Embassy Suites by Hilton Palm Desert — Hotel in Palm Desert

The following is the email I wrote to the manager and the hotel manager for the night we stayed.

We checked into your hotel February 16th. We have stayed at Embassy Suites in other cities, with no issues. They have been excellent each time.

Upon arrival, the hotel entrance looked great. The staff were kind and quick to check us in. We first noticed a few issues when we took the elevator up to our room. It was quite dirty and run down itself.

Upon entering the room, it smelled very stagnant. The walls were streaked with dirt. The back of the door was chipped away by the lock. The back of the bathroom door by the handle was dirty. The room had dirty carpets. Truthfully, everywhere we looked we could see that things were not clean. We noticed stains on the couch immediately as one member of our party was to sleep there. There were no linens for the sofa bed, so we had to call up for them. I went to dial the phone, and there were no readable buttons left on the phone so I had to use my cell to call the front desk for the bedding. When I called, I asked if there were any updated rooms available and she said the ones with the carpets were the updated ones. We had one with carpet. At that point I was feeling a bit uneasy about the room so I asked my family to check everything. They both said that the beds seemed okay upon cursory examination, the toilet worked and it was clean. The bathtub (which I did not get a picture of) was extremely run down. We had agreed that none of us would shower the next day and that it was “one night, we could handle it”. We had dinner plans and went to get ready. My mom came out of the bathroom, looking very confused as she went to dry her hands and the entire towel ring came out of the wall. We had a laugh and went to dinner.

We returned at 9pm and started to unpack. I decided to bunk with my adult daughter as the couch was extremely dirty/run down. As I went into the bedroom, I saw a small reddish bug running on the side of the mattress (on the nightstand side). I called for my daughter immediately who also saw it and I asked her to examine the beds extremely closely. I then got on the phone and looked to see if we could even get another hotel room at that time. I did successfully get one at another Hilton establishment. As I was on the phone, my daughter started to bring me things that were very alarming. One pillow had an exoskeleton inside the case. Another had numerous small red dots all over the inside of the pillow. I then told her to stop looking, wash her hands and help my elderly mother pack up all of their things. I finished with the new reservation and assisted to get our things to our vehicle.

We went to the lobby and your staff member was there to help us. I advised her we needed to check out immediately and wanted a full refund. She looked confused until I showed her a picture and she gave me your email to contact you. She removed the deposit on the credit card and promised our points would be credited back. We then moved into the other hotel and were able to get my mom in bed by 11pm.

This, as you can imagine, was a horrible experience. We were all exhausted and tired of moving around, especially my mother. I would hope that you do a very thorough inspection of your entire hotel, and report this to the necessary parties. I also hope that we are refunded appropriately from that night. I will also mention that after this experience I looked at your hotel reviews and was disappointed in myself for not looking at them sooner. My experience is not new to you it seems as there are many reviews such as mine. The state of your hotel is completely unacceptable. And yes, I will make sure that those who need to know, know about this. I have also learned my lesson to never book a hotel again without looking at the reviews first. Had I done that, we never would have booked with you in the first place.

Regrettably, Wiebke Szalay

Example photos of stains on sheets and...

Please do not book here if you are going to have hair and make up at this location done, upon my arrival at 4:45 AM I checked in through the lobby and was asked to go into the elevator up the third floor, I made it to the third floor unfortunately the elevator door never opened, patiently waited I tried pushing the emergency button (did not work ) I called the front desk and he asked if I could please wait a few moments while they try to open the elevator doors, 30 minutes passed by. I am about 45 minutes late & the bride and her bridesmaids are still waiting on me. As I am sitting in the elevator You can hear the employees with such a frustration, speaking about how this elevator is constantly giving them issues, please see attached the expired permit. It was 515 by the time I got out of the elevator (thank you so much Palm desert fire department for getting me out of the elevator) I was extremely nauseous by the time I got out because the windows are glass, and I literally sat in a corner the whole time just breathing and trying not to throw up all over myself. By this time I needed to rush into the other elevator and get back up to the third floor get into the room and start doing my work. As I’m approaching room 307, the electricity has completely gone out.

