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Hilton Atlanta Hotel story

3K views 39 replies 16 participants last post by  Nikki's Mom 
#1 ·
I didn't see anyone tell SM about the hotel issues, so thought I'd bring to everyone's attention...because I will never stay in a Hilton hotel again!

I'm writing to share my experience (and that of a few others) from the American Maltese Association Nationals. While the showing was fantastic, our stay was not. We were at the Hilton Atlanta Airport Hotel in Atlanta Ga. Of course, when a hotel signs a contract for an event like this and they are agreeing to host a National Specialty for a breed club, they KNOW we have dogs coming. The sales person that contracted it, waived the $50 per dog per night fee. The higher ups said, no it's against our policy.. Our chair said, well I have a signed contract that says otherwise and you need to honor it, since people have already booked the rooms for the event.

Well, it made them mad so they got "even" with us. They proceeded to patrol the hallways loudly, even knocking on doors to get our dogs to bark, kicked people OUT of the hotel (one guest/member had NO warning and had driven all of the way from Chicago) Some of us, they gave warnings to (I was told 3 warnings and you are out (for barking dogs) and I got two warnings, so couldn't go to several of the functions for a couple of nights until our Chair, negotiated us a room, on the main level of the hotel (where it was accessable to the public so anyone could have stolen our dogs!) to crate them. But it gets even worse... my good friend's dogs got TAKEN from her room and LOCKED in a room in the basement. So, essentially, they STOLE them with NO warnings to her. (one was in a seabreeze pen, which is extremely flimsy to be carried: ie: could have fallen apart on they way to the basement, etc).. I even said to security, as he was telling me I had to keep my dogs quiet, "why didn't you put us all on one floor, if other patrons are complaining". That was before I knew... it wasn't other patrons. The staff was responsible for it all.

Can you believe all of that!!! We did manage to still have a great time, although I left the banquet early, because I felt so bad for our dogs being left in crates in the "doggy detention" room all day! They were beyond stressed and I had to deal with upset tummies due to all of the stress :( after that.

So, boycotting I am. I'll never stay in a Hilton Hotel ever again and as I said on one review website...Paris HIlton, known "dog lover" should be ashamed!!!
 
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#2 · (Edited)
If that is what a Hotels act like when they say they are dog friendly then I sure would not want to see one that is not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bet they did not have any problem taking your Money and all the money brought in by the Nationals being there. I am a little suprised though that is also where the hold the Atlanta Pet Fair grooming show.
 
#3 ·
They also held the Whippet Nationals there... they got treated the same way. I wonder if, when they sponsor the Grooming show, they charge their $50.00 per dog, per night fee? If so, they wouldn't have a problem.

I checked my dogs in the room on several occasions, when I first got there, they were not barking at all. Hotel staff made them bark. I also have word from another friend, that is staying in another hotel this weekend, same dogs...not one peep.

I will be writing to the Sr. Management of Hilton. The senior manager at this particular hotel is the one that came up with the solution of a room, on the main level, open to the public...so anyone could have taken any of the dogs. When we went out to eat, this is where they had to stay, or face being booted out. We were stressed the entire time we were gone.

It is just a shame to agree to hosting a dog event and then treat people and worse yet, DOGS, like this. And yep, they already had our money...so we were stuck.
 
#4 · (Edited)
If you want to read the stories from the other members that attended the specialty, there's a big thread on it. I didn't go, but just reading about some of the things really upset me! I'm so sorry you had a rough time too and didn't get to enjoy yourself as you should have been able to.

It's under anything goes and it's titled, "Nationals - Anyone writing to the Hilton Corporate Office?"

I wish I knew how to post the link, but I'm not that great yet. :(
 
#5 ·
Honestly, i can see the hotel being 'justified' in complaining about the barking, because it was loud (and we were under AMA rules to have our dogs quiet in the rooms) . so for that, I don't blame the hotel having a problem and trying to address it. It is just the WAY they did it that is sooo inexcusable.

After seeing the security guards knock on a non-barking room, then reporting the room when the dogs started barking, I couldn't believe it. How many of our dogs remain quiet when someone knocks on the door???

I have posted a complaint on bringfido.com
Hilton Atlanta Airport and Towers Pet Policy

I hope the Cav club has been warned about the Hilton's attitude!
 
