Hampton Inn & Suites Salida — Hotel in Salida

My wife and I stayed here for one weeknight in June 2016. We enjoyed it, mostly because the breakfast area is spacious and very attractive, and the breakfast food is above average (compared to other free motel breakfasts). I expect this when I choose to stay at Hampton Inns instead of Super 8's. Our room was good, well-equipped and comfortable. We did have a problem with the front desk staff. When I checked out the young lady explained that my credit card did not get approved, so I handed her a different card. But then it took her forever to enter the new card into her computer. She just stood there silently, fiddling with the computer, until I had to ask her what was causing the holdup. She didn't have an answer, except maybe to mumble something unintelligible. Well after 10 minutes of fumbling, she finally got it right, and I was able to continue on my travels. The clerk's communication was poor. The reason for my 3-star rating, and not 5 stars, is (1) the building is not gleaming and new, and the exterior is not as attractive as in most Hampton Inns, and (2) because of the poor front desk service. This motel does not stand out as special in any way, compared to other Hampton Inns. Well maybe it does in one way, because a wonderful thing happened at this hotel. I took a walk around the building and discovered that between this property and the adjacent car dealership/ truck dealership, there is a gravel trail leading back to a wooden pedestrian bridge. It's a bridge across the swift, raging Arkansas River, and after you cross the bridge you find yourself in the lush valley floor of a spectacular ranching valley, ringed by gigantic mountains. The scenery as you stand on that valley floor is stunning. Maybe the local residents take this scenery for granted, but I think this valley is magnificent. I believe the wide gravel path that you see here .. is a local recreational hike/bike trail. It's not easy to get to this stuff, behind the motel's fences, but if you trample around a bit, the rewards await you. Very special. I would hope the motel could create a walkway back to the river bridge, a walkway that is inviting and clearly marked, because it would add significant amenity...

This could have been a quality stay when considering what I feel are the three primary components to be measured - facility, service and cost = value. Fine facility even though it is getting a bit older. Cost was reasonable considering its geographic location and a marketplace with little competition at its level of accommodation. Service was a failure here. Initially, I was not recognized as Diamond (just saying this because it gets measured in Hilton surveys, so they must feel it is important) and I never received my Welcome Points. The keyless entry system never worked during the 5 nights of the stay. I was told "it's an issue with Hilton Corporate" and it doesn't work for a lot of people (I guess I was not supposed to feel singled out). The staff was honest and said he didn't know how to resolve it. The next day I spoke with another staff member, and she committed to resolve the issue - nothing was resolved or communicated to me. This I take offense to (being brushed off). After considering it more, it seems to be a bigger issue. The staff both communicated a lot of people have this issue and it is Corporate's issue - if this is the case, where is management/leadership in resolving it? And why does the customer have the service they are paying for summarily set aside as unsolvable, because of a franchisee vs corporate matter? We are paying for a service - why aren't we getting it? Hilton's internal failure to make the services it advertises work?

One other thing to note - when I checked out, I reference the Hilton survey process, knowing I would get one to complete. I tried to discuss/resolve these issues, so I could provide top-notch responses in the survey. Hotel staff were not interested in...

Upon arrival, I waited at the front desk for about 5 minutes before a staff member came to check me in. There was no bell or sign indicating when somebody would be back. The staff member who was at the front desk was not very friendly. After checking in, the room seemed okay. We went to the pool and quickly learned that it was not heated, and had not been in some time. The pool was extremely cold. We notified the same front desk employee who only indicated that nobody else had said anything about it. He didn’t offer to notify maintenance, close the pool or anything. He was not helpful. A previous review one week prior to this one indicated that the pool was broken at that point as well.

As we got situated in the room, there were other issues. For a room that sleeps 6, only 3 towels were provided which is strange. There were extremely small garbage bags in all of the cans that don’t fit any garbage. It seemed like they were using the ice bucket bags as garbage bags and they were so small they hardly stretched across the opening of the can. There was no body wash in the shower. There was also garbage debris in the hallway outside the room. It seemed that the housekeeping standards were pretty low.

For an unknown reason, the fire alarm went off just after midnight. This was not the fault of the hotel and while a huge inconvenience, the front desk employee was excellent. (This was somebody different than the person I checked in with.) His name was Ben and he was so kind throughout this ordeal. His kindness continued the next morning during check out. I wish that had been my experience when I checked in. The hotel was okay, but there are definitely some areas that need...