Beware of Corrupt Hotel Management, Being Ripped Off and an Overall Dirty Hotel. You will be wrongly accused and charged Recently, my family and I stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Albany, Georgia. I have never stayed at such a dirty, corrupt, dismissive, inconsiderate, and money-hungry hotel under the Hilton brand name. I have tried to resolve this issue with the hotel directly and Hilton Honors, but have come to no resolution, as the hotel management will not respond to my calls. Instead, I have had to resort to sharing about my experiences online, with the hope that others be warned before staying at this hotel.
We arrived at our hotel late in the evening for a stop on our road trip from Michigan to Florida. Our hotel room was horribly dirty, the carpet was filthy, there were stains on the sheets and the bathtub was black. The walls were marked with black marks, furniture was chipped and peeling, and drawers were missing knobs, towels, and the bath curtain were ripped and tattered. Additionally, the pool was green and the common areas were dingy and beat up looking. Due to our late-night arrival, dealing with some missing luggage left at a previous location (very stressful) and having two exhausted kids, so we opted to not say anything at the time. We just needed a place to sleep and were not up for driving any further, or even switching hotels at this time. Instead, we attempted to make the most of it and deal with the situation the next day.
Due to the impolite hotel staff encountered in the morning and at breakfast, we opted to open a complaint online after check-out, as we anticipated more rudeness with a room complaint. While writing this complaint to Hilton Honors after check-out, we received an email (unrelated to the complaint) with a charge for $150 for damaged towels.
Upon receiving this bill, I called the hotel immediately and was told that we had dyed 6 towels pink with hair dye and lipstick. I,nor have any of my family ever dyed their hair pink, nor do we wear lipstick. (It was myself (lipstick allergy), my husband, and two young sons (none of us wear lipstick or dye our hair pink).
We did, however, spill some pink lemonade, used some of our own items to clean up the mess, and then had to use a hotel towel to clean the remainder. We were unaware that we would be ‘framed’ and told the pink color was from hair dye. Pink lemonade bleaches out of towels, if it does not just wash out directly. If that one towel was unable to be bleached, we would have gladly paid the $10 it was worth, we were never given the chance to even discuss this with the hotel.
I attempted several times to talk to hotel management at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Albany, GA, but the hotel management never called me back. I called the front desk several times in attempt to reach them and was always told they were out of town and that they would take down my information and the general manager would call me back. I never once received a follow-up phone call from the hotel. At one point, when I was still attempting to reach the hotel management, they started to ignore my number when I called. This was figured out because while we called on my call, we also called on my husband’s phone and the call was answered within two rings.
Realizing I was not getting anywhere with the hotel regarding the towels, I took my concerns to Hilton Honors, hoping they could get me in touch with the hotel or resolve the situation. As a Hilton Honors member and a Hilton American Express credit card holder, I thought (wrongly) that maybe we could reach some type of resolution.
On three separate occasions, Hilton Honors opened cases for me several times. Each time telling me that 'for sure' the hotel would call me back and they would 'definitely/100%' resolve our issue. That, as several Hilton Honor's representatives told me, we would be compensated for our time, the dirty hotel room, and the inappropriate towel charge. Nothing ever happened and all the cases were closed by the hotel without any communication with me. At one of the calls, I was assured that the case would be sent to the corporate level, and that I would receive a response within 48 hours. Again, nothing ever happened. At another point I called and Hilton Honors was supposed to escalate my case, instead, the call was redirected to their time share department and I had an individual attempt to sell my a Hilton timeshare for several minutes. Finally, another time, when I was understandably upset that the case was closed without communication with the hotel and the Hilton Honors customer service rep started arguing with me that there was nothing she could do in very inappropriate tones.
As a family who travels a lot and has started to develop loyalty with the Hilton brand, we are extremely turned off. We have a Hilton American Express credit card and are Hilton Honors members, but we are so disgusted by the lack of communication and follow–through from both the Hampton Inn and Suites in Albany, GA and Hilton Honors customer service. It’s going to be a long time before we ever stay at a Hilton property again. If we can’t reach a hotel when they are wrongly accusing us of dying their towels with hair dye to discuss the matter, on top of charging us an unnecessary amount of money for said false claim, but how can we fix the trust we have lost with this company? If our concerns about a filthy hotel are not addressed by either the hotel or Hilton Honors, how are we supposed to express such concerns?
The point of this whole letter is to let other travelers know that they need to be cautious if they plan to stay at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Albany, Georgia. Plan ahead for false charges and be sure to have a clean place to shower after you stay. If I were you, I’d book anywhere else in that town and keep your distance. Or, be prepared to pay more for towels or some other item that they will wrongly accuse you of damaging than you do the hotel room.
Additionally, if you find yourself needing to deal with any Hilton Honors representatives, be prepared for a runaround. Also, be prepared to have representatives both argue with you and lead you on with false hope.
To the management or hotel front desk worker who might see this review and finally respond on here, please continue your story with how we dyed our hair and stained your towels. We would have loved to talk to you about this, to have reached some type of resolution, but it's reached a point where we had no choice but to leave this honest review of your dismissive and corrupt nature.