#6 ·
Honestly, i can see the hotel being 'justified' in complaining about the barking, because it was loud (and we were under AMA rules to have our dogs quiet in the rooms) . so for that, I don't blame the hotel having a problem and trying to address it. It is just the WAY they did it that is sooo inexcusable.

After seeing the security guards knock on a non-barking room, then reporting the room when the dogs started barking, I couldn't believe it. How many of our dogs remain quiet when someone knocks on the door???

I have posted a complaint on bringfido.com
Hilton Atlanta Airport and Towers Pet Policy

I hope the Cav club has been warned about the Hilton's attitude!

Stacy, first of all, if a hotel has a problem with barking dogs...then it shouldn't be booking a breed National. Pet dogs here and there, granted, the barking should be kept down (and working for a vet, I have a hard time tolerating obnoxious barking as well ;) but when you get THIS many dogs, all in one place....they ARE going to bark. What I said to the hotel manager was, WHY didn't you put ALL of the dog people on one floor... because I certainly wouldn't complain about the dogs across the hall barking if my dogs were barking too, correct? They wouldn't answer because it wasn't the patrons that were complaining... it was the staff who were directed to cause problems. AND, my dogs were NOT barking the first day we got there. This all started up on Friday afternoon. Our dogs were quiet all day long on Thurs and in between us being gone, I checked on them.

They didn't "address" anything, they caused it all. The dogs were made to bark. Totally unfair and not even in the same league as "no barking rules".
 
#12 ·
I'm not disagreeing with you, karla, believe me!

I have notified some of my cavalier friends, since their speciality is this weekend at the hotel. I directed them to look at the comments on Bring Fido, since it has Sharon's experience posted.
Now, I have heard a total different story. On the Cav parent club website their nationals were in April. Another Cav breeder told me they didn't have anything booked at this hotel. Wow, I sure hope they are treated better than we were and they will be, if they had to pay the dog fees.
 
#8 ·
Upon check-in, I asked the Reservations clerk "Are all the dog people on the same floor?" She said, "No, we can't do that." I then REQUESTED to be put on the same floor with other Maltese Nationals people. She said "Well, I'll see what I can do."

I know it is hard for them to reserve entire floors, when the Maltese people were checking in and out on different days, but they could have at least TRIED to get as many on the same floor is possible during the check-in process. Why should I have had to request it?

IMO, if you have booked a huge dog show at a hotel, then have a person staying there who is bothered by barking dogs, then you move THEM to a different part of the hotel. You don't make the people who are part of the dog show group move or leave, and you certainly do not have permission to touch or move their dogs. That is treading on thin ice, imo.

I'm not in favor of frivolous lawsuits at all, but if I had a show dog and they touched them, or made them stay in an unsecured area of the hotel, I'd be talking to a lawyer right now.
 
#9 ·
I'm not in favor of frivolous lawsuits at all, but if I had a show dog and they touched them, or made them stay in an unsecured area of the hotel, I'd be talking to a lawyer right now.

ditto. I didn't enter my dog in the show, but i do show her sometimes....so it doesn't even matter if you show your dog or not. If he/she is taken out of your room with out your knowledge, that's stealing private property!!!! If my dog had been taken, I don't know what I would have done, but I'm pretty sure I'd still be in Atlanta....in jail.

I never left my Ava alone.....it was just too risky from what I was hearing each day!
 
#15 ·
Wow! I would have been very unhappy if I were there! When a hotel signs on for an event like this, they should KNOW that with dogs comes barking, etc. I do believe each guest with dogs should keep their dogs as quiet as possible and do their best to make sure their dogs do not soil or destroy anything..but with many dogs, there will be some barking. They made an agreement to not charge for the dogs and they should have honored it, without holding any sort of grudge. Someone with that hotel was responsible for creating contract with no pet fees.

If someone had moved my dog without permission, I would be livid. I'm not a sue-happy person either, but when it comes to the safety and well being of my dogs, I'm not going to mess around. I've stayed at a few hotels with my dogs..including a hotel that hosted the Bluebonnet Yorkie specialty last fall and a couple other hotels with with dog show guests, as well as a huge national yorkie meetup in Kansas City a couple years ago and I have never experienced any hotel that caused me any problems with my dogs. So the experience you all had is just rediculous...

