Hilton Saint John — Hotel in Saint John

I have stayed at this hotel 4 or 5 times on summer vacations, as I prefer it's downtown location, even if the site is definitely dated and very overpriced. In past stays things have been fine. The hotel has never seemed to be well run, but my expectations of hotels arent particularlly high, so it's usually fine - not a major deterrent.

However, this time at the Hilton was not okay - even from my fairly low standards. The front desk manager/supervisor lied to me about TWO different things in the span of 5 minutes. I called the reservation center after being lied to about the availability a room i wanted to pay to upgrade to. The employee at the Hilton reservation center - like me - was able to see the availability of the room I wanted online/in their system...but somehow the room was magically not available at the hotel 🤔 This meant that I could book the room I wanted online...but that room was not available for my (paid) upgrade...What??

When I calmly asked to speak to another employee (on 5 or 6 separate occasions) the manager refused to transfer me. I had briefly spoken with a man at the front desk before being put through to her, so I know that someone else was available to speak with me and i indicated that I'd be willing to wait to speak with him. I explained this to her, but she still would not let me speak to him or anyone else. I wanted to speak to someone else in hopes of descalate the situation and to get some answers about the room availability. I'm not sure why I - the person paying $300/night - was the one that had to deescalate the situation. Isn't deescalating a situation the job of the manager not the customer?? 🤔

Hilton Saint John is not worth the hassle. The Delta Saint John up the road is nicer, more updated and has respectful employees that don't lie to guests or cause unnecessary arguments with them. The harbourfront view at the Hilton is just not worth the time and energy I had to put in to navigating this with both front desk and the Hilton call center.

These experiences tarnished the rest of my stay.Ex. the front desk staff who treated me this way was the manager. You know, the person who has the override codes to the room safes. Given her petty and rude behavior/treatment of me, I did NOT feel comfortable leaving any valuables in my room or the room safe, because I couldn't be confident that she wouldn't go into my room and steal things. So I had to lock things of value in my car (which i wasn't comfortable with either) and go without them during my days in Saint John.

Overall, the property is dirty and outdated. The outdated is nothing new (It's been getting more and more outdated since I first started staying here in 2014), but it has never been dirty like this before. When I arrived I was greeted by a LOT of garbage strewn about the property in a way that 1-star hotels don't even have. Washroom had very visible mould, etc.

I did like that my room had a small window to let in a fresh breeze. Mind you, the window would only open part way (when it did decide to open at all). But when it was open, the breeze coming off the water was nice.

I won't be returning to this or any Hilton. The fact that there was no resolution to a situation that the front desk employee was clearly wrong (i.e. lying to me and to the Hilton call center/guest services employee) says something about Hilton's priorities/values. I hope that denying me my (paid) upgrade to keep that room open for a last minute customer (that may or may not even book the room) is worth losing my repeat business permanently. I'll be going to Delta, Westin, and other Marriott properties consistently, going forward.

Hilton: please do not leave me any response posts asking me to contact you to resolve this. I've already contacted Hilton about this and although the case was 'escalated', there was no resolution. I gave Hilton the opportunity to fix this before I posted the review. So, no, I will not be wasting more of my vacation time or energy contacting Hilton again when Hilton couldn't resolve it in a timely fashion...

Conrad would be rolling over in his grave if he saw what his namesake hotels were coming to! Nice lady at front desk for check-in (Esther) ... but I got scolded by older guy about the luggage cart I used to take my luggage upstairs. He met me in the elevator when I was taking it down and gruffly said I will take that! ... I have been searching for the carts all over! I swear that I only had it for 5 min maximum. I dumped the luggage and headed down to park the truck! Dusty and dirty room. Ice bucket filthy! Wrote an M in the dust on the floor lamp when we arrived, ...still there ! ... that is 3 days! Lots of dust behind television too! Electrical outlet in the corner is not working as well as one on base of lamp. Mini fridge is a joke! Very small and you almost have to sit on the floor to use it. This type of fridge is supposed to be use on a counter I believe, ...not on the floor. Uncomfortable desk chair and only one arm chair in the room. Bathroom is crowded with a non-fuctional bidet and door stop on floor outside bath tub, (not fun to step on when exiting shower). No grab bars to get into shower. Shower curtain rod and shower spray nozzle rusty. Spray nozzle doesnt spray properly. Tub is stained. Plug in is dirty and dusty (like everything in the room) The light switch for bathroom is outside the bathroom near room exit door, ...making it very inconvenient. Could use a night light so you dont trip on the useless bidet on the way to the loo! Parking is in a garage across the street and will not take anything over 6'1" I have a cap on my truck that brings it over that, ... so I couldnt use it. I got a "special permit" to park beside the hotel. There are only 4 spaces in a crowded little spot. I was told how lucky I was to get a spot! I had read where parking was almost $30 per night, ... so I was prepared, ...but no one ever mentioned height restrictions. Breakfast was actually the highlight of the stay. A nice buffet with good service from Tammy the waitress and Debbie from the kitchen! The view of the harbour is also very nice. Got to watch the Lila Tochigi ship dock around midnight. Fun to see it almost sitting on the bottom in the morning! After staying in some sketchy places on the cabot trail, ... I was looking forward to staying in a nicer hotel. That didnt happen! Some of the mom and pop places exceed this hotel (for a lot less $$) We also stayed one night in the Hampton Suites in Moncton (another Hilton hotel) ... that was far superior to the room at the Hilton Hampton Suite had a nice (clean) room and great pool and water slide but the breakfast was bad. Hilton Saint John had opposite. Terrible room and not so great pool, ...but...

We checked into the Hilton Saint John on Sunday October 20. We had booked a room that was listed on the Hilton site as being on the ‘club floor’ offering additional amenities. We entered the room and immediately noticed how hot it was in the room. The thermostat read 26 C. We turned the temp down and hoped for the best. Nothing seemed to improve. The room (1105) was basic - at best- and I am unclear what ‘addition amenities’ were provided. The window had condensation, the headboard was torn (pictures) and the bathroom was mouldy in the caulking and on the ceiling. The shower curtain was dirty- at first I was actually worried it was bugs- based on the state of disrepair in the bathroom. We asked 2 times for someone to be sent up to look at the HVAC in the room- I am not confident anyone ever showed up. I don’t believe the thermostat in the room worked at all. Housekeeping kept taking our towels and not replacing them- at one point we were left with 1 bath towel. I should have taken the time to read the reviews of this hotel before we booked. This property does not reflect the high standards I have previously enjoyed at other Hiltons. The restaurant was understaffed and the hot breakfast buffet ran out of hot food on our second morning. The waitstaff that were on shift were literally running around just trying to keep up. If staff can’t keep up then management should be prepared to roll up their sleeves and pitch in. |The management of this hotel continue to respond to comments and reviews by saying they will ‘pass along the items listed’ and they take no responsibility and demonstrate no accountability for the poor state of this hotel. If Sr management do not take responsibility and ownership of the state of this hotel they are in no position to delegate that down to their staff. I do not hold any front line workers accountable we encountered- the General Manager is responsible for stewardship of this property and should consider taking these reviews more seriously and actually try to address customer concerns- with meaningful actions. |Senior management should understand that a hotel is, many times, a travellers first impression of an entire city. Hilton Saint John is a stain on the Hilton brand and is doing a disservice to the entire tourism brand of the city. Saint John is steeped in history. Its community has been built of the goodness and hard work of so many Maritimers. Hilton Saint John should consider more deeply the role they play in this community. They should lead by example. This hotel needs an overhaul-...