad hotels are either HGVC or limited-service brands.

Now if the hotel attempted to charge a resort fee while everything was closed... Somehow I don't think that's happening or we would 100% have a 300-post rage thread about it already. (Rightfully so!)

That will never get old. :)

We did a 14 day self quarantine when arriving in Asia in late March. The first 3-4 days, the restaurant was open, but evening lounge was moved to the restaurant.

When the family was going to go swimming on day 4, we found they had just closed it. They then closed the restaurant and evening lounge too. The upside, is they gave us anything normally served in the restaurant, that we wanted, as room service. Plus afternoon tea/cakes, and evening lounge, too.

I am not sure what this means but in any case there is zero enforcement. HH website will gladly take reservations through the normal booking process and no questions are asked at checkin (which can also be done through the app). After 2+ months of lockdown people are no longer self-quarantining and are (legally) enjoying the beach and other outdoor activities. Restaurants are even re-opening in some counties.

So I would not want to give anyone the impression that you cannot easily book a Hilton room in California (with the exception perhaps of South Lake Tahoe where vigilantes and the town leaders are fining renters and landlords). Whether you should travel is of course up to you.

Seems like we are mostly aware enough now that a call prior to committing to the booking is the best way to determine what services are and are not available. We have gotten out of the habit of simply picking up the phone and asking properties directly, preferring some non-personal communication.

We stayed at a nice new Hampton Inn north of Chicago over the weekend - it looked like about 4 cars were in the parking lot. We did not see another human during our time there, except when we walked down to the lobby to see if they had any grab & go bags. (They did - an apple, a bottle of water, and a weird-looking pastry that the kids seemed to like.) There, we only saw one front desk clerk - no other guests. The person knew without asking who we were and invited us to grab a couple soft drinks as a Diamond welcome amenity. :)

Digital Key worked well. No issues. No housekeeping at all, which we were completely fine with.

1-bedroom suite for $70/nt. Slept 4 comfortably. The clocks in the room were set to CST, making me think perhaps the room had been unoccupied throughout most of the quarantine period. Or at least not occupied that often, as surely a guest would have fixed the clocks (as we did).

We still sanitized everything with our own supplies, but it was probably overkill. Nice clean hotel overall.

Just called Embassy Suites San Luis Obispo. I have a reservation there for June 7...booked back in March. I even rebooked it a couple of days ago when I noticed the rate had fallen. I called to ask about the breakfast and Manager's reception. I got a recording that they are shut down until June 11. Why are they accepting bookings?

Try booking a room in Mammoth Lakes, CA and you will have an even harder time than if you try in South Lake Tahoe.

It is deadville down in Mono and Inyo Counties, very much "closed up" - I think a big reason is the Yosemite entry out on that side is not open right now and hotels in Mammoth Lakes are literally closed due to city rules.

Some cities are enforcing the travel rules in CA, most are not. Best to call hotels first and ask. Book refundable reservations and call before the cancellation window ends. If you are a frequent/known guest to the property I'm sure you'll be taken care of.