Hopefully the AMA specialty in Dallas next year will be much better!
 
#16 ·
This really falls on the sales rep who wrote the contract for the Hilton to the AMA. They fell down on the job and didn't place everyone together and alert staff as to what is appropriate. I would be speaking directly to him/her and what he/she intends to do about this for those harrassed and threatened as well as evicted. The people who had dogs taken out of the room need to consult their attorney. That's the way I see it.
 
#18 ·
This really falls on the sales rep who wrote the contract for the Hilton to the AMA. They fell down on the job and didn't place everyone together and alert staff as to what is appropriate. I would be speaking directly to him/her and what he/she intends to do about this for those harrassed and threatened as well as evicted. The people who had dogs taken out of the room need to consult their attorney. That's the way I see it.
Actually, you are correct Brit, but here's why. the sales rep agreed to a contract that waived the pet fee (which was $50 per night, per dog) and upper management said "Uh, no, your club can't have that, that is against our policy". Our Chair said, "uh too bad, I have a contract" and there wasn't anything UM could do...so they staged this to cause problems because we got in, with no pet fee.

The person who had the dogs taken is one of my best friends. Trust me, she's looking into all options.
 
#20 ·
Disabling the keys is also harassment.

Wow, I didn't know all of this because I only stayed one night, and didn't leave Nikki in the room at all because I didn't go out for dinner.

What a childish and mean way to "get back at" - The wrong people! If the Hilton management had a problem with their events coordinator's and the AMA's contract, they should never have taken it out on the guests. The guests spent a lot of money at that hotel between the rooms and the restaurants.
 
#21 ·
I understand UM tried to seek retribution for this faux pas the SR made. What bothers me here is, how could UM possibly gain anything by doing what was done? Somehow I have to believe the contract was not approved by management before the SR signed it and had the AMA sign it. Whatever the reason, those who were treated badly should be refunded monies at the least. The people evicted should be given AT the least free weekends at a Hilton of their choice. All should be given explanation as to how this happened, and an apology by management and the SR. SR's are usually on commission so they will bend over backwards to please the client. I think the SR probably offered more than was approved. Tsk tsk. UM should be taking it out on the SR, not the club. Tsk tsk on them too.
 
#23 ·
I just hope that is the correct name of the hotel in which you guys stayed. If it is, when a person googles it, the complaints will show up on google, I think. I sure hope so. It's a shame that this happened to those who were there. I would have been fighting mad, I know that. They'd sure be hearing from me at Corporate.
 
#26 ·
We travel quite a bit around the US, and have had our ups and downs with hotels. Lack of attention, apathy, and bad training, yes, but never were we subjected to the vindictiveness of a hotel who felt that they were wronged, and decided to take it out on the very people who keep them in business.

Please don't get mad at me if you are an Atlanta lover, but I was a customer service manager for a financial institution in Atlanta for several years, and I've lived here as a consumer for 16 years, so I believe that I'm qualified to say: Customer Service in Atlanta, in general, is poor.
 
#27 ·
I've lived in Atlanta all of my life. I actually lived 2 minutes from the the Atlanta Hilton years ago. I also travel 3 days a week and stay in over 100 hotel rooms a year. The Atlanta Hilton and the Atlanta Airport area in general are horrible in customer service period. I don't care who you are and what you say it is a fact.

The restaurants in the airport and near the airport, as well as the cleaning crews at the Atlanta airport are horrible. No work ethic and complete lack of caring in customer service. I see it first hand, week after week. We complain and complain and it never changes.

Please don't judge the south on this area of Atlanta. Other areas of Atlanta are wonderful, but the quality of workers on the South side of Atlanta near the airport are horrible.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I can come up over 200 stories about this issue just with in the past year. This is one issue I am an expert on.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Yes, I agree. I have a friend who is a Delta Pilot and he has stories. And 2 old roommates of mine were Delta Flight Attendants.

I live in Cobb County, and the customer service here is fairly poor and getting worse, unfortunately. Over the years, I worked for 2 financial companies and 1 travel company. 2 located in Cobb, and one located in Midtown Atlanta.

The management standards for service were awful. They did not invest time nor money in training their employees who had lousy work ethics to begin with, thus resulting in my having to manage people who did not know how to do their job, and didn't care. I wouldn't manage people again here if you paid me a million bucks...
 
