Alejandra A.
Yelp
MISLEADING--AVOID AT ALL COSTS. How this property is rated a 4-star hotel and has positive reviews is baffling to me. I was convinced to book a premium high floor Oceanfront room after seeing social media images and videos depicting this as a beautiful luxury property. It was actually motel quality (possibly worse).
I booked directly through their website for my husband's birthday to check in on Aug 17. Upon arrival, we immediately noticed it was a construction site, which was not advertised anywhere on their site. One of the hotel's selling point is the pools. One was completely torn up with bricks stacked everywhere and machinery all around it, which did not make for a good oceanfront pool view. Not to mention it was closed.
At check in, the line was huge and they only had two people at the front desk. During our turn to check in, we noticed that the woman checking us in was giving everyone water bottles but did not give us any. No big deal. We proceeded to walk to our room and immediately noticed the walls and doors are dirty and damaged. The carpet was stained and it didn't have an overall clean appearance. I told my husband, "oh no, this is not a good sign." Everything was also extremely outdated.
We opened the door and I immediately saw dustballs on the floor, then stains on the carpet. The lamp in the room had a disgusting stain, the couch looked extremely worn and dirty, but the WORST PART IS THAT THERE WAS BLACK MOLD on the walls and air vent! It's probably why it smelled terrible in there.
We immediately went downstairs, showed the receptionist the images, and explained the situation. She gave us a new room that was slightly better but still had the same issues, INCLUDING MOLD.
We made our way down again and asked for a refund, as it was too unsafe for to stay there. Another young lady helped us out, and initially she said could not refund us in full due to their 90 day cancellation policy. I explained to her that I was not canceling due to changing my mind but because of the lack of safety.
Eventually we asked to speak to a manager, and the best they could do was penalize me for the first night and refund me for the remaining of the nights. The refund amount didn't seem right, and when I questioned it, they figured out that the "system" overcharged me $150 accidentally. Very convenient. Also, for 3 nights they had placed a $600 hold for incidentals. I've stayed at plenty of 5-star hotels and have never had such a high hold.
From checking in to disputing a refund, we wasted 3-4 hours that we should have spent relaxing, instead we had to resolve an issue that shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. I decided to take a loss, as it was completely unsafe and an unacceptable birthday gift.
I was completely stressed out and upset that my husband's birthday had been ruined, and I was left stranded to find a new hotel. Fortunately we reached out to the Four Seasons, and they saved our trip. From being helped on the phone to checking in, to out, we were treated like royalty.
This was my second time attempting to stay at a Hilton property and both experiences were awful. Needless to say, I will never give them another chance again. STAY AWAY!