Q: We booked a room at the Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach Resort in Deerfield Beach, Fla., using our Hilton HHonors points to pay for the stay. When we arrived, we were shown a series of rooms that were unacceptable. The first room was infested with ants. The second and third rooms had waterlogged carpeting, damp curtains and wet plaster peeling from the ceiling.
I want to be clear that our dissatisfaction was not a question of disappointing ambience. These rooms were plainly unsafe. But the staff at the hotel was aggressively indifferent to our concerns.
We canceled our reservation and arranged for two rooms at a Hilton property in Boca Raton, Fla. Then we called Hilton’s guest assistance number (Hilton owns Embassy Suites) to complain. An inspector visited the Embassy Suites property and verified that portions of that hotel were unsuitable for guests and should never have been offered.
A manager from the hotel called us later and told us she wanted to “make it right.” We were satisfied with her offer to return 180,000 HHonors points to our account, as that was the amount spent on the Boca Raton stay.
It’s been nearly nine months, and the points still have not been credited to our account. We’ve phoned, e-mailed and sent registered letters to Hilton, all to no avail. Can you help us?
– Linda Cohn, Houston
A: You’re right, the Embassy Suites property in Deerfield Beach should not have offered you those rooms. And after the inspector verified that they were unacceptable, your HHonors points should have been credited to your account immediately. The attitude of the staff and the delay in compensating you for the inconvenience of having to move to another hotel just made a bad situation worse.
But I’m surprised by your story, because I’ve stayed at Embassy Suites properties in several cities, and the service has always been excellent. What was happening in Deerfield Beach?
A lot, it turns out. The hotel was just recovering from a hurricane, and when you checked in, they were busy replacing the roof. Several rooms had, as a hotel manager delicately puts it, “water intrusion.” That might also explain the ant infestation in one of the rooms.
Should the hotel have remained open at a time like that? Well, that’s debatable. On the one hand, some of the rooms were probably usable, and why deprive the owner of revenue at a time when money is badly needed? On the other hand, the hotel was bound to end up with disappointed guests like you.
When you’re offered a room that is unacceptable, first ask the front-desk clerk for a different room. If you don’t get anywhere, speak with a manager. And if that doesn’t work, appeal your case to the hotel’s parent company.
Although you did that, your timing was slightly off. I would have phoned Hilton from the lobby of the Embassy Suites — not waited until I had checked into the hotel in Boca Raton. Nothing motivates a hotel to make things right like a disappointed customer loitering in the lobby.
It shouldn’t have taken nine months to credit your HHonors points back. The normal response time is six to eight weeks, although Hilton could have done it in far less time. Why the delay? Maybe the folks at the Embassy Suites were so busy fixing up their hotel that they let customer service slide.
Shortly after I contacted the hotel on your behalf, you received a personal apology from the hotel’s general manager, Mike Long. Not only did he credit your points back to your account, but he also included a voucher for a free night’s stay at the property.
This time, you might want to visit after hurricane season.
✓ Get the latest travel news, tips and commentary from Elliott’s E-Mail, the subversive newsletter from industry gadfly Christopher Elliott. You’ll travel like a pro. Sign up here. It’s free.
Sign up for my 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I live in Florida, however:
There is absolutely NO reason why a guest in a hotel should be sent to an unsafe, unclean and unpleasant room.
The fact that there has been an hurricane should instead be ONE MORE REASON to make sure that your rooms are safe, clean and usable BEFORE you send someone to stay.
The incident reported is contrary to any bsic principles of hotel in the accomodation idustry and ESPECIALLY to the ones of Hilton.
Look at it from the hotel point of view and you can understand that there could also be a concern witl liability.
SITUATION LIKE THESE SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.
There is no playin around to blame the customer because, he only asked for 3 different rooms, or because after a loing trip and the aggravation of being tired to deal with unsupportive perfsonnel that have sent him to horrible rooms, instead of still try to fight with them and call the headquarters of the mother company.
Come on would you have spent your night fighting with the personell at a hotel ?
I wouldn’t and nobody should face this situation.
To; N Floridian. Please use spell Check…
To; Elliott,
My God, where do I start? Your flippant remark about traveling after Hurricane season really is good advice.
Maybe we should all stay home forever.Pleae quit trying to blame the traveler for all the things that the travel industry does to them. It really doesn’t set very well.
Similar only in regards to the hotel’s indifference to my complaints, a couple of years ago I wrote a letter to the GM of the Wyndham Nassau and he was kind enough to write back offering a complimentary, not one but TWO night stay there. Sounds great but it would have cost more than $1000 for me and my guest to fly back, and then, unless I am a complete idiot, I would have to pay for 3-5 more nights to make the travel worthwhile. I politely rejected his offer and he then issued a partial credit for my original stay (I was impressed).
@James:
Just because he’s talking about a very wet time of year doesn’t mean it can’t be dry humor.
@Elliott:
As always, seeing a happy ending to a situation like this brings a tear to the eye. Keep up the good work.