chicaloca453

My dad is a multi-year Diamond. He had a room at the HGI Tallahassee on Thomasville Road Friday night. When he arrived at the hotel late that night, the hotel was oversold and they had not cleaned all the rooms. Tallahassee was sold out city-wide because of a golf tournament. The hotel staff cleaned his room, but he did not get into the room until 2:40 a.m. Any other time he would have checked in on the app, but the app was acting buggy Friday, and he'd stayed at this property multiple times without incident so he thought he would be fine.

I wanted to ask you all what your approach would be to complaining to Hilton. I've read on here many times that Hilton does not like complainers. He does not have a record of complaining, but I want him to approach it in a way that won't ruffle Hilton's feathers. The hotel is totally at fault for letting rooms go all day without being cleaned knowing they were sold out / oversold that night. The poor guy at the front desk at midnight was very nice but there was little he could do other than to call someone in to clean rooms. I believe this warrants a complaint and some talking to with the GM by Hilton corporate. If your capacity is 20% you can leave rooms untouched, but you don't do it at 100%.

My father plans to move his business to the new Hyatt House Tallahassee and will not return to this property, but leaving a 67-year-old diamond in the lobby until nearly 3 a.m. is not a good look for Hilton. This isn't a "my light bulb by the bed was blown" situation. It's a situation that should never have happened on the day shift watch. He's traveled for his job for 40 years, and he has lodged very few complaints. The front desk guy wanted to walk him so he could get sleep, but there was literally nowhere to walk him that didn't involve driving an hour. I would caution anyone else staying there to check in on the app or call the property and let them know you will be a late arrival just in case they make this a habit.

estnet

If your dad is a multi year Diamond (or just an experienced traveler) he probably knows that the first step is to talk to someone (preferably the GM) at the hotel in the morning or (afternoon) to give them a chance to make it right.

craigthemif

Your response sounds a bit pasive-aggressive to me. It's fairly easy to go through life without running into major issues at a hotel that require the involvement of management, especially if you are just a Diamond and not a DYKWIA Diamond.

But yes, what happened happened... the first step is to allow the hotel to make amends. If the OP's father is unsatisfied, then he can take it up the chain to the Diamond desk.

I wouldn't worry about a legitimate complaint such as this one. Many of the issues have come from serial complainers - who make an effort to find something to complain about - and/or people who have misused their status / credit card. If Hilton kicked out every member who complained about a room being unavailable at standard check-in time or later, then they would have few potential customers left.

There is always the risk though that the hotel manager lies to Hilton corporate about what happened. You can generally get a good feel for that risk from the initial discussion with the manager.

In general, I'd be requesting that the night be comped, or points that are roughly equivalent to the same.

fwfdan

I totally agree. The hotel is the one at fault for what I see as a significant service lapse. They should be the first point of contact and I would not bring in HH Diamond unless you are not satisfied with the response. IMO comping the first night is a start (or points equivalent). I do not complain but will let the front desk know of any issues and who I think went above and beyond because if you don't tell them they do not know what needs to be fixed or who needs to be rewarded.

I disagree with your first statement. I think it is the right approach and is not at all passive aggressive. I rarely complain but will bring up issues not for a reward but to make the hotel better (I have worked long ago as management in the service industry)

A late room to me is 5 or 6pm. A 3am room check-in is worthy of "feedback"

craigthemif

The passive-aggressiveness was IMO the suggestion that if the OP's father was truly a multi-year Diamond, he would already know to talk to the manager.

Dublin_rfk

I have requests to talk to two different Hilton property GM's. I say requests as I am waiting on a return call for five days from one. Less than stellar hotel experiences are becoming the norm in some states.
I'm not passive aggressive. If the GM doesn't return a call from me as a customer my being a Diamond shouldn't make a difference and I take it as a sign that things won't improve and I walk. Yes, it's a pain to relocate but it's my money and if I have to walk in a check out the hotel before checking in I will and have. I walked from a Embassy Suites today after receiving a boxed breakfast with a frozen bagel from what was supposed to be an open restaurant.

fwfdan

Ah, now I understand. Thanks.

