Hampton Inn Newark Airport — Hotel in Newark

Story time. I am leaving as honest of a rating as possible while at the same time highlighting a negative experience I had with a member of staff tonight.

I’m currently booked in as an honors diamond guest and the service this morning was excellent with friendly shuttle drivers and reception staff who facilitated early check in for me and my wife with our 6-month-old daughter and my elderly in-laws.

There was a technical issue when checking me in, which was no fault of the staff at all. The friendly young lady and the man whom I assume was the manager acknowledged this and I was instructed to come back later for new key cards as the ones I was given would automatically deactivate once their system came back up.

Before heading out later in the day, they did as they promised and gave me new key cards.

Upon returning later in the night, my key cards would not work. So I returned to reception and was met by Jay, to whom I tried to explain the situation from the morning, hoping to give him some context to the problem I was facing with the key cards. He aggressively interrupted me mid-sentence with, “What do you want?”

Alright, benefit of the doubt—he wants to help me out quicker so I’ll cut to the chase: “I need key cards that work.”

He took the cards from me, still in the little envelope from the morning with my room number on it, stared at the computer and said, “There is no one in room 724.”

“Hm? That’s strange. All my things are in there as we speak,” I said.

“No, that’s impossible it doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah, maybe it has to do with the system issue from this morning—“

“Do you have a confirmation number.” - strike two, another abrupt and rude interruption.

“Yep, let me get that for you,” I say as I start digging it up from my phone.

As I’m looking, I try to finish explaining the system shut down situation from this morning, which Jay clearly wasn’t interested in hearing about, as he for the third time barked at me, “Sir, do you HAVE the confirmation code.”

“Yeah, I’m getting it. Hold on.” I had to match his energy, he obviously wasn’t interested in what I had to say, so I decided to let him complicate things for himself.

As I silently looked for it, I just had to add: “Night and day difference between you and the morning team, huh.”

He had me repeat what I said, and I did. No response from Jay.

Gave him the confirmation code and still the same response, “Nope, this doesn’t even exist on the system. Where did you even get this from?” he questioned me as he held up the little key card envelope with 724 written on it.

“I was given that this morning at check in. All my things are in room 724. You can come have a look yourself if you’d like.”

“No, you’re definitely in room 716 or something.”

No Jay, I’ve taken a video describing all of the above and of myself walking into room 724 after you very reluctantly reissued me the keys to the room. You can see all my things left just as they were before I took the shuttle at 2pm today. I’ll attach it in the email to your manager and hopefully he’ll let you watch it too.

Anyways, to wrap up this unpleasant interaction I had with the receptionist, I asked, “Are you in a managerial position or do you report to anyone?”

“No, there’s no one in right now. Why? What’s the problem?”

I began to note a common theme of a little listening comprehension issue.

“That’s not what I’m asking. I don’t need a manager right now. I just need to know if there’s a manager you report to at all.”

“In the morning, yes. But what’s the problem?”

“You have an attitude problem I would like to discuss.”

“Attitude problem? I’m trying to help you here.”

I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head. Jay sarcastically fobbed me off with a “Have a good night sir.”

I work in client care services and this employee is the exact antithesis of what “helpful” is.

No copy/paste response of “https://help.hilton.com/s/contactsupport or call our team at (973) 242-0900” please. Train your staff better or hire better. Future...

