Lana Richards-Monestime

Review of Hilton Garden Inn Oakdale

Hilton is known for amazing customer service, but ...

Hilton is known for amazing customer service, but not this hotel.

I worked for Hilton so I'm pretty familiar with how a hotel stay from check in to check out is supposed to go and this place totally missed the mark. The Front Desk staff need proper customer service training. When we arrived the young woman at the front desk did not welcome us to the hotel, she basically just asked what we wanted, she checked us in, told us what floor the room is on, I asked for a higher floor, she changed the room, and just said okay, fourth floor. It was our first time there, I had to ask her where the elevators are and she did not give us any information about the hotel at all. The room was decent, but just after 11.30 PM, my husband and I were rudely awoken by the sound of fire alarms, we got dressed and started walking down the stairs. When we got to the third floor, I almost cried at the sight of parents carrying their little ones, barely dressed, no shoes and it was around -10 or worse outside. We got to the lobby and weren't given any explanation for what was happening. There were people leaving and people going outside in their pajamas. We waited in the lobby for instruction from the staff...no one said anything. The police arrived, we never saw any members of the fire department. The fire alarm was turned off and people started returning to their rooms, still no word from the staff. We returned to our room and I could not sleep, by almost 2 AM I called the front desk to ask for a late checkout. (The phone was not working properly and I could barely hear the guy, but he was polite.) We got a 1 PM checkout and left a bit before it. Having been in the hospitality industry before I was aware that I could leave the keys in the room and leave, but decided to checkout in person so that the front desk could let housekeeping know they can clean the room for the next guest. The young woman at the desk didn't say hello or utter any greeting whatsoever, she looked annoyed and like we were bothering her. I told her we were checking out, she asked the room number, I told her the room number, she said, "Okay, you can go!" No thank you for your stay, nothing. I walked away and said, "wow." It was our anniversary. I will never stay here ever again.