Hilton Toronto — Hotel in Toronto

I received very poor customer service even before staying at your property, and I would like to provide feedback. I needed to make a change to my stay and was informed I needed to go through Expedia. Totally understandable, different systems. Unfortunately the automated system Expedia uses was unable to find my reservation with my itinerary number and even more frustrating, would not transfer me to a live agent so I was stuck in an automated cycle of no help. Though this is an issue with Expedia, it is important backstory to my frustration with your property and customer service. I called your property back to ask for help, as the only live agent I was able to speak to was through the Expedia hotel partners help line and they unfortunately weren’t able to help me since I was not a hotel partner. I asked the Hilton employee that I was speaking to if they could help me out by using the hotel partner line to connect to an Expedia live agent so we could sort out my issue. Your employee informed me that he was not going to do that. When I asked why, he said the only thing the hotel partner line is used for is checking credit card points (something along those lines). I found it hard to believe that the only communication between the property and the third party booking company would be about credit cards when obviously guest concerns should be communicated between the two. After asking for help reaching out to Expedia and being told that he was not going to help me, we hung up and I tried reaching out to Expedia again. This time I intentionally used the hotel partner line and listened to all the automated options. One of the options was in fact something to do with credit cards! However, the very next option was regarding hotel guest concerns. I chose that automated option and was immediately connected to a live agent, after begging her to help me (since I was not a hotel partner) she was able to look up my itinerary number and transfer me to a live agent on the guest service line. While talking to this agent and finally explaining what I was trying to get done, she explained she would put me on hold so she could CONTACT THE HOTEL. An hour of my time, five employees across both the Hilton and Expedia, multiple phone numbers, multiple waiting queues and automated options, the hotel property and Expedia needed to speak with each other either way. Whether or not this truly is the process where your guests have to do the work being the middleman between you and your partner, my feedback would be that this is extremely ridiculous and frustrating. If you are using third party booking agents for your property, it is imperative that you are working alongside them as opposed to separate from them, as no matter what, it is your property being sold to guests and the onus falls to you. While I understand that I booked through Expedia, I am still a guest of your property and customer service should extend to all of your guests. The fact that I used the hotel partner line to get what I needed done, means your employee had every opportunity to do so as well, but chose not to. Being in the hospitality industry for a decade and in customer service roles even longer, including supervisor and managerial roles, I was very taken aback by the lack of care in customer resolution I was receiving. In this era of “I don’t care” and “well that’s not my job” I would like to be providing my business to companies that don’t subscribe to this ideology. The way that I make sure I care for my guests and customers to the best of my ability, is the same way that I would like to be treated. The point of this review isn’t to get some discount or get someone in trouble, I genuinely want to know if this company is one that I should be supporting if even their customer service employees can’t provide the basic services that we should be entitled to as...

For the price I was charged for my short stay ($2,000 CAD) I feel a smoother and less dysfunctional experience is warranted. I will state that my check-in was very smooth and I was given a room earlier than expected. Which I genuinely appreciated having come from the airport. It's such a shame things went downhill from there.

A couple things to note:

Security. The door for my room (2111) would not fully close itself. It would rest against the frame but did not lock into place. I had to remember to intentionally push the door into the lock when leaving or returning. Which I feel is a bit of a security risk. Especially for women who may be traveling alone. It seems odd that something like this can go unnoticed at a Hilton.

Wear and tear. The age of these rooms is showing. I covered my bases and reported some damage, all of which engineering was familiar with and already knew about. Which included broken wooden beams on the side of the cupboard that houses the mini fridge. As well as paint peeling off the ceiling in the bathroom. Aside from the door, all of the wear and tear was aesthetic. The room and bed itself were otherwise fine.

Elevators. There are clearly ongoing issues with the 5-6 elevators at the property. Which is cause for concern in a 30+ storey building. Throughout my stay I experienced very long wait times for an elevator. It seemed less than half were actually operating. At one point while waiting in the lobby I entered an elevator that opened its doors, only for all of the electronics to be off. No lights, no response from the buttons and the door automatically closed on itself. Nothing was responding, not even the emergency phone. So I had to use my full strength to manually pry the doors back open to avoid being trapped...

The reason this rating drops down to two is that I still have a breakfast charge on my card that I did not make. Which Hilton charged me after I had checked out and flown home. Even worse, there was a brief call attempted by Hilton, that did not leave a message. The only reason I found out was because shortly after that missed call my banking app notified me a $51 charge had been made from Hilton. I called the hotel back, discussed the situation with an alleged manager and the person claimed "they thought it was me because it was signed 'Philip S'". Which is not my name. Sure, an understandable mix up, but I did not like that the card was charged without confirming with me first.

The manager would not confirm what room number was listed on the breakfast charge. Which I thought was odd. Sounded like they only had a vague signature to go off of. A slip through the cracks in terms of billing and someone was hoping to slide it into an unsuspecting guest to dust their hands of it. What's frustrating is now it could take up to two weeks for that charge to be fully refunded.

I'm sure plenty of people have had great experiences here with no issue. I genuinely hope the situations I came across don't occur often. Because it really did have all the makings of an excellent stay. It was just the execution of service and safety that...

Very clean rooms, amazing housekeeping, front desk staff, and concierge. Pretty good location as well, 10-15 minutes to many restaurants, attractions and shopping. Good brand hotel, very poor experience. The hotel is nice but currently undergoing renovations. That is understandable and not the problem. The two problems I encountered were (1) elevators, and (2) security. The elevator wait was notably long while the hotel hosted a children’s dance event. The hotel decided to dedicate their elevators for the dance members to go down to the ballroom (one floor down from the lobby level). This created a huge backlog for all customers waiting to take the elevator’s up to our rooms. There were long lines in the lobby awaiting the elevator’s lastly roughly 5 minutes. 5 minutes doesn’t sound long until you are doing it every time you are needing an elevator, then it becomes quite aggravating. The wait for elevator’s from my floor (16) was always between 3-4 minutes and from the top floor (executive lounge) 4-5 minutes. The hotel provided dedicated staff specifically to help dance team members and family to go down the one floor beneath the lobby level, while providing no help to the remainder of the hotel guests looking to go up in an elevator. The second problem I encountered was the when I came back from a day in the city to my hotel room door wide open. I left at 9 a.m. and didn’t return until 8 p.m. initially I thought it was blatant neglect from house keeping after they cleaned my room, however, after investigating, I was informed by the front desk they offered my room to another guest looking to check in. The guest came up to my room (while I was out) noticed my suitcase and belongings and went to inform the front desk the room is occupied. The new guest left my room door wide open (not cracked, wide open) for many hours. The hotel staff then failed to verify the room was occupied and secure the room from other guests. A hotel manager never reached out to check on the situation. Instead, I went to the front desk the next day to speak to the manager (could not as he was helping another guest) and left a number to contact me at. He decided to call the room phone shortly after 9 p.m. that night to ask what he can do to make the situation “right”. His best and final was to comp two nights of valet parking. He then informed me he typically only comps one night but because I am a gold member he can comp two, lucky me. As a loyal Hilton honors member for some time now, I felt extremely disappointed and let down. I think I may take a break from the Hilton brand for a while and stay elsewhere for at least the near future. For a brand that prides themselves on loyalty, they sure seemed to care less this...