Hilton Garden Inn Providence

“One night in Providence”

Positives: Clean room. Very comfortable bed. Hotel is in a nice location across from river. Nice lobby. Restaurant/Brewery right next door. Offers breakfast in the morning. Negatives: Our room happened to have a view of the dumpster and highway…wish we were on the other side of the hall. Altho… more

Positives: Clean room. Very comfortable bed. Hotel is in a nice location across from river. Nice lobby. Restaurant/Brewery right next door. Offers breakfast in the morning. Negatives: Our room happened to have a view of the dumpster and highway…wish we were on the other side of the hall. Although there was a Keurig in the room, there were only decaf pods left, and we assumed the regular coffee pods had not been replaced during previous room turnover. This was a bummer as I like a real coffee first thing in the morning. Could hear all the hallway activity as well as a dog barking in the next room. Luckily, it quieted down later in the evening, so it wasn’t really a big deal for us. None of these things were that bothersome. What was really annoying (and the main reason I am only giving three stars) was the fact that we booked this hotel the day before our arrival date for a Hilton Honors member rate of $345 ($393 with tax and fees which I felt was kind of high). The next morning (day of our arrival), the rate had dropped to $312. Since my credit card had not yet been charged, I called the main Hilton reservations line to ask if they would honor the new rate. The man said that he would like to do that for us, could I please hold as he needed to contact the hotel management directly to get their approval. After being placed on hold for several minutes, he came back and apologized that the manager declined to honor the new rate as it was past the modification time (which was about 8 hours earlier). While I understand that hotels have certain policies, it was obvious that this was a personal decision made by one manager as the Hilton reservation agent was willing to make that change on his end. Being a Hilton Honors member and being a first time guest at this particular hotel, I was disappointed that the manager refused to make an exception. It did not leave a good impression. Upon check in, I explained the situation to the manager who was checking us in (I assume it was the same person the reservation agent had spoken to earlier ) who while polite was rather cold. This hotel also offers breakfast packages, so at the very least I wondered if they might offer a breakfast voucher to show some effort on their part, but she said no to that too. Very rigid. Not sure if it’s the hotel or that one manager, but I have dealt with many hotels and there is always room for flexibility in order to make a good first impression. I do not typically try to “bargain;” however, the circumstances suggested that I should at least give it a shot as it really was not an unreasonable expectation.

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