#32 ·
I got a letter from the general manager tonight because i filled out a survey...I can post it... it was total BS:

Dear Leslie Sweet:

Thank you for taking the time to provide with feedback from your stay

I can certainly understand your frustrations and concerns regarding the hotel’s policy on pets. It is our ultimate goal that all guests have a safe, restful and enjoyable stay. To accomplish this on an unusual weekend such as the one during which you stayed, the hotel works hard to place guests in the most advantageous rooms so as to not disturb each other. As a pet friendly hotel we also take steps to ensure that we can reach out to our pet owners should the need arise so that we can prevent ongoing disturbances. We do this by getting contact phones numbers at check in. As an airport hotel we have guests that may be sleeping at any time of day and need to be able to contact those owners who have left their pets unattended.

As an owner of an AKC show dog myself I understand both the cost and frankly the emotion associated with having these fine animals in our care. I also understand that traveling with pets can be an added burden on a traveler and we try to accommodate their needs as best we can. But we must also take into account the needs of the other guests in the hotel. We certainly would expect that pet owners are aware that their pets may negatively impact others around them and would take the necessary steps to prevent this. In fact most owners realize this and take extraordinary efforts to be a good “neighbor”. In two cases during the show, dogs were unattended for extended periods of time and the owners were unresponsive to our calls. In fact, one of the owners took over an hour and half to return to their room after being contacted by AMA show staff despite the fact that they were here at the hotel. This action was discourteous to the other guests around them. In those situations the managers took the best actions they could to try and please all of our guests.

Never the less, I agree that we as a hotel can do it better next time and we will take extra efforts to learn from this experience. I very much appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with me as this will assist us in those efforts.



Sincerely,

David Piscola
General Manager
Hilton Atlanta Airport
david.piscola@hilton.com
404-559-6885
 
#33 ·
and here was my response and his:

From: Leslie Sweet [mailto:lesliescloset@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 7:20 PM
To: David Piscola
Subject: Re: Your stay at Hilton Atlanta-Airport, Georgia

The hotel should have put all of the people who where staying with
dogs for the show in the hotel on the same floor. Also, as a dog owner
yourself how you could allow security guards to knock on doors to see
if the otherwise quiet dogs inside would bark! This was horrible! I
don't know many, if any dog, who wouldn't have barked. My dog was
fine, did not bark nor was I ever warned, however I know many people
who saw guards knocking on quiet doors and making dogs bark. I also
never was asked for my phone number just in case prior to checking in,
the story about the couple whose showdog
was crated in the basement was unacceptable! The hotel did Not give
them time to respond.

If the Hilton did not know how to handle a dog show they never should
have said they would hold it in the first place.

It definetly made for an unhappy stay for many people. And I think
people will think twice about booking a stay in any Hilton again,
especially when there are so many other options available.

Thank you for writing me. May I ask how did you get my info? I do not
remember writing a survey.

Leslie sweet

and his answer again:
Ms. Sweet,

You did indeed write a survey and we appreciate you taking the time to provide us with the details.

I can assure you that we did not go around knocking on doors in an effort to get dogs to bark. Clearly that would not be in our own best interest. Did we have people patrolling the guest corridors. Yes, as we always do for the safety and security of our guests.

I think that perhaps people may have exaggerated what has transpired. The comfort of our guests is our top priority and we have handled many shows previously without incident.

I hope that we get an opportunity to have you as a return guest so you can experience the service that has earned us the AAA 4 Diamond award for 21 years running.

Please let me know if your travels take you back to Atlanta and I will ensure that you have a great stay.

Enjoy your weekend!

David Piscola
General Manager-Complexed
Hilton Atlanta Airport
Embassy Suites Atlanta Airport
1031 Virginia Ave
Atlanta, GA 30354
(p) 404-559-6885
20 consecutive years
 
#34 ·
and here was my response and his:

From: Leslie Sweet [mailto:lesliescloset@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 7:20 PM
To: David Piscola
Subject: Re: Your stay at Hilton Atlanta-Airport, Georgia

The hotel should have put all of the people who where staying with
dogs for the show in the hotel on the same floor. Also, as a dog owner
yourself how you could allow security guards to knock on doors to see
if the otherwise quiet dogs inside would bark! This was horrible! I
don't know many, if any dog, who wouldn't have barked. My dog was
fine, did not bark nor was I ever warned, however I know many people
who saw guards knocking on quiet doors and making dogs bark. I also
never was asked for my phone number just in case prior to checking in,
the story about the couple whose showdog
was crated in the basement was unacceptable! The hotel did Not give
them time to respond.

