Rebecca W.

Review of Hilton Garden Inn New York Che...

This was my first stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in...

This was my first stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Chelsea. To begin, I greatly enjoyed the location, the cleanliness and my entire room in general. I had no complaints about the hotel during my stay. It was only on my last day that were there some issues and I was greatly mistreated by the staff.
Upon checking out I had my luggage held so I could do some work in the city for the day. Around 7pm on February 25 I came back to the hotel to pick up my bags. I had just finished dinner with my mother and while walking to the hotel we realized that we needed a restroom. We figured that the hotel lobby might have one. When we arrived at the Inn, no one greeted us for help. Because of this, we decided to look around the lobby trying to find a public restroom alone.
This hotel has a restaurant on site used for breakfast. There are two forms of entry into the restaurant- through a public side door and a curtain near the bar. The door was completely unlocked and the curtain is well a basic piece of fabric. Innocently we walked into the public dinning room in search of the restroom. Instead I was shocked to find all of my luggage in this dinning/kitchen area right besides a table: completely unsecured. Other customer s luggage was scattered around the room in the same way. There was even a backpack in one of the kitchen dish pans! The luggage tickets were scattered all over the table and silverware.
I was shocked since I had been out all day thinking that my bags were being safety stored in a proper, locked luggage or staff room. They leave the door unlocked and the curtain is a useless way for anyone to walk in freely. Near this area there are stairs that lead out of the building. It s not safe and not watched over.
Upon discovering this, we walked back into the lobby still waiting for help. Because my bags were in a public space, I decided to simply walk back into the unlocked open room and get my bags myself. A few minutes after doing this, the doorman finally arrived back and he immediately began verbally attacking me. He raised his voice, confronting me in front of other guests and creating a scene. I remained very calm the entire time. I was not angry, I merely wanted an answer as to why luggage is left so open to the public in this hotel.
The situation became worse when the front desk supervisor, Lisa LaPolla, became involved. She made the doorman leave but then immediately started snapping at me. She was so incredibly rude, aggressive and defensive I was in awe that someone would treat a customer in such a way.
Again, I was calm and repeated that I was just confused and wanted to know what the protocol was on storing luggage at this Hilton. I nicely explained how I wasn t blaming them as employees and how I did not want any trouble- I just wanted an explanation.
Instead she insisted that she would not speak to me unless I came over to her at the front desk. When I took a few steps over to her and obliged, she snapped You do know this is New York City, right? The buildings go up. We re not going to store luggage on any upper floors. I travel to NYC countless times every year. I know how the city works. There was no need for her to be so condescending. The entire time she kept her voice raised, always trying to cut me off and not let me ask questions. Keep in mind this was unprovoked and her (and the doorman s) attitude was entirely unnecessary. A simple I m sorry that you re not satisfied- let me explain. was all that she needed to say.
Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, we started to leave. My mother had one last question but as she was about to ask it, Lisa cut her off, held her hand straight up to my mother s face and said I m done with you.
I was appalled that I had to watch a hotel representative disrespect my mother, a guest, like that. It s completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated at any hotel. I kindly please ask you to review the luggage storage and employee s customer service.