Maddi R.
Yelp
Discrimination
Hi all, I was super excited to stay in this nice hotel that my partners dad got for us for the night. His dad not only being a paying customer but a diamond member of Hilton hotels. I dropped my partner off to check in and I unload bags. After noticing it had been at least 20 minutes I went in there to check on him. As I walked up to the counter I felt a very aggressive, discriminating and secretive vibe. Mind you my partner checked in with a government issued paper ID. What they told him in advance was that his ID wasn't valid, and if he had a friend with a card ID then they could check in. Which is weird, they were more trusting of a random person who could have been anyone instead of him who was standing in front of them. So, I walked in, said I have my ID and credit card for the security deposit, (FYI it's $300). The gentleman, Jose who was on shift Saturday around 8 pm supposedly helping my partner, was communicating very secretively on walkie-talkie to someone in the back. I could feel Jose didn't trust my partner and was checking his identification in the back, felt like I walked into a police station which made me feel WHACK! Even suckier part is my partner is black, and I mixed with white. When I showed my ID and credit card I felt like I was using my white privilege to check into a hotel that was already PAID for that my black partner wasn't allowed the privilege of checking into. Like what?? So I'm now checking in, but the vibe didn't change, I just felt this Jose mans judging me cause I didn't show up in balenciaga's. It's like the staff only grants you a specific amount of customer service depending on who they deem worthy of decent service. Ive worked in customer service for years and yes you get hard customers but it's not hard to be nice. Anyway, there are certain services reserved only for those on floors like 10 and up and they make it very clear if you aren't part of that special club, they reminded us like 3 times. If you aren't on those 2 floors you didn't get access to the roof view or the workout room. (For as exclusive as they act you'd think the secret places would be cool, roof is not that cool.)
On top of that, when we checked in. I explicitly said we will not be doing the $44 daily parking they offer. Guess who was charged for the $44 parking, my partners dad, who is now brought into the situation for no reason. Upon checking out, I told them that we were charged. Again, with a very judging vibe was told that it was requested when we check in. All I have to say is, JOSE YOU SUCK. They acted like they were doing us a favor by refunding us.
Last thing, my partner went to have a personal, calm conversation with the manager, Annie Saville. After explaining how he felt we were not offered any compensation, she said we were refunded for the parking and that was our compensation. Excuse me, I explicitly asked to not be charged for parking. I've been in customer service long enough to know that managers know exactly how their business is being ran. Managers train their employees, tell them who to give special treatment to and who not to. She was very consoling, kind to my partner and listened to him. But the managers are last in line to fix a situation so she has to be nice. After hearing what she told my partner it was very clear that she didn't care and was just trying to diffuse the situation.
Overall, my experience here was bad. Although being a diamond member, a combination of being a young adult, my partner being black and not being dressed a certain way gave us a demeaning response from the employees at this Hilton location