I have spent 110 nights of the past half year at one particular Hampton by Hilton in the UK. While I was away for a few days between two stays, a suit bag (with one of my suits in it) that I had given to the hotel for safekeeping in their luggage cabinet got damaged beyond repair, evidently by somebody who had access to the luggage cabinet, i. e. hotel staff.
When I pointed this out to the lady at the front desk, she checked back with the General Manager, who had her tell me "We are sorry, but we have no control over what happens to luggage in the cabinet, since there are so many things going in and out all the time."
I told her that I strongly disagree with the hotel practically denying any responsibility for items they accepted for safekeeping, so she went to the back office to speak to the GM again. This time, she told me, he agreed to compensate me for the suit bag and in fact he wanted to get a new one for me himself. I accepted and pointed out that I would stay only for one week this time and I would need a new suit bag in time for my departure.
Over the following days, because no-one got in touch with me, I enquired about the state of the issue with front desk staff several times. Most of these times, the member of staff went to talk to the GM and got back to me with assurances that he would take care of it that same day or the next day. Nevertheless, until my departure, nothing actually happened, which left me without a suit bag and - after being put off all the time - no time left to take care of the issue myself.
During check-out, I voiced my discontent to three employees of the hotel at the front desk, who promised to follow up with the GM. Nevertheless, up to today, five weeks after my initial complaint, I haven't heard a single word from the GM himself, let alone any attempt to compensate me for the damaged suit bag, the cost of having my suit properly ironed after being crumpled in my suitcase or the value of my personal time spent dealing with all these matters. In view of the numerous reminders I don't believe in a genuine mistake anymore, apparently the GM is intentionally ignoring my case and hoping for the problem to go away by itself.
I sent an e-mail, describing the problem, to guest.correspondence@hilton.com, and I even CCed two senior Hampton brand managers whose e-mail addresses I managed to get hold of. This was a week ago, and there seems to be a pattern emerging: so far I haven't received any response at all, not even a confirmation of receipt.
If, as a HHonors Diamond member, after staying for 110 nights and spending around £7,000 ($11,000), being ignored is the kind of treatment I am expected to accept, I will never stay at a Hilton hotel again. Damaging my luggage in the first place is bad enough, but at an early stage the issue would have been relatively cheap and easy to resolve and I would never have made a fuss about it. However, even as a one-time guest I would have expected the General Manager of a Hilton hotel (or at least Guest Correspondence) to actually deal with an issue like this, properly and instantly, but apparently even loyal guests like me are expected to just surrender their money and otherwise shut up.
This kind of attitude is unacceptable and far from the level of attention and service I would have expected even from a youth hostel. I'm lost for words to describe how disappointed I am with Hilton. Any ideas on how to proceed?
When I pointed this out to the lady at the front desk, she checked back with the General Manager, who had her tell me "We are sorry, but we have no control over what happens to luggage in the cabinet, since there are so many things going in and out all the time."
I told her that I strongly disagree with the hotel practically denying any responsibility for items they accepted for safekeeping, so she went to the back office to speak to the GM again. This time, she told me, he agreed to compensate me for the suit bag and in fact he wanted to get a new one for me himself. I accepted and pointed out that I would stay only for one week this time and I would need a new suit bag in time for my departure.
Over the following days, because no-one got in touch with me, I enquired about the state of the issue with front desk staff several times. Most of these times, the member of staff went to talk to the GM and got back to me with assurances that he would take care of it that same day or the next day. Nevertheless, until my departure, nothing actually happened, which left me without a suit bag and - after being put off all the time - no time left to take care of the issue myself.
During check-out, I voiced my discontent to three employees of the hotel at the front desk, who promised to follow up with the GM. Nevertheless, up to today, five weeks after my initial complaint, I haven't heard a single word from the GM himself, let alone any attempt to compensate me for the damaged suit bag, the cost of having my suit properly ironed after being crumpled in my suitcase or the value of my personal time spent dealing with all these matters. In view of the numerous reminders I don't believe in a genuine mistake anymore, apparently the GM is intentionally ignoring my case and hoping for the problem to go away by itself.
I sent an e-mail, describing the problem, to guest.correspondence@hilton.com, and I even CCed two senior Hampton brand managers whose e-mail addresses I managed to get hold of. This was a week ago, and there seems to be a pattern emerging: so far I haven't received any response at all, not even a confirmation of receipt.
If, as a HHonors Diamond member, after staying for 110 nights and spending around £7,000 ($11,000), being ignored is the kind of treatment I am expected to accept, I will never stay at a Hilton hotel again. Damaging my luggage in the first place is bad enough, but at an early stage the issue would have been relatively cheap and easy to resolve and I would never have made a fuss about it. However, even as a one-time guest I would have expected the General Manager of a Hilton hotel (or at least Guest Correspondence) to actually deal with an issue like this, properly and instantly, but apparently even loyal guests like me are expected to just surrender their money and otherwise shut up.
This kind of attitude is unacceptable and far from the level of attention and service I would have expected even from a youth hostel. I'm lost for words to describe how disappointed I am with Hilton. Any ideas on how to proceed?