But interesting enough I think that lots of people, even with status, don't really know how to deal with situations. They either just ignore it (as it might not be their nature to "confront") or do 180 degrees of that and just explode and cause a scene. Neither of which is the correct response.

chicaloca453

Thank you all for this advice. I will have him call the hotel on Monday. This was a quick one night stay so he is no longer on property. I think the points equivalent to one night is the best thing. The company has already paid for the night as he used a company card so I think points make more sense. His company wasn't inconvenienced. He was. He should get the benefit.

As far as passive aggressive comments, I did think the comment sounded a bit snarky. My dad is not an idiot, but he's also not a complainer. After reading posts here and on blogs, I know Hilton is not exactly welcoming of complaints. That's why I posted asking for guidance.

And again he is angry about the late night, but he's even more angry that the hotel allowed housekeeping to leave before rooms were cleaned on a sold out night. It's worthy of a complaint because it was bad business.

Again. I thank you for your feedback.

ovacikar

"so he thought he would be fine."

For any hotel arrival later than 6pm I would proactively call the hotel to confirm my arrival time, not necessarily to check in but to ensure a room will be ready to check in.

DiverDave

How late is late? Cleaning a room takes more time and effort than pre-COVID.

If your dad has multiple stays at this property, then he should mention that when contacting the hotel. I would not be so quick to move my business based on one poor experience. Give them a chance to make it right.

I would maybe ask for a Be My Guest certificate, which I think would be only good at HGI but potentially more valuable than points.

David

estnet

Interesting that you thought my reply was PA - not intended that way at all. I did mention "experienced traveler" since I think anyone was has traveled a lot usually has run into a problem that requires a higher level intervention now and then (although maybe I've just not led a charmed life).
IME the (luckily) few times I've had problems asking to speak to a manager type usually solved the problem - clearly if this was a short stay the ability to do this was limited but I'm glad he is following through b/c if management doesn't know there is a problem they can't fix it.
One of the ways I have been impressed by hotels is when I ask to speak to a manager the next day (well it only happened twice) b/c the weren't available the day before and they already know about the issue b/c it was reported to them in "morning meeting". They were ready to address and remedy the problem - nice.
Of course given that travel had been so diminished it is possible that the hotel didn't foresee this totally full occupancy, but since all the other hotels were sold out maybe that isn't a valid excuse.
I hope he gets as good a resolution as is possible under the circumstances.

The Road Goes On Forever

The key thing that helps when asking for any type of compensation is to have a honed idea as to what it is you're looking for (points for one night is more than fair and should be a no brainer). I've heard from so many guests things like "Well make me an offer" or "What do you think is acceptable." That usually leads nowhere. Know what you want, keep it within reason and be willing to negotiate. Also understand that no matter what happens in this situation Hilton corporate won't be talking with anyone from the hotel. Worst case scenario for the hotel is that they bury their heads in the sand, your dad contacts the Diamond Desk/Guest Assistance and whatever they give him to just gets billed internally against the property. Too much of that for a property s a bad thing but if it's a one off, no one will blink an eye.

The other thing to understand in the current hospitality environment is that Rome wasn't built in a day and your dad may not get an answer right away (although hopefully he does). Lots of hotels right now are running without a GM or the GM is overseeing multiple properties or they're overwhelmed with doing a lot of hourly shifts. As crazy as this sounds, even though last year the industry laid off a ton of people, right now as business is coming back on line you can't find people to hire especially for housekeeping.

DJ_Iceman

Years ago I stayed at a HGI where I had an issue much less serious than the OP's dad, but annoying enough to make me want to speak with the manager the next morning (super-loud and ineffective air conditioner, and no rooms for them to move me to). I wasn't looking for compensation, but did want the manager to know he probably shouldn't put any other guests in that room until maintenance had a look at it. It turns out the GM was working the front desk so I didn't even have to ask for him, and when I explained the situation he said that my stay would be complimentary. I told him that wasn't necessary as the issue wasn't that big a deal, but he pointed to a sign on the front desk about HGI's 100% satisfaction guarantee, and said it was obvious I wasn't 100% satisfied with my stay. The downside is that I lost that night and those points toward status, but it led to me staying at quite a few other HGIs over the subsequent years, as I felt that was a hospitality promise with real meaning behind it.

Bottom line, definitely speak to a manager while on site.

LondonElite

These things are always better handled on site, not via corporate weeks later.

pazza2000

Do they not? This is news to me! Can anyone elaborate?