Hilton Garden Inn Lansing West — Hotel in Delta Charter Township

The location of this hotel prompted us to book rooms for my kid to have a sleepover. He turned 10 and we wanted to be more central for his friends and to swim in the heated pool (heater turned out to be broken.) My kids have been traveling 5 star resorts and boutique hotels pretty exclusively their whole lives, they know the protocol for travel. They have had gracious experiences with hotels like the Ritz, Nobu hotels and other beautiful independently owned boutique inns that set a high standard for kind and respectful treatment. We briefed his 5 friends on pointers for a respectful stay, booked enough beds for everyone and called to clear our intentions in advance. From the first moments in the lobby the staff was hostile towards our group. The hotel was empty, the bar and lobby was empty. Our group was headed upstairs to change for the pool. The staff told some kids they “couldn’t swim.” Everyone had proper swim clothes and there were three adults to supervise the five kids. I thought we had ironed out the misunderstanding, but the tone from the staff worsened. My wife ordered a stack of pizzas for dinner and made her way to the lobby table for everyone to eat, again the place was empty. We hadn’t even sat the boxes down when we hear yelling from across the lobby. “You can’t sit in here!!” My wife turned and said “excuse me?” “You can’t sit in here, sit there!!” We were being commanded like dogs. We laughed it off- but the kids said “they don’t like us here.” The rest of the stay, the staff stared and gawked at us. They would walk past the pool only to glare through the windows several times. We tidied up and left after a good bit of this. We notified the manager but he gave us a story about a previous experience with a rowdy group that didn’t follow the rules- even though we were quiet, courteous and followed all rules. Apparently, basic hospitality and professionalism is dead to all because of a past event. He also implied we thought the hotel “too stuffy” assuming we don’t understand how “nice hotels work.”This. Is. A. Hilton. Sir. My problem isn’t that your staff was stuffy, it’s that your staff was unprofessional and disrespectful to their youngest guests. It seems they are only prepared for business travel and this place isn’t intended for family use. It’s a shame because the place was nice enough albeit empty and upon reading other family reviews I see why. The only “help” we received was a measly $20 off one room, and that was only offered because we were Hilton reward members. Hilton, you might want to re-train your staff before they run your guests out your chain for good...

I’m truly disappointed with my recent stay at Hilton Lansing. Initially, the stay was fine—the room was comfortable, the check-in was smooth, and the staff was kind. My mother and I were set to stay for 3 days, but due to a storm closing the airport back home, I needed to extend my stay.

The lady who checked us in initially was very accommodating and extended our stay without issue. Unfortunately, my experience changed drastically when I had to extend my stay further and dealt with an employee named Claurice.

When I approached her to extend my stay for two more nights due to the airport being closed, she immediately seemed irritated. I had waited at the front desk for 10 minutes before she appeared from the back, chatting and laughing with other staff. When I explained my situation, she rudely insisted that I was using two different credit cards, which I wasn’t. After trying to explain that Apple Pay sometimes generates a different number for security reasons (something I thought was common knowledge), she accused me of lying and insisted that wasn’t the case.

She then called a manager, who was professional and understood the situation after I showed him my bank transactions. The manager provided clear instructions to charge me only for the two nights I needed, as I had already paid for the previous nights. However, Claurice then asked for $500, essentially recharging me for the entire stay despite clear instructions from the manager.

When I tried to challenge the charge, Claurice raised her voice at me in front of other guests, which was not only unprofessional but humiliating. I’ve never experienced such blatant hostility from a hotel employee. The manager returned and had to intervene, but the damage had already been done. At that point, I didn’t feel safe staying at this hotel any longer and called corporate to demand a change in accommodations.

It’s unfortunate that this situation wasn’t handled better by management, especially with Claurice clearly being hostile from the start. I’ve never felt so disrespected and humiliated at a hotel before, and I would advise others to be cautious when dealing with this particular staff member. Hilton should seriously reconsider the way they handle customer service, especially in...

My friend from Japan stayed at the hotel for two nights for a wedding in town. He had asked the reception for help in arranging a taxi from the hotel to the wedding, but the reception said they could only give him the number and refused to call themselves to help him. He speaks a little bit of English, but phone calls are always difficult in a foreign language and he didn't feel confident in calling, himself, and he'd never stayed at a hotel where they wouldn't call a taxi to make arrangements. I understand Uber and Lyft are more common these days, but taxis certainly exist in Lansing.

I called the hotel to inquire about this surprise, and the first lady I spoke with apologized to me for their wrongdoing and said they could provide some sort of credit to him for the inconvenience, but she'd have to transfer me to another person to do this. I reexplained the story to the lady she transferred me to, however this lady confirmed that this particular hotel doesn't offer such services and will not help customers arrange transportation. I was very surprised to hear this, as I thought it is common practice and a standard service for hotels to help arrange transportation to and from the hotel. Even if it isn't a standard concierge service at this hotel, how awful is it for someone who traveled 6000+ miles to be denied the easy task of a phone call to the local taxi service? He wasn't requesting the hotel to bend over backwards, but rather make a simple phone...