My name is José Granillo and I really need your assistance regarding this matter:||I stayed the night of June 11 and the night of June 13, 2024.||During the first night, I was fortunate to be assisted by Veronica. who was very kind and helpful throughout my stay. The check in process was quick and efficient, and the room was very comfortable and modern. Additionally, I found the gym quite accessible and the breakfast acceptable, although it could be improved. I checked out satisfied, informing the reception team that I would return in 2 days, as I had another reservation.||However, my experience changed drastically during the second night. When checking in, a young lady who mentioned she was of Arab origin, born in Iraq, asked for my credit card again to make another hold in my credit card (to this day, the first hold has not been released from my card). ||I kindly explained that I had already stayed previously and did not want an additional hold since the first one had not yet been released. Despite my request, she was inflexible and arrogant, mentioning that other hotels impose even larger holds and that without the hold, she could not proceed with the check in. Even when I explained that my card had no available balance and asked for an exception, she insisted that only cash was accepted.||A gentleman from the reception team older with a beard and wearing a shirt arrived. The young lady said "There are not my rules, they are my boss´s riles" pointing to this man. He rudely lectured me, saying there was no other way, and it had to be done this way.||They made me take everything out of my suitcase, and when I took out the cash, they said "Sorry, it has to be double of the normal amount, $100 USD". Annoyed, I told them they were being inconsiderate, but fine, I wanted it returned at the check out. They said it would be refunded after checking the room.||When registering this $100 USD, they informed me that I had to pay $20 USD for parking and that only $80 USD would be refunded. Disappointed by the poor service, I accepted and asked for a receipt showing the $20 USD parking fee. On the day of the check out, another young lady assisted me, and to my surprise, she said she had no idea that I was asked for a $100 USD cash deposit. I explained everything that happened during the second check in and she was astonished. She mentioned that the man who pretended to be the manager was not actually in charge. I realized that he and the receptionist had orchasted the whole scenario to make me comply and give them the 100 USD.||The receptionist told me that she couldn't give me a receipt for the $20 USD parking fee because it wasn't in the system and that it wasn't her fault. It felt as if the blame was being placed on me, it is incredible. ||I don't know if they stole the 20 USD or if it was a system issue, but I need a receipt proving the 20 USD charge that this Arab lady promised to me that I will receive at the check out. In the end, they refund me $80 USD and the receptionist advised me to email you. I need this parking payment receipt as my company requires it for expense verification. ||I am attaching all the relevant documents and hope you can resolve this as soon as possible please. It is very urgent, and to this day, the hold on my credit card has not been released. I hope you can assist me as soon as possible, I will be awaiting...

The motel was way too expensive. For $300, I expected better. We were stuck in Newark on June 7th due to flight cancellation because of a public heath emergency (smoke from Canada wildfires was rendering air quality around airports unacceptable and visibility was dangerously low). We ha to scrounge for a room, Hampton was available, but gouged prices AND IN MY OPINION THE HAMPTON IN ENGAGED IN ILLEGAL CAPITALIZING ON A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.

When I called to get teh room, I was routed to some unknown sales person tho tried to sell me a '70% Discount' at either Myrtle Beach, Las Vegas, or Orlando. -- BUT we had to reserve a room within four days. I explained that we were returning from a 3-week trip to Europe and were NOT interested in going to those places. The unknown person wouldn't complete the call until I had to raise my voice to end it. Totally unprofessional, and a TOTAL LACK OF CONSIDERATION FOR THE TRAVELER, NOT TO MENTION HER ABJECT DISMISSAL OF OUR OWN INTELLIGENCE.

Shuttle: Drive was nice enough but the shuttle was truly a piece of junk. dirty, torn seats, dusty inside, all the stuff. Thanks again, Hilton.

Breakfast: Horrible. Slow. Badly cooked. Distasteful.

Room: Badly lit - few lighting devices (lamps or overhead lights). Also, the room was too hot, and the thermostat was set so that I couldn't adjust the temperature in our room Totally unacceptable. Even the towels were undersized, rough, etc. Yes, they were clean, but badly finished, not soft, etc ad nauseam.

SUMMARY: While our kids were small, we stayed at Hampton Inns in many places - we felt they were decent values for our money and had a consistency of quality acceptable to us. However, this ridiculous excuse for a Hampton Inn has single-handedly convinced me to never, never make use of another Hampton Inn - ever. Further, over the years, we have come to expect a much higher level of quality from traveler motels than this motel delivered, and have used the MARRIOTT group for many trips to date. This unfortunate visit has convinced method Hilton delivers a much lower service level than Hampton Inns nationwide had been known for. My experience has convinced me to stay with Marriott. It is my heartfelt and sincere view that Hilton has devolved into a mediocre (at best) company, without regard for the traveling public, and with shoddy service and facilities. I WILL NOT BE BACK TO A HAMPTON INN.

P.S. When I checked out, and girls at the desk asked my opinion. I replied simply "Mediocre at Best." And...