Hilton Garden Inn Dana Point Doheny Beach — Hotel in Dana Point

We took this mini vacation for my birthday which sounds like not a big deal but we are a military family and it’s rare to be able to spend birthdays together. The first night we get to the hotel we were given the wrong room which was under another persons name. I was patient because stuff happens, I’m a mom of three kids which is who we were with at the time. There were five of us total plus our dog. They fix the room situation and we finally settle in for the night. The next day it’s my birthday and my husband already has things put on reservation so we could enjoy my birthday. After everyone finished with showers it was about 9:30 in the morning we had to leave around 10 to drive an hour to what we had planned and the bathroom ceiling started leaking. Started in one spot then in a second and so we called it in to the front desk who came quickly to fix it. Which caused us to be late to leave for our reservations and put a damper on my birthday but they “fixed it” so we just went on about the day. The following day we got up early, went to the beach and came home to shower so we could head out to our reservation we had scheduled for the evening. After everyone showered, again the ceiling started leaking in the bathroom. So I had to call it in again and once again they came to fix it and made us late for our reservation. This was a different guy “fixing” the ceiling and asked if we wanted to switch rooms if he wasn’t able to fix it which was ridiculous because we already had unpacked all our stuff and set up the dogs area, we have a mastador she’s not a small pup. The thought of repacking all our clothes, the stuff in the mini fridge, all the snacks and waters we brought for the kids, all the stuff in the bathroom and the dogs stuff to then travel to another room and then unpack everything was just exhausting to think about and again we were already running late for our reservation. So he said let me get this piece to seal where it’s leaking from and it should be good. Once he “fixed it” He said he would have room service bring us new towels because we had placed them on the floor to keep it from puddling and the kids slipping if they needed to use the restroom. Then he stepped all over them to fix the ceiling. We came back later that night to no fresh towels, my husband called it in and never received so the following day he called it in again which we were then told we would need to call in room service 24 hours prior which was frustrating because we have been very patient and kind and they were supposed to have brought us towels and to be told we need to call in 24 hours prior for these things was just ridiculous. But again, we had plans for the day and after receiving our towels by my husband just taking them off of a housekeepers cart we were able to shower and get ready for the day. Which funny enough, the ceiling in the bathroom started leaking!! Yup, third day in a row but we had enough. We put towels on the floor, finished getting ready for the day, and left to do what we had planned for the day. When we returned later that night the leaking had stopped and we just asked for fresh towels which were given to us no problem. The following morning was checkout and we had already packed everything the night before so we showered and wouldn’t you know it the ceiling started leaking but it wasn’t our problem anymore because we were leaving. We were very disappointed especially because it was for my birthday and especially with how much money we spent to stay for the four nights/three days. It cost us about $2400. If it was just my husband and I then we could’ve switched rooms easily but to travel with so many people and a dog to deal with all this for such a small amount of time was too much. Supposed to be a mini vacation but it was super stressful. The AC only went down to 68 which felt really hot during the night, the beds are hard so my back was aching every morning. Again, we are military we move all the time and have to spend periods of times in hotels. This was definitely the worst hotel...

This was an expensive reservation being one of the more expensive hotels in the region. Upon arrival, I was informed that I must pay $240 additional to park my car during my stay. This was not communicated at any point prior to check in, as is evidenced by the copious records I kept of booking confirmations, terms and conditions, and payment receipts. All specify that valet and EV charging are available for a surcharge, but make zero indication that self-parking costs the same as valet and instead heavily imply it is an included amenity.

After having the amount billed to the reservation, no parking was available in the lot during our stay. Much of it was under construction, and every available spot was occupied. Valet attendants were not present at night either, and the valet lot and entire region in front of the hotel was consistently at max capacity. We resolved to searching at length each night for parking along the highway, usually about a 0.7 to 1 mile away from the property. This walk ordinarily would be no issue, but in this case posed a safety hazard. The hotel is entirely inaccessible to pedestrian or public transit traffic, and can only be reached by car. To walk to the hotel, we had to choose between walking in the dark in the right lane of the Pacific Coast Highway, with no shoulder whatsoever and clearly marked with no pedestrian signs, crossing several lanes of active highway traffic to reach the sidewalk squeezed between the other side of the highway and the railway, or walking several more miles to find the nearest crosswalk and take an alternate route (supposing one did in fact exist). This is poor communication and regard to your customers that negatively impacted our stay and put our safety at risk. The gentleman at the front desk was understanding and managed to remove the charge, but the safety concern, lack of accommodation, and abysmal communication is still unacceptable and unbecoming of Hilton’s brand.

