DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center City — Hotel in Philadelphia

I am in town on a work trip, training new court reporters and I cannot believe the experience I had at this DoubleTree. Hilton should be ashamed to be associated with this hotel. Upon arrival the first person I encountered at the front desk was dismissive and told me I could just go up to my room if I have the digital key. She didn’t welcome me to the hotel or ask me how I was. It was a terrible first impression, but I just brushed it off and headed upstairs. The hallways upstairs were extremely hot and muggy as if they didn’t have the AC on. Entering my room, I was very happy with the view but was soon to be disappointed upon finding dirty walls, hair in the shower, cracks in the ceiling, moldy grout in the tub. This is my first time in Philadelphia, so I just shrugged it off and thought “Well I guess this is Philly” and enjoyed the views from my room. Two days later, I was downstairs in the lobby working with my coworkers. I went to plug my laptop in to charge and an electrical spark ignited! I was in shock… figuratively and literally! My fingernail was black from being singed. Two employees witnessed this and barely reacted. Neither asked if I was okay or apologized. One inspected the outlet and stated, “Oh, you see that piece of metal sticking out? That’s why that happened, just don’t use that plug.” Having zero regard for the fire hazard, not to mention having no consideration for mine or other guests’ well-being. Given that I was tired from travel and working, I yet again, shrugged it off and went upstairs. However, this is a lawsuit waiting to happen, I have reported a fire safety complaint to the city. The situation I would encounter later that night is one I simply cannot shrug off. I was about to go to bed on Monday night and before turning off the light I saw a MOUSE on my floor!!! I couldn’t believe this was happening especially because I was on the TWENTY THIRD FLOOR! I had a slight panic attack before making my way down to the front desk. The employee who was there at the time did take sympathy on me she apologized profusely and moved me to a suite without me asking. I accepted the key, but this suite is on the 5th floor and walking back to my room to pack up my suitcases I couldn’t stop thinking about how if there are mice on the 23rd floor they must be scaling the walls and infesting the entire building. Sounds bad already, right? Just wait… it gets WORSE! I went back downstairs to let the front desk know I can’t stand to sleep there and need to check out. To which the man at the front desk replied, “Did you see another one (mouse) in the suite?”. I was completely taken back by this, so I asked, “Why does this happen often?”. He said, “Well we’re right next to the subway there’s nothing the hotel can really do about it.” EXCUSE ME?!?! Certainly, this is not Hilton standard to just allow an infestation in their hotels… IS IT?!?! He then told me I wouldn’t be charged for the night as if he was doing me some sort of favor. To add icing to the cake, the following day I received a text from Khufu asking how my stay was on a scale to 1-5 so far. Obviously, Khufu didn’t check the system to see I checked out early. After my experience and reading other Google reviews (which I didn’t look at prior to booking because I assumed the DoubleTree would be clean), I encourage Hilton Corporate and the Health Department to shut this establishment down. The GM, Jim Salvo, has been claiming for months via his response to Google reviews about mice that they are working with pest control to remedy the infestation…clearly it has not worked. Maybe I can help expedite that process, I have reported the hotel to the Office of Food Protection. I ate at the restaurant in the hotel twice and am now disgusted thinking about the amount of rat feces I possibly consumed and would hate for other patrons to...

