Hilton Garden Inn Clovis — Hotel in Clovis

This was the absolute worst experience I have ever had at ANY Hilton property that I have EVER stayed at, and that is saying alot. I have been a Hilton Grand Vacation Elite owner since 2005 and a Hilton Diamond member. Hilton Garden Inns used to be my property of choice as I travelled the United States, but not anymore. Stays at Hilton Garden Inns, when holding Gold Status or Diamond status included the breakfast buffet along with a small treat and 2 bottles of water upon arrival. I have not stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn since Covid so I was not aware of any changes in this policy.

After a long drive from Palm Springs, I was looking forward to a nice room, small "treat" and the breakfast buffet in the morning. When I arrived, a very pleasant young man (I believe his name was Brandon) checked me in. After check in, he handed me two bottles of water and no "treat." When I asked about the treat, Brandon apologized and stated that Hilton Garden Inn no longer provides treats for diamond members. When I questioned him about this policy, he said that Hilton took that small benefit away from Diamond members after Covid. Then I asked about the breakfast buffet. He stated that Diamond members are not rewarded for their loyalty with the free breakfast buffets, that I will be allowed a $10 credit towards breakfast. I was incredulous. I stated that it takes, I believe, 69 STAYS IN ONE YEAR to achieve Diamond Status, and Hilton Garden Inn no longer recognizes the loyal client, and that loyal client's money, with a free breakfast buffet? He once again said he was sorry, but that was the policy and there was nothing he could do about.

At that time, an assistant GM happened by the desk and I explained how upset I was about the policy changes, that I had not stayed in Hilton Garden Inn since Covid, and could he please, this one time, suspend the benefit changes for an Elite Premier Grand Vacation owner and a Diamond Member. He without hesitation said no. The policy is the policy and I should have known about the policy changes. I asked how could I know if I had not stayed in a Garden Inn. His response: call the Diamond Honor customer service desk and talk to them. He gave me their number.

It was then that I spied a jar full of what appeared to be treats on the check in counter. I asked Brandon if those were treats. He smiled as he said absolutely, they are for are 4 legged friends because Hilton was now completely dog friendly and Hilton loves all dogs.

I responded, "So, Hilton loves dogs and rewards them with treats; they just don't love their human Hilton Premier Elite and Diamond members, so we don't get rewarded with a treat. His smile left his face as he saw the irony in that policy and shook his head.

I went up to my room.

Next morning, I went for breakfast with my $10 credit. The prices on the menu were such that I could not even order 2 eggs, hash browns and bacon for breakfast....it was over the $10 limit. But this story does not end there. I went to my room, retrieved my bags and checked out. I went to where, 10 minutes before, there stood a coffee station to make a coffee to go and it was gone. When I asked an employee where the coffee went, I was informed that this hotel does not leave coffee out during the day for their guests, but it is put away at exactly 11 AM. I asked the front desk agents if I could get a coffee and was told no. Hilton Garden Inns do not provide a coffee after 11 AM. It was ll:04AM when I asked for the cup.

If you are staying in the Fresno/Clovis area, I highly recommend you find any other Hilton property besides this Hilton Garden Inn. The next two nights I stayed at the Hampton Inn, and I highly recommend this hotel. . The room was updated, the carpet was not worn and dirty, and you get treated as least as well...

My hope is this review sticks even though the stay was cancelled. But I feel compelled to share the horrible experience with the front desk/mgmt. of Hilton Garden Inn Clovis. The issue is that we traveled down for a very late check-in because of a previous engagement. Even though I'd indicated a late check-in online, we called the hotel directly to state how late we were going to be at 10:50pm. A rude Woman that answered the phone stated that they needed to charge a new credit card to reserve the room or it would be cancelled by 12am. I stated we just needed to pull over to get to a replacement card because the one they had was expired. She said fine as long as it was before midnight. We called 20 min. later, well before midnight with the card, and a Man answered the phone who equally rudely and callously stated they had cancelled our reservation, gave away our room, and were sold out. This was obviously some sort of set-up because he knew we would be calling back, referring to us by name. I believe this was done to sell the room at a higher rate because the whole town was nearly sold out of rooms, and hotels had jacked up the rates accordingly. I write this review because common decency, respect, and good Business practice should mean something. And it obviously means nothing to this Hotel. I would avoid this Hilton Garden like the plague because this is usually representative of other deplorable practices beyond the principle. Luckily a SpringHill Suites had pity on our situation even though they were sold out, and worked something out for us to stay the night in one of their higher-scale rooms that had to be vacated. They did all of this without jacking up the rate when they could have. There is decency out there friends, be patient, and it will be revealed. Flee from...

These are simple, basic, clean, accommodations.

The pluses for us were: 1- Great check-in & very polite service. 2- Decent fairly quiet room which was clean & roomy enough. 3- Fairly nice clean bathroom. 4- Basic Wifi & TV. 5- Two clean beds & comfy heating...but dry. 6- Decent price. 7- No problem with asking to stay for another night. 8- Small Frig. & bottled water 9- Good Handicapped Parking right next to entrance. 10- A much better than expected breakfast was included [based on our membership], which even included a fresh Omelet & other selections. For some reason, we did not expect this so, I at first made my own Waffle [which I did a great job at]. Thus we had more than plenty of good breakfast eats that blows away many other places.

Negatives: 1- A really hard bed that killed my back...but to be fair, I used to bring in my own compressed mini-memory foam topper to use in other hotels & neglected to hassle with it. I thought incorrectly...since I do have back issues.

2- While it is basic, your come to expect a bit more out of Hilton...that goes beyond Holiday Express level. It did feel a bit more run down compared to Pismo Beaches Hilton Garden Inn. Here you just wanted to sleep, eat, and get out. There was no real urge to hang out.

3- The TV was just OK, but I think it had some sort of Dish Network & there was a long lag better changing channels. It was hard to see the channel menu. This contributed toward, the urge to get out of the hard bed & get a move on. The range of channels tended toward the basic. I had better luck with my laptop & next time I may bring an old one with a DVD player...or load another device with a...