Within hours of the story hitting several media sources, a Homewood Suites by Hilton has reversed course and will refund $10,000 owed to a 5th grade class in Florida.
In a rather bizarre story the Homewood Suites by Hilton Washington DC Downtown wanted to charge an elementary school $20,612 when they weren’t able to travel to D.C. in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The hotel eventually agreed to take just $10,000, withheld from the group’s deposit.
Incarcerated rapper Kodak Black got involved. Black is in prison until October on gun charges, but grew up near Pinewood Elementary and offered to pay for a future trip if Hilton refuses a refund. Black’s attorney represented the school PTA to seek a full refund.
Though the hotel had heard from this lawyer, it was media coverage that broke through and they were ‘shocked! shocked to learn that gambling greed was going on at the property’.
Here’s what the property had to say,
We were surprised to learn of Pinewood Elementary’s dissatisfaction with what we understood to be a matter that was resolved amicably and agreed upon in March. Upon learning this morning of their disappointment through media reports, we immediately reached out to the school to discuss the matter. We have gone ahead and begun the process to fully refund the school’s deposit and are awaiting the opportunity to discuss further with the school.
Credit: Homewood Suites by Hilton Washington DC Downtown
Group bookings and events haven’t been afforded the same cancellation flexibility that individual reservations have. However keeping $10,000 of a deposit from fifth graders didn’t play well, and the hotel reversed course. Kodiak Black taught them an important lesson:
Passive aggressive nonsense statement by the hotel
Surprised to learn their dissatisfaction??? Either they are lying or someone at the school needs to go to negotiation class.
haha so true Jason. “We thought elementary schools liked to be screwed. Surprising!”
Someone should take out a Google Add words add so every time someone looks up DC hotels, it shows this one screwed the 5th grader guests. It would be funny if there were a fund drive to create adds against the hotel, and then let their PR machine respond to that one.
But it’s necessary.
We thought you were happy that we kept half of your money!!!!! OMG! What is wrong with the person who made that statement? Surely they didn’t think it sounded good. Sometimes you should just do the right thing first, instead of making people drag you to the right thing.
@Andrew
So much of everything today is press releases, statements, cover ups.
of course they kept $10,000 and of course, once word got out, they expressed shock that the customer wasn’t happy. everybody “spins” stuff today.
I think that the only reason Kodak Black is getting involved and trying to help is because in the end it will look better on him and trying to get released from prison early due to the pandemic, just look at everything he’s doing, trying to get ahold of trump for a “brilliant” idea… He’s just trying to look good for the press and media. He deserves to be in there, he didn’t just do something small he put people’s lives at danger by selling guns to criminals so they can use them to shoot and possibly kill an innocent person. Black has never been a productive member to society, if he’s so big bad and gangster don’t you think he should man up and take responsibility and do his time? All he does is complain about getting abused by officers in jail but he starts everything and starts fights with them! He’s a liar, he’s ignorant, and a complainer that cant take responsibility for what he committed.
True BS if I’ve ever seen it. “We are so stunned that you aren’t delighted about being ripped off by us.” The response alone shows how completely tone deaf and uncaring the management there is. Heads should roll, but they likely won’t.
All standard stuff for hotels and airlines and many other businesses. They are there to make money. They thought they had screwed the 5th graders and made some money. Hopefully now this story will spread very widely so they will lose a great deal of money.
Perhaps it is because of his predicament. However any giving of charity should not be written off. Even when a billionaire actually gives what they pledged, don’t honour the billionaire, honour the charity that will help others.
When we give a homeless person a care package, we don’t judge them if they are on drugs, drunk, Vietnam vets with no legs. We give and we say a pray to bring an Angel to watch over them.
@Jay, aside from your views of the rapper, what do you think of the hotel’s actions? By slamming the rapper and not the hotel, you seem to be giving the hotel a free pass. Can you clarify?