Now we need to find a new location where we can set up to do nine guest & 16 services.

During this event full morning I did not find it appropriate to complain because we still had a bride and her braids made. We needed to get out and ready.

I called the hotel around 12 PM and I asked if I could please speak with a manager or a supervisor, the young lady who answered the phone did not want to give me her name, I’m not sure why. Nobody ever called me back

3pm- I called again then the girl who again would not give me her name said that a manager would call me back no one ever called me back.

4-pm Finally got a call back from a extremely condescending lady that goes by the name of Lauren- Per Lauren she stated that the inconvenience was not their problem. I would have to take my complaint up with the bride.

I politely asked, Lauren how can they accommodate me for the money that I lost due to their negligence and the malfunction of their elevator. Lauren had the nerve to tell me that’s not their problem because I was not a guest there, however, I was stuck in their elevator for over 45 minutes and lost two services.

Not sure if Lauren has kids or not, but I am a hairstylist and this is how I make my money. So this is a huge inconvenience for me.

And if Lauren did have kids, I feel bad for her kids because she is so coldhearted, extremely rude, constantly interrupting me to tell me that it was not her fault nor did I ever say it was, all I was asking was to be compensated for the service that I lost due to their malfunction of the elevator. She hung up on me.

I called back again and asked who is the general manager or the owner of the hotel and if I could please talk to him. She said in a very condescending way and a high-pitched voice like if she was a barista at Starbucks, and I quote he will be here on Monday morning. He will call you back when he gets a chance, and then as well can you give me a ballpark around the time he will be in I’d rather much talk in person about this matter. And again she hung up.

Please know that I’m 31 years old and I am A resident of the Coachella Valley, not once have I ever come across anybody who works in the hotel service with such a nasty snobby attitude. Sorry, Lauren, but if you don’t like your job, sweetie, you need to get back into school and go get a career because obviously this is not...

We liked the incredibly spacious room, the friendly staff, convenient location, pool, happy hour and the breakfast amenities. We had room to stretch, breathe and play. We had a giant meeting table and two televisions. Our kids loved it. But having travelled a bit over the continental US, it's hard to love this hotel. It's a refurbished older property, but we've stay at places that did a better job with even older construction.

Needs improvement: (1) the $15/day parking fee is unacceptable in the 2-3 star commuter price class (Marriott Fairfield, Holiday Inn Express, Westin Element, etc). Charge $15 more per night. This arrangement required me to enter a credit card into a non-Hilton website. For all I know, a criminal could put a sandwich board with a scam website in the parking lot to steal all our private info.

(2) Our suite wasn't available until two hours after it was supposed to be (6pm vs 4pm).

(3) The loud and rattling air conditioning units indoors, the visibility rusty and dripping units exposed from the outside.

(4) The parking lot needs repaving.

(5) The handout map given to guests lists incorrect and/or outdated information: restaurant is NOT open for dinner, breakfast bar closes earlier than the flier. This led my family and several others to arrive to a closing buffet and no food.

(6) We asked for additional towels brought to our room, but because it was a little after 9pm, we had to go to the lobby to get them. The front desk people are VERY nice and VERY professional, but I think they were just not given enough manpower to provide competitive service here. Pool towels also did not seem to keep up over the busy weekend, either. Perhaps it was busier than usual.

(7) There were no do not disturb signs, probably because there was no housekeeping at all during our 3 night stay. The tiny trash cans just piled up. I understand water is scarce, but a simple brochure in the welcome packet or a placard in the bathroom could tell guests what to expect in terms of environmentally sensitive housekeeping. We don't need perfectly folded beds with mints on the pillow every four hours. We don't need towel animals or toilet paper origami. At the very least, just take out the trash every day.

I understand that this is a competitive class of hotel with high volume but low margins. We had an overall positive experience, but I have had a smoother experience at similarly priced Hilton and Marriott managed properties. I'm offering this feedback with the hopes it will improve the...