Hilton Garden Inn Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage — Hotel in Rancho Mirage

Hello Everyone: While I don't write many Google reviews, I thought it would be important to write this one as a precaution for anyone who has reserved a stay at the Hilton Garden Inn, Palm Springs/ Rancho Mirage. While this review does not apply to the entire Hilton Brand or any other Hilton Garden Hotels, this specific franchise should be avoided altogether. I understand that a lot of international and local travelers may be attracted to this hotel for the benefits of 1)it's convenient, central location on CA-111 and 2)the trusted Hilton brand name. Unfortunately, neither of these factors can justify fraudulent charges or card skimming. I recently stayed at this Hilton Garden Inn for one night, and pre-paid for my stay through a third-party travel site, Hotels.com. Even though my room was paid in full, the front desk agent told me that I needed to provide an ID and debit or credit card to check-in. I did not question this directive, since it seemed like a standard practice. He also told me that a temporary hold in the amount of $100 would be charged to my account, and then reimbursed after checking out. Without a second thought, I authorized the $100 hold needed for checked-in. The next day, I received a bank alert from my bank's app saying that my debit card was disabled due to suspicious activities. Since this happened before, on past trips, I didn’t worry. I called my bank, and was connected to a customer service representative. The rep asked me if I authorized 6 charges in the amount of exactly $100 each, total $600 to the Hilton Garden. I explained that I did not, and paid for the entire one-night stay to Hotels.com. The bank rep told me that I should file a fraud claim since I did not authorize the $600 charges, and froze my bank account. As we were on the phone, the bank rep said that the Hilton Garden attempted to make 3 additional $100 charges to my account, but they were blocked. She also told me that all of the charges were made rapidly, within a 1-hour timeframe and that excessive fraud charges are typically made quickly to steal as much money as possible until the card declines or the bank account is emptied out. That makes sense. If someone has made the decision to steal, then they are likely to take as much as possible, while they can. The bank acted in my protection by immediately freezing my checking account to prevent any further charges from being made. This was a horrendous, anxiety-inducing situation to untangle during a vacation. I had no choice but to waste an entire day filing claims, sending receipts to my bank, verifying other charges, and activating another card. In short, this theft or fraud situation created a huge problem and my vacation was so brief, that it was ruined completely. In hindsight, I should have read the Google and Trip Advisor reviews because others have complained about fraudulent charges, mistreatment from the front desk, cockroaches, sanitation problems, etc. I agree with all of the above, but my main issue is the $600 in fraudulent charges and the theft of my debit card number. I suspect that the front desk card reader had a card skimmer, since several fraudulent charges were made in excess and within a very short time. Fortunately, $200 of the $600 did not process, a $100 charge was blocked, and the remaining $300 reimbursed by my bank. Eventually, I was made whole due to the security and recovery procedures of my bank but the vacation was lost. I filed a formal complaint with the Hilton corporate office, and was told that this franchise location would be investigated. I hope this prevents scam charges from happening to anyone else in the future, and protects other travelers. FYI, I learned to 1.) read travel reviews on Google and Trip Advisor before booking, 2)freeze, or lock debit cards when they are not being used, and 3)check online banking activity, even on...

