A guest was banned from a Southern California DoubleTree hotel while visiting Disneyland after ruining towels that were in the bathroom. Their sister “cut herself while shaving her leg [and] used a towel to wipe and stop the bleeding.”
Rather than expressing concern for the guest (hospitality),
- The hotel charged $150 for the used towels
- And banned the customer
- Without so much as a word
Unaware why they charged me this amount I called them and they told me that it was a fee because they had to throw away the towels since they had blood on them, and the lady also told me that they would no longer be accepting me as a guest. So I asked why and they told me because of this incident I would no longer be able to come back I thought that was ridiculous. not only am I paying for the towels they’re also banning me. I would understand if I refuse to pay for the towels or if my card declined, but it didn’t. I paid for the towels I apologized, but they still put me on a DNR list.
This woman has been banned only from the specific hotel, and not from Hiltons worldwide or the Hilton Honors program.
Ironically, the guest says they’re a former Hilton employee and a Diamond member for the past six years. She figures she can “just make another Hilton Honors account and Gift myself diamond status or I could just put it under my sister‘s name and give her a diamond status and get the same perks.”
The reported amount – even for a set of used towels – sounds outrageously high. And occasionally towels get stained. Guests use them on messy foods when they don’t have napkins. Guests make far bigger messes – confining the blood to towels on the floor in the bathroom seems quite reasonable. And as a hotel, it seems like the first reaction ought to be care for the guest (‘are you ok?’).
Of course you can’t really expect any given DoubleTree to be in the business of hospitality. They’re not owned by Hilton, and there are very few brand standards even. It’s a conversion brand, with the whole thing tied together by cookies at check-in. The cookie was a really brilliant innovation back in 1986.
The towel cost them nopte than $5. Is it legal to arbitrarily charge a guest a $150 replacement charge when actual damages are $5? Seems like fraud to me. If they’re gonna ban you anyway, then why not dispute the charge?
Did a dog poop in the parking garage?
@ Gary — The simple solution is to file a claim with their insurance and file a lawsuit for the injury. It was clearly the hotel’s fault.
@ Gary — I was once legitimately injured due to a cracked toilet at a hotel, and I have never received so many phone calls, emails and letters following up on a stay. They took my injury much more seriously than I. They wouldn’t stop until I signed an affidavit stating that I wasnt going to hold them liable. It was ridulouus.
Sic DCS on them. He raves about Hilton so here’s his chance to prove the chain’s bona fides.
Haha! If you read the original Reddit post and her other post, she admits she’s a prostitute. And that they likely destroyed every towel in the room. Lot more to this story.
There has got to be more to this story.
Do a charge back on the credit card. $150 for a $7 towel from Macys Call the attorney general consumer protection for CA and file a claim
Good thing this didn’t happen in a Hertz rental car. They probably would have been arrested!!
If that comment is what passes for evidence of intelligence, then it’s truly a sad commentary.
The reported incident could have happened at any hotel of any chain in any country because the culprit — i.e., the hotel management — has as much intelligence and common as the author of the comment quoted above, i.e., none.