Ally Taylor

Review of The Fort Wayne Hilton at the C...

First, let me stat that overall this is a great ho...

First, let me stat that overall this is a great hotel! The breakfast was wonderful. I was staying for a big convention I was attending next door. However, I recently had an experience that I could not ignore. I'm a defense lawyer and so I did a little research. During my last stay at this hotel I needed an early ride to the airport and just happened to be on the same shuttle as a few airline crews that were staying at this hotel. They just happened to be the same crew that flew me to Atlanta. I'm not sure if the van driver did not realize I was amongst the crew or what but I was absolutely shocked when the van driver on the way to the airport started complaining to the airline crew about never getting tipped. I could tell the situation in the van became very awkward and the crews just kept to themselves and stopped talking to the driver. The Lawyer in me wanted to say something but instead I held back and just observed the crew as we arrived at the airport. When we arrived the crew was more then cordial and even helped me get out of the van and the Captain grabbed my bags for me. (the driver did not). I noticed that out of the 3 crew members that only one left a tip for the driver. I also left a tip to the driver but now thinking back on it I should have given it to the Captain because he helped me out and was much more cordial then the driver was. However, with that said, the lawyer in me needed to go research it. It's funny because this appears to be a big discussion amongst many pilot groups, and there are many good discussions from both sides of the story but to make it short my research taught me that a contract between Airline and hotel includes the service of van drivers. So what does that mean? In the airline contract with the hotel they already pay for the services of a van driver and therefore does not require to crews to pay a tip. However like any other tip it's a peace offering and thank you for your help. Crew members are not required to tip but some do out of their own pockets to say thank you to the drivers. I can only imagine how much they tip a year to van drivers out of their own pockets for the amount of hotel stays they do yearly. So here you have it. I'm leaving this comment with one star because honestly what the driver did was very distasteful and I could not believe what I was hearing. Its possibly time for this older gentlemen to find new work, if he hates being a van driver so bad. Very bad etiquette!