Santa Rosa CA Hilton a Nightmare 2 Yrs. Later
 

My girlfriend and I stayed at the Santa Rosa Hilton two years ago and experienced the worst Hilton I had ever seen. I didn't notice the mold covering the bottom of the shower curtain until the last morning (when I had contacts in prior to getting into the shower). The furnature was beat up (including strange holes in the night stands where it looked like something was bolted to them at one point) -- all this for a HHonors Gold upgrade. The lobby to our building had the same leaves and debris on the carpet our entire stay. I wrote a long complaint letter and never got any response. I had resolved never to stay there again. <BR>Fast forward to last week -- I bid $50/night on Priceline and unfortunately ended up at the same hotel. I would have gladly stayed at a budget motel for the same price. <BR> <BR>Since we were aware of the issues with cleanliness, we checked our bathroom as soon as we got into the room. There was hair all over the place, and what appeared to be dried urine (I kid you not) on the toilet seat, and some sort of liquid dried on the counter -- on top of smelling like smoke. We were moved to a second room which smelled like some type of solvent and had the air conditioning vent grate hanging off the ceiling with the airconditioning making an unbelieveable racket (doesn't anyone check these rooms?) Our third room (the last non-smoking King available) had less hair in the bathroom than the others, but a half drunk beer bottle on the desk. We took the room (it was late, and I didn't believe we would find better) however, that beer bottle remained on the desk for the entire three night stay despite daily calls to the front desk. We also had to call housekeeping to get clean towels after finding lipstick and other stuff on ours. <BR> <BR>What the hell is going on at this place? How can management have so little control over something as basic as cleanliness?? The front desk was appoligetic, and offered free breakfast one morning and a free movie another night. They also went on and on about new management and plans to renovate -- but its not a renovation issue (although it would certainly be welcome). Cleaning is something housekeeping is supposed to do every day. <BR> <BR>I would strongly recommend to anyone that that they find other arrangements in Santa Rosa, CA <BR> <BR>

Hey, how many times a fool must be taught? If someone hurt you once, it's his fault; if someone hurt you twice it's YOUR fault. What was the special reason for you to stay twice in the same hotel you did not like first time? I know Santa Rosa, it has more than a Hilton for same/lesser price.

Fool (or Moron): <BR> <BR>READ the posting above. With Priceline, you don't get to chose your hotel. I didn't think I needed to explain that on a travel-related website.

XXXX, I would say that you're the fool or moron for going the Priceline route. I would think you would realize that there's a chance you would get the same hotel! <BR>Don't be such a tightwad next time and book a hotel directly! <BR>(Hey, besides, what do you expect for $50 a night, silk sheets?)

S.R. is not known for their great places to stay. Not sure why you travel to SR in specific, but you might want to consider Holiday Inn in Sebastopol next time. It really is a great area to visit. Hope you have better luck next time. Make sure to post for some ideas on alternatives.

XXXXX: Thanks for the information. Information like this is helpful on a travel website. Perhaps you can complain to priceline as well. Maybe they can get this hotel off their list (or at least reduce their number of stars?).

Thank you for your comments. I was beginging to think that there was no point on posting such a warning on this board. I have posted the same information to a higly reputable business travel board and only got constuctive comments and thanks for the warning. Good to see that there is some inteligent discussion here also. <BR> <BR>The point of posting information is to help other travelers. The point I was trying to make in my post is that while you can't expect the world in Santa Rosa, I think anyone should be able expect a clean room (at a minimum) from any hotel -- certainly a Hilton. <BR> <BR>The sort of people who posted the moronic comments above are exactly why I don't give my personal information on here.

Thanks for the alert, I stayed at the same Hilton, probably 3 years ago and it was fine. Sounds like it's gone downhill considerably

Just wondering which business travel board you use -- thanks!

Jan: <BR> <BR>I like Flyertalk.com. Very savy people and news gets posted so fast I have yet to add anything that others didn't already know. It is geared to frequent flyer program participants, but info on hotels, rental cars, etc. is first rate. Check it out.