We checked in on New Years eve for the Mummers parade, as we do almost every year (or a family member reserves the rooms). Due to the Mummers Parade, this check in comes with late check out the next day (4 PM) and it also comes with 4 wristbands for the number of people in the room. We were excited to digitally check in instead of waiting at the desk. We had a fine evening (except for the person two doors down who found a dead mouse in their room). The next morning we went to the lobby to collect our bracelets so that we could get into and out of the hotel for the parade. At that point, the front desk manager indicated that they would only allocate one bracelet to our room because during the digital check-in process the night prior, the check-in indicated one person. We had four. The woman indicated that we should have checked in at the front desk to receive four wristbands. They did not call/email/text us to inform us of this issue. If we had checked in on NYE at the desk (lines were so long), the four wristbands would have been allocated to us. I am not sure why this would not be the same policy the next day. All the signage in the hotel and push notifications from Hilton indicated digital check-in/digital key was the best way to check in and out. However the front desk manager and staff member I spoke with thought otherwise. The staff member said: "We wouldn't have even known you were in the building with the digital check-in. You could have checked in in Paris." What does that even mean? I was offered, as a courtesy, to buy a bracelet for $10 cash (cash... hmmmm!) at the front desk - a bracelet I already paid for by paying for the room. Finally they gave me two bracelets total but never the other two after a combative conversation on the part of front desk staff. We were required to spend $60 more at the bar area to buy the other two. I've never had this issue in all the years I've stayed here on NYE. The manager indicated that this policy was on the website. It wasn't and she couldn't seem to be able to pull up that site to show me. The cherry on top was being charged for a brunch ($58) that we never charged to the room. Trying to get that refunded took 6 phone calls, one voicemail (never returned) and a whole slew of Facebook instant messages, a threat to dispute the charges and being demeaned by the front desk manager on two separate phone occasions (again), and someone FINALLY taking responsbility over 24 hours later.

I am still considering disputing the charges for the room due to the fact that they withheld $60 worth of bracelets from me. The key cards, both digitally and physical all stopped working at 2 Pm New Year's Day, which backed up the elevator situation.

The true MVPs, however, of this establishment are the bell hops and the concierges. They were busting their butts to make sure everyone was comfortable and getting on the elevators quickly (even escorting us to other elevators!). They also unlocked the pool on the fifth floor using their keycard when the digital keycard did not work on that lock (Hilton needs to really figure out the digital check-in/keycard situation and policies revolving around that). The staff members not involved with the front desk were so very pleasant.

Bottom line... felt very scammy. Check your receipts...

Beware of hidden charges. Overall, the stay was good. Aldene checked us in and was great. The view was awesome. Overall the staff was very nice. The issue I have is with their hidden charge for allowing friends to enter the hotel. This was on New Year's Day, and the Mummers Parade was in front of the hotel, which is why we booked the room.

They didn't mention this charge when I made the reservation back in September. They didn't mention it at check in on New Year's Eve. Apparently, they had a letter with this information. But they didn't leave a copy of the letter in the room. There was no mention at all of us needing wristbands until I came back into the hotel in the morning. And no mention of charging us an additional $10 for wristbands for allowing our friends to enter the hotel.

I completely understand why the hotel needs policies for wristbands on a day like New Year's with the Mummers Parade. I even somewhat understand why they might charge for wristbands. But what I find is completely unacceptable is that they didn't notify us of this policy either when I booked the room or before we checked in. Our friends and family who stopped by that day didn't sleep in the hotel. We weren't having some raging party, and we left the room in the same state it was when we arrived.

I have stayed at hotels across the country and across the Globe. And I have worked at multiple hotels. I've never seen or heard of something like this.

What really was off putting was the when I emailed the hotel about the charge, it took 5 days to respond and the woman who called was very rude, dismissive, argumentative, kept interrupting and repeatedly told me that I was informed of this policy when I absolutely wasn't. She kept telling me that I was informed multiple times of their policy when I only was told on the afternoon of New Year's Day when I tried to reenter the hotel with my cousin and two friends. I've never heard a hotel employee speak to a guest they way she spoke to me. She lied to me again and again. I told her to check the cameras to see if I was telling the truth. She told me that what happened to me didn't actually happen. She has no business working in hospitality. I've never experienced such poor customer service as that phone call.

On top of that, they charged me $50 for 3 wristbands. They did refund the additional $20. But I never should have been charged at all. It's unfortunate because we like the hotel, we have stayed there before. But after this stay and the hotels response, I don't know that we will be back.

All of this could have been avoided with very simple communication. If you are going to charge your guests for something that every other hotel allows, let them know at the time of booking. And don't have rude managers call your guests and tell them that up is down and...