The hotel is a nightmare. First of all, I stay in roughly 100 hotels a year, 1000 in the past ten. I also have been a Hilton Diamond for years but at the moment am Gold. To begin with, this hotel falls into roughly 1% of hotels that even though a reservation is not pre-pay the hotel still extracts payment, in this case generally for the first night, from your account usually in the fairly early morning hours of your day of arrival BEFORE you check-in and without authorization, and in the case of Hilton hotels now even with a statement as part of the Hilton online booking process that states, "No deposit required." In addition to pursuing any legal remedies you feel or are advised may be appropriate everyone should file a complaint with either California's or their home state's attorney general or both against separately both Hilton and this franchisee hotel when this occurs. Eventually also generally because of more than just complaints to the attorneys general but at the minimum in part aided by such the hotel either will be shut down and/or Hilton will be held accountable all the while coming under pressure both to remove the hotel from its online booking apparatus and also to sever ties with this franchisee. In fact, this franchisee hotel would not even have your credit card information to pull this stunt if it were not passed on by Hilton, as obviously you have not even checked in yet and produced a card except to the Hilton online booking system unless you book with a third party, a situation I am not sure of what the contours fully are. In fact, any time something goes wrong at a franchisee hotel you should file with an attorney general at least against the parent company because, for example, in the case of Hilton its "customer service" effectively functions as interference for Hilton while attempting to push everything back onto the franchisee, regardless of whether you booked through Hilton and Hilton also obviously directed you to the franchisee. You may receive some token from Hilton willingly but that is about it. Anything that matters and that the franchisee does not agree to remedy will not be rectified substantively by dealing only with Hilton "customer service." More pressure must be applied. Secondly, this particular hotel falls into even less than 1% of hotels of this mid-range caliber that place a $100 incidentals hold, as opposed to $25 or $50 for example. That is your money or credit that not only is then tied up but also money the hotel can play with to charge you for various things that it deems appropriate such as damage you may know nothing about, or the hotel simply may make a mistake, an example of which I get to now, although not a mistake that implicated money taken from the $100 hold. In my case the hotel screwed up and placed two holds at check-in for both the $100 incidentals hold AND the remaining cost of the stay after also, as indicated above, withdrawing from my account before check-in and without authorization the first night's charges. I discovered this within an hour of check-in when looking at my account online. So I had $547 in holds for a stay that was booked at a value of $232 with tax (two nights off-season). So I guess you could say the hotel hit the trifecta with me but, as indicated, the first two things, extracting without authorization and the $100 holds, occur as a matter-of-course at this hotel. As you will see also from other reviews, hotel personnel can be surly and difficult, nonresponsive at times, and the hotel itself is marked by age, mold, and more, which you can read about also in other reviews. You have been warned. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...

As we approached the counter for check-in, the clerk apologized and said that she didn't know if we heard her explain to the last guest, but everything is closed due to covid-19, and that if we want to stay elsewhere, they could NOT offer a refund. THIS IS ALL BEFORE CHECKING US IN. Not off to a good start. We came here solely to lounge in the sun by the pool, and just have a mini holiday weekend getaway to relax. It's Labor day weekend, and 120 degrees! Sadly we stayed in the room the whole first day. The next morning we go downstairs for the breakfast that we paid extra for, and the area is completely closed off, with a notice to grab a bag from the front desk. A brown paper bag that had a boiled egg, cup of dairy yogurt, nutrigrain bar, and an orange. Pathetic. I've never been so disappointed in a hotel stay in my life. I called Hilton customer service and was advised by the first person I spoke with that maybe they could offer us a credit on our next stay. I said I'd like that, and asked if it could be now so that we could salvage our trip and drive 10 miles to Hilton Palm Springs to stay our last night, we'd pay the difference in price and just lose the remainder of this stay. He put me in hold for 20 minutes, and a rude woman comes on the line asking me for my information. I explained that I wasn't expecting to speak with someone else, and what was going on. She laughed and said that she had no idea about what was going on either, because the person that transferred me didn't say anything to her. She then says that there's nothing they can do, and asks if I want her to book a room at the other Hilton hotel, and quotes a higher price than what they have listed on their website. I'm shocked the customer service is so bad for such a large hotel chain. At this point I'm not giving Hilton anymore of my time, or money. I was willing to pay a $200 difference just to go to the other location because their pool and other amenities were all open/active, but now I don't ever want to stay with Hilton again. I can't wait to check out of here tomorrow. What a nightmare.

Update: We checked out right after I wrote this review, and just ate the loss. We drove 2-3 miles down the same highway to the Best Western Plus, and booked a suite. The room was much bigger, had a separate living area as you walk in, and a private patio area outside our room with table and chairs to enjoy the fresh air and sun. All of the staff, and other guests were extremely friendly. The pool was open, and the breakfast the next mor ing was great! Definitely staying there again on our next drive down to Palm Springs :) they salvaged our trip during this already horrible time. If Hilton had just been nicer we would've stayed, but the hotel staff were all just miserable like they didnt want to be there either, and the call center representatives had the worst attitudes. I've booked 5 hotel stays within the last few months since this, and will continue to disregard all "Hilton" related...