My wife and I visited Whistler and stayed here at ...

My wife and I visited Whistler and stayed here at the end of August for our 5 year wedding anniversary. We wanted a room with a kitchenette so that we didn't have to eat out every meal. We found what seemed to be a good deal at the Hilton and booked it.

When we arrived the staff weren't overly pleased to see us (In my experience, staying at 3 and 4 star hotels, I am used to the staff smiling and making you feel like your staying there is appreciated). Other than giving us a handout telling us how to reserve a spot at the pool, the only information they relayed was that room service was only being done in between stays and when it was specifically requested (Both the pool booking and the room service changes are part of their COVID-19 plan and my wife and I have no problem with these changes).

Our room looked alright for a stay at you local Travelodge, the wall paper was lifting at the seams, the main light took about 5 minutes to fully illuminate and the dishwasher door wouldn't fully open (it hit the bedside cabinet in front of it at about 35o). This was problematic for getting items in and out of the lower drawer of the dishwasher as it would just roll back in as soon as you let go of it, the dishes still in the drawer would then crash about.

When we checked out we were charged a $25 Resort fee per night. We queried this and were told the resort fee is for the pool, 1 hour complementary bike use, tennis courts and outside patio. We didn't use any of these services as we weren't made aware these were available to us (other than the pool which filled up so fast we couldn t get a time slot) so we asked for this charge to be waived. They would not as apparently the resort fee is non-negotiable and that somewhere in our booking it would have said this. They were right, It did say this, about half way down where no one looks. If it is non-negotiable, then the resort fee should be included in the room price should it not? To separate it is deceitful in my mind.

When I talked with the hotel manager to express my concerns I received no sympathy, in fact they had an answer for everything and would not make any exceptions (one must wonder if guests disputing the resort fee is a regular occurrence). On their website they listed services we could expect to receive that actually weren't available eg. deluxe bedding (ours was far from deluxe as instead of a duvet cover we had two bed sheets that had holes in them), bathrobes and slippers, free newspaper. Their reply to that was that we should have called the hotel before booking to see what was being offered. Apparently there is some small print somewhere which states that these things are subject to change, again I find this deceitful as they took the time to update their website with their recent COVID-19 protocols, but chose not to update what is being provided?

A few years ago my wife and I also had a bad experience staying at the Hilton in Paris. We decided to give them another shot, lesson learned, we will not be staying at a Hilton Hotel/Resort again.