If the Hilton did not know how to handle a dog show they never should
have said they would hold it in the first place.

It definetly made for an unhappy stay for many people. And I think
people will think twice about booking a stay in any Hilton again,
especially when there are so many other options available.

Thank you for writing me. May I ask how did you get my info? I do not
remember writing a survey.

Leslie sweet

and his answer again:
Ms. Sweet,

You did indeed write a survey and we appreciate you taking the time to provide us with the details.

I can assure you that we did not go around knocking on doors in an effort to get dogs to bark. Clearly that would not be in our own best interest. Did we have people patrolling the guest corridors. Yes, as we always do for the safety and security of our guests.

I think that perhaps people may have exaggerated what has transpired. The comfort of our guests is our top priority and we have handled many shows previously without incident.

I hope that we get an opportunity to have you as a return guest so you can experience the service that has earned us the AAA 4 Diamond award for 21 years running.

Please let me know if your travels take you back to Atlanta and I will ensure that you have a great stay.

Enjoy your weekend!

David Piscola
General Manager-Complexed
Hilton Atlanta Airport
Embassy Suites Atlanta Airport
1031 Virginia Ave
Atlanta, GA 30354
(p) 404-559-6885
20 consecutive years


Yes, the people who saw security knocking on doors had a mass hallucination...

So Leslie, when are you going to take him up on his offer to help you have a great stay in the Atlanta Airport Hilton? :smrofl:
 
#36 ·
I am sorry that you (and others) had sucha terrible stay at the Hotel. Yes, you would think that when they agree to host a DOG event they would expect DOGS.

But I am curious, because others have mentioned it..... I travel with my dogs every summer, it is always a challenge to find dog friend lodging. But every hotel I have ever stayed at (that allows dogs) specifically states that dogs may not be left in the room unattended. Several people have mentioned problems with leaving their dogs, was this NOT a Hilton policy?

If it was not their policy then they were in the wrong.
 
#37 ·
I am sorry that you (and others) had sucha terrible stay at the Hotel. Yes, you would think that when they agree to host a DOG event they would expect DOGS.

But I am curious, because others have mentioned it..... I travel with my dogs every summer, it is always a challenge to find dog friend lodging. But every hotel I have ever stayed at (that allows dogs) specifically states that dogs may not be left in the room unattended. Several people have mentioned problems with leaving their dogs, was this NOT a Hilton policy?

If it was not their policy then they were in the wrong.
You could not leave them uncrated/unpenned and had to put plastic on the floor underneath them. We did this. They were never left loose in the room.

And as far as "things were exaggerated" (from the hotel manager) Uh.. is this exaggerated: it was one of my best friends, who had the dogs taken from her room. They knocked on the door to see if anyone had dogs in there. Uh, yah, the dogs are going to bark and yah, the hotel staff KNOCKED on the door. She also stayed in a hotel this past weekend and the room was right next to the front desk. She asked them to please listen and tell her if the dogs barked..guess what, they did not. NOT once!

I HEARD the staff "woofing" in the hallway and the people that say they saw/heard other knocking, I believe them. Besides, they did the same thing to the Whippet club. Obviously, they didn't learn a thing!

Karla
 
#39 ·
Man I am so pissed off (to put it mildly) from reading all these horrible experiences with this hotel!! When hubby and I went to a concert in ATL with the kiddos, we stayed at Hotel Indigo (only thing is, they are within the Hilton group - for those that are boycotting the Hiltons, may not want). Hotel Indigo was SUPER pet friendly. The rooms were a bit small but so nicely decorated and it smelled like an aromatherapy store in the room. We chose it because it has wood flooring in the rooms instead of carpet so we don't have to worry about left over fleas or whatever from the previous pet that may have stayed in the same room. The boys were left alone and we were able to leave them alone in the room while we went out for the event. They even offered the boys a treat basket when we checked in. If anyone is ever in ATL again with their furkids, I highly recommend this hotel for your consideration. And no, I am not affiliated, lol.
 
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