Furthermore, the hotel was under construction for the duration of our stay. Early in the morning, a cacophony of drilling, hammering, thumping and banging commenced. This made sleep impossible and resulted in us being sleep deprived for the duration of the stay, again significantly impacting our trip in an adverse manner. The quality of the hotel was also compromised during the stay, with the front doors boarded up completely and the entrance routed through the side, imbued with the scent of paint. I emphasize that I appreciate the work in progress on the property, and understand that will come with the above inconveniences. I do not take issue with the inconvenience, but rather with the failure to communicate any of the above to guests while continuing to charge full rates for a severely discounted experience.

Outside of construction, the room quality was not as expected and did not match the provided photos. The bathroom was dirty and half the size of the one pictured, and the crooked, misaligned sliding door swung off its hinges and did not sufficiently cover the door frame to the bathroom. The gap under the main door to the room was so large it floods the room with light from the hall at night. Every noise and conversation from your neighbors and people down the hall can be heard in astounding detail. The sliding door to the balcony and the screen door were barely functional and did not lock properly. The “signature view” we paid a premium for was underwhelming given the hefty price tag.

Overall, the experience offered last week at this location falls considerably short of the motels and hostels I am accustomed to staying in. I changed our initial reservation at a motel to this hotel with the intent of treating ourselves to a much nicer vacation. I worked extensive hours to save the thousands of dollars in premium to treat our group a nice stay, and this value was not fulfilled in any capacity.

I will also emphasize that the staff at this location were amazing, and doing their best to make do of the situation. However, they were limited by...

Horrible service from two front desk agents! Second day manager made right to the best of his ability, luckily a manager answered the phone on one of my phone calls because I was told numerous times by the front desk agent there was not a manager in when I asked to speak to one. I have several things to say about the experience I had but no one wants to read a book After the manager made this stay better, I was walking through the lobby in the evening and heard the gal on the phone with another guest, telling them There’s no way for her to guarantee any one room to a guest. I don’t know if this is true or not, but this is the same girl that continued to deny any request that we had and we are diamond members. Sitting in the lobby charging my phone, I heard four phone calls the second phone call. I heard her telling somebody that the hotel does not do late checkout. There’s no exceptions she said unless you pay ! but as a diamond member, I know the hotel does late check out, on the third phone call, I heard her say there was not a manager in. I assume this person was asking to speak to a manager whether there was a manager or not I don’t know , but I know for a fact the night before she told me there wasn’t a manager, and there was a manager on property! I watched her standing there, casually talking to a guest and the phone ring multiple times without her even flinching or considering answering it. I understand why it took me 8 times when I called to get somebody to answer the phone. Our first night there she downgraded my room, telling me My room type was not available, but when I looked on the Hilton honors app, it showed every room type available We were put in different rooms the two nights we were there So on day two, we were told we had to check out of our room at 11 and could not be in the second room till 4 PM thankfully, I was able to get a manager involved at this point. The reason I know there was a manager at the hotel when I was calling the night before was because the front agent told me he was not available and not in until 7 PM. I called back at 7 PM and she told me he was still not in but at the end of that phone call she slipped and said he was helping a guest. I told her you said the manager was not in. I would like to speak to him. She put me on hold for 17 minutes. I finally gave up and hung up thankfully, the following day I was able to get a hold of a manager. We were put in a better room and upgraded on day two I was excited to have a view of the ocean, but the balcony had so many spiderwebs and spiders on it. We did not even feel comfortable sitting on the balcony. My son killed one big spider, but there was so many other spiderwebs and spiders we didn’t want to spend the evening, killing spiders and knocking down spiderwebs. I travel for work and stay in hotels more than I would like to my home feels like a vacation sometimes because I have to be in hotel so much for work Because of this I know how hotels operate and what’s acceptable. This hotel front desk agents are by far one of the worst agents I have ever experienced and for some reason they enjoy not accommodating people, pretending like their hands are tied, and they’re not able to accommodate for any excuse they can think of They don’t follow Hilton honor standards. They lie I dealt with two front desk agents that were the same way I don’t know if this means they’re burnt out or if one of the managers encourages it thankfully that one manager I spoke to did not encourage it and made things better for us. That’s why I did not leave this hotel a one star review and I left it a three star review. It’s also a manager’s job to make sure front desk agents know how to deal with guest I would assume that someone along there training this behavior was encouraged because two front desk agents acted this way not one the only two I saw and spoke with were this way and on different shifts one guy in the morning and a lady...