Update: After sending the URL of this blog post to the Hilton Website Internet Help Desk on April 15th, they replied two days later that they had forwarded my email to Hilton Guest Relations at Corporate. 7 days later, I still have not heard from Corporate…

However, I was able to get my schedule (and rate) moved to the desired week through a corporate travel agent backchannel.

Recently I booked a one-week business trip at a Hilton hotel, which I would usually do with Expedia or Hotels.com, and decided to use the Hilton web site instead.

WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE.

When I needed to move the trip (it was weeks away, and I only needed to move it one week later)- United Airlines actually sent me a REFUND since the new fare had dropped! Hertz similarly had no problem changing me - these are professional travel companies, why would they?

However, when I called the Hilton reservation line and told her my reservation number, the Hilton Representative on the phone awkwardly paused and apologetically told me I needed to call another number because I had a ’special prepaid reservation’.

OK, so I booked on the Hilton website, called the Hilton reservation number on the Hilton website, but somehow I called the wrong number (?) - and cannot be transferred - how does that happen?

So, I call the new number, and I get this rep on the phone - I can tell from her voice - she is one of those phone reps who has been designated to give people bad news all day long.

I gave her my reservation number and told her the original Hilton Representative on the ‘other’ Hilton Reservations Line had told me to call this number because I had a ’special prepaid reservation’, and that I needed to move it a week.

She instantly informed me that I could not move it.

I can’t move it

I can’t get it refunded.

I can’t reschedule it - even with a change fee!

Nothing.

Period.

If I don’t spend that week at the hotel,
I just LOSE MY MONEY.

ALL OF IT.

They are going to take my $659.12, taxes and all, and put it in the bank.
No services rendered.

I was stunned. I have booked probably over 100 hotel stays in the last 30 years, and I have encountered change fees and what-not, but I have never heard of a reservation that could not be moved - at the forfeit of the entire reservation cost!

I have also stayed at this hotel before - which is why I was coming back, I liked it - and planned on coming back for my annual business trip to the area.

I mean - I am staying at the same hotel - JUST ONE WEEK LATER. I’m still your guest! (or could be!)

I could still stay their customer - they could still have their money AND keep a customer who has stayed at this hotel before (just last year).

But she refused.

She was unyielding.

She offered my no quarter, no compromise, no nothing.

I asked to speak to her supervisor - and, of course, I got the ‘I am the supervisor’ line.

Well of course you are.

She told me that the terms of my reservation were made clear on the website when I checked the box which indicated I understood the terms of the reservation.

I told her that every transaction on earth has that box, and that every single one of them has more terms and conditions to read then any normal consumer could possibly be expected to digest.

She told me this one was especially clear.

Later, I called the hotel directly and asked to speak with the hotel manager. Perhaps if I explained that I was a regular customer he could fix this for me with reservations, or simply give me the other week free or discounted (after all, he is getting a weeks worth of money with NO GUEST). (BTW, they still have availability the new week as of today).

I was told the hotel manager was in a meeting, and the front desk sent me to his voicemail. I left a message and asked him to call me back - which he never did (5 days ago).

Today I was working on a pile of taxes, so my wife called the hotel to see if she could get it straightened out. The girl on the phone was completely unyielding and would not offer any type of compromise whatsoever - nothing - to keep me as a customer.

In almost all discussions we had with Hilton and the hotel, this was a common theme - rather than attempting to compromise in any way, it was instead just a bunch of adolescent finger-wagging about terms and conditions.

It was clear to me that Hilton was much more interested in bagging the $650 I pre-paid for this one reservation than it was in all of my future reservations put together.

As a small business owner for 6 years, I can tell you the #1 rule of business: “It is 10x cheaper to keep an existing customer than to get a new one”.

When you book a hotel for you or your Manhattan business, keep my story in mind.
I know I will.