Hampton Inn & Suites Salinas — Hotel in Salinas

My disappointment in their guest service is mind boggling. My husband’s grandfather passed away, so we had to come to Salinas for the funeral. We brought our two sons, 7 and 9. We booked here because I am a Hilton Honors member and Hamptons indoor pool would make the trip a little better on my children. Given we were in town for two full days of burial ceremonies, I wanted to ensure some sort of down time for the kids. After driving four hours, we checked in without issue. Jason was great and did an excellent job as a front desk agent. He gets 5 stars. But then….. We go straight to the pool and within 5 minutes my 7 year old completely filets the bottom of his toe open from something sharp in the pool. So no more pool the entire stay. Not to mention, I had to carry him for the remaining trip. Now, I understand this stuff happens. In fact, I’m a well seasoned hotel general manager myself and I have had a few foot cuts over the years at my own pool. But here’s the difference between the correct way to handle this and the Hampton Inn and Suites way….

Shut the pool down. Drain it. Fix it. Pool remained open for the length of my stay.

Me running through the lobby with a crying child holding paper towels to his foot, should be cause for alarm. But they tried to make me wait in line by a sideways eyeballing while they continued to assist the guest checking in. Mind blowing.

The next morning, I was rushing to get to the funeral and stopped by the front desk to charge some water to the room. Three employees were struggling to assist a check out. Perplexed by some tech malfunction with his credit card not tapping on their credit card reader. After a few minutes of standing and watching this go on… the guest walked out defeated by the machine. And the three employees continued to huddle over the computer, ignore me there holding water and my injured 7 year old. Then one started reprimanding another on the previous occurrence, right in front of us. Downright unprofessional.

The absolute kicker to this stay…. We checked out…. Attended the last ceremony at noon …. Drove some family members back to this hotel, which they were staying another night. My injured 7 year old was had to desperately use the bathroom. He was hurt, we were at a gravesite with no near restrooms and I made him hold it until we were at the hotel dropping off cousins. We pull in and about 10 of us are saying our goodbyes in their driveway. My husband took my son and headed straight to the lobby restroom. To which he was stopped and told it was for guests only. He responded that we had been guests and just checked out. To which the employee states “current guests only” the end.

What in the actual F@&$?!?!!?!

I get the reason. But use some common sense when working in guest services. We obviously aren’t homeless. We were wearing our Sundays best.

I wanted the manger that minute but I’m not a complainer by nature. So it would have been a long talk and my child was now ready to explode and cry.

We had to drive around to find a place with a public restroom. Took 15 more minutes. I called on the long drive home and was left on hold for 20 minutes before I conceded and hung up.

I can’t explain how frustrating poor guest service is. The job is really quite simple for the right people. So hire the right people. Help them understand the importance of hospitality within a hotel. Because the factor that’s going to kill your ratings is POOR GUEST SERVICE.

I will send this to Hilton as well. No reason wasting all this time typing it, when I’ll likely receive only a canned response reply saying “we are very sorry… we hope you come back…” I will not be back.

PS- your exposed battery wires on your pool ADA required lifts are indeed a hazard. As well as your back door which doesn’t close properly, creating an insecure space for a...

At $266.32/night, this was the second most expensive Hampton Inn & Suites I've ever stayed at, eclipsed only by a Las Vegas location, during the second biggest trade show of the year. Regardless of what the going rate is in the Salinas market for a room, the price sets the bar of expectations for me. At this price, this should be the nicest Hampton Inn & Suites I've ever stayed at, but it was one of the worst.

The front door to the hotel is always locked for "security reasons." Allow me to translate that for you- they have a serious issue with homeless people in the area, whose campsites were clearly visible from the window in my room. There is also an abandoned hotel immediately adjacent to this property, which is surrounded by a barbed wire fence, with an abandoned car in the parking lot. I wonder why that hotel went out of business?

The hotel staff were very nice and welcoming, although I don't believe them when they claim most hotels lock their doors 24/7, as I stay at a lot of hotels and unless you are in California, this is definitely NOT common practice. The hotel itself is aged and showing it. Rooms have been renovated, but the bathtub has no plug for the drain, only offers hot water if you really crank on the handle and it will continuously run unless you turn it off and position the handle "just so." The shower curtain seems to be barely hanging on for dear life and one of the bath towels had a stain on it. For this price, you'd expect rooms to be made up every night, not every other night.

This location is not safe. I would not want my wife or children to stay here and I would not want a room on the first floor. Rather than stay a third night at that price, I booked a room in San Jose instead. I'm staying at a Courtyard, which if it were a Hampton Inn, would qualify as one of the nicest I've ever visited- clean, at least has the appearances of being safe (front door was not locked), modern, new and $100/night LESS...

The worker named Aidan is extremely rude. I recorded my entire phone conversation with him since my mother had mentioned how he was. I had paid for the room online with my debit card under my mom’s name just in case anything happened. My son got sick and I was unable to make it, when my mom tried to check in he was extremely rude and my mom panicked saying she’d come get me ( I live 3 hours away mind you ) so I called to see if an authorization form can be done so she can enter the room! I used to work for a motel and done it plenty of times so I know it can be done. He then gave attitude and said “ your mom came earlier she said she was going for you why would she say that hmm “ with the nastiest attitude ever. I’m not sure in what way being a front desk associate allows you to speak to a customer a certain way. Or if the job is to overwhelming quit!!! Not only that I was literally so shocked with how he was speaking I asked if he was okay and he then asked me that with attitude ? I even tried to speak to someone else and apparently he’s the only worker there? Fix that because his attitude is not going to fly with someone else. I then kept asking him trying to see what can happen because all he kept saying was she needs an id and her credit card. The room is already paid all I wanted to know was if she was getting charged again. And he kept telling me to contact the third party?? How can you not tell me that… all I needed to know was if she was getting charged again!!! I had to call cooperate just to find out she can go with her ID & a debit card in her name for the deposit.

If this is how you train front desk workers retrain them and teach them how to talk to people. If Aidan is still there not retrained you guys do not care about your customers.

All the ladies who work here though are amazing and always show kindness never an attitude...