HispageTONOway

The City of DiamondHead, MS

Who would have thought that someone who visited Hawaii would start a city in Mississippi?  It has a population about 10,000 residents.  It was good to see a little bit of Hawaii in the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot talk about it, but ... NO above and beyond guest service at the Hilton

There must something wrong with me as I stay loyal to a chain that just doesn't treat me well.

You would expect that a hotel chain, the Hampton Inn, that you booked in early June for a reservation in mid-September would have the courtesy of calling you if the hotel wouldn't open in time for the reservation.  Wouldn't you think?

Well ... fortunately, while at dinner I was checking out the directions to the hotel that we were supposed to check in last night and lo and behold, the hotel web site that I was directed to said that it was not supposed to open till October 7, 2014.  I have a confirmation for my stay last night, so I know that I wouldn't have booked a hotel if the hotel wasn't supposed to open in time for me to stay starting last night.

When I called the hotel, the gentleman who answered the phone told me that they weren't ready to invite guests.  So I called the main Hilton reservation line.  The guest service representative didn’t know why the hotel didn’t open, or bother to call me to make a reservation elsewhere.

To make a long story short, the guest service representative made a reservation for me at the Hilton Garden Inn.  However, when I got to the hotel, they told me that they didn't have a reservation at the hotel.  The clerk had to make one immediately.  Fortunately, they still had rooms available.  This was after getting off the phone with the Hilton reservation line over two hours before I arrived at the hotel to stay.

In the modern technological age, I cannot understand how this can happen.  Just saying.

--9:20am

No one is perfect ... Making amends

Maybe this is why I am loyal to companies.  If it is brought to their attention and they make amends for "messing up," it makes it ok--not above and beyond, but ok.

This morning, after I posted what I wrote, the manager at the Hilton Garden Inn I expressed my frustration called, apologized and offered me a free breakfast, which I did not ask for.  Even though, I still believe that this stay has not gone above and beyond. 

Throughout the day I, also, remembered last year's trip to Washington D.C.  I remember this front desk guest service attendant who remembered my name, calling me Mr. Lum, every time that I arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn.  That made me feel very special, that he would call me specifically by my name.

So maybe that is why I am still loyal to the Hilton chain.