Holiday Inn San Francisco-Golden Gateway by IHG — Hotel in San Francisco

My stay at this hotel in June has completely tarnished what was meant to be a family holiday of a lifetime to the USA. The hotel facilities were fine and Reception were quite helpful. ||There was a problem though at checkout about charges for breakfast and I was told by Victor Malbas, Front Office Director that he would look into this and get back to me before levying any charges - no checkout invoice was issued. I was horrified on arriving a couple of days later in LA to see that Holiday Inn Golden Gateway had already charged my debit card (that I had presented on arrival as requested by them) 3 charges amounting to £356. ||I emailed them immediately advising 3 significant charges had been levied without my knowledge or agreement. Victor Malbas replied that I had only been charged $130.14 and $65.07 for breakfasts on a Mastercard and that there would be zero authorisations on my Chase debit Card (#9665) which was unknown to them?||The breakfast tickets they have sent as "proof" are not signed by me and are completed in different handwriting and at different times and DO NOT add up to $130.14 and $65.07 in any case! (see attached photo).||||Most importantly my card #9665 WAS swiped (contactless) at registration (by Receptionist Melissa) and 3 charges from Holiday Inn Golden Gateway totalling £356 HAVE BEEN TAKEN been from that account (see screenshot of my account). I have written multiple times and have had consistent rebuttals from Andre, Princess and Gino (who says he is the hotel manager) about making these charges.||I continued to chase this up between 13 July and 30 August but was given short shrift by them despite me saying I was feeling very stressed because they were brushing this off and were not at all concerned to PROPERLY INVESTIGATE how and why these charges have appeared on my bank statement for card #9665 which they say had NOT been swiped by them! ||||There are obviously some MAJOR INACCURACIES in their record keeping and customer charging processes or there is some FRAUDULENT activity at the hotel. As a major provider of accommodation for tourists, they should be concerned to reassure customers that processes are in place to safeguard them, rather than batting the problem away? These errors or potential fraud has happened at THEIR hotel and they should ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY to look into it properly but they just replied that the matter was closed as far as the hotel was concerned. This feels like a massive COVER UP or denial or someone in authority is COMPLICIT in these happenings. ||I asked for details of who I could complain to but they ignore those requests.||||My last email on 30 August ended as follows:||" I have been so stressed by this whole episode and the lack of a proper investigation into what has happened for me to be financially disadvantaged at your hotel. Its also inexplicable that you then completely ignore numerous messages raising legitimate concerns and requests. Even in your current emails you will see errors and inconsistencies in the "explanations" you have given me.|||| I am quite honestly appalled by the way the issues raised are being brushed off and I'm not prepared to just give up in spite of the stress and anxiety you are giving me on what was meant to be a holiday of a lifetime to America. ||||I hope you will now send me a proper checkout invoice showing the charges and currency applied and also look more deeply into the serious concerns I have raised."|| Needless to say this email has appallingly just been ignored once again. I am still out of pocket by £356 WRONGLY charged by the hotel and I am still without a proper checkout invoice and folios which show the charges and currency applied.||I have since read of similar happenings on TripAdviser reviews ( I just wished I'd seen these beforehand) as it seems that there are systemic issues at this hotel which senior management should be concerned to sort out.||Until they do I would seriously warn people about avoiding this hotel, otherwise they will still feel the stress of having stayed there long after the...

As far as this review goes, I'll start with saying I hate the City. 40 years ago, I loved visiting SF once a year, the architecture, culture, and massive difference from my country life were welcomed. If you've been to SF lately, you know how much it has changed... so that being said.

This hotel does not allow me to carry (CCW) so they're lucky they're getting any stars. Could I leave it locked in my car? Well... I'm sure some of you are thinking it. If you are not seeing the issue here, you simply do not understand. IYKYK

I've stayed here at this hotel a few times now (ignorant of the above rule, glad it wasn't previously an issue), and somehow it isn't getting better. It's odd how different some of the rooms are; this time I'm in a room that is the weirdest set up. You enter through a long hall - solid walls either side for about 10 feet - into the room. Granted the city view is amazing from the 22nd floor but that's where amazing ends. The TV is on the wall 90 degrees out from the bed, and the closet is opposite, with about 18" of space between it and the bed. The bathroom is interesting, not a single place to hang a bath towel or even place them in reach while you shower (other than on the toilet seat, yay). It's noisy as can be - near the elevators this time, plus street noise - and I have had at least 3 attempts to open my door EACH NIGHT while here. Previously my room window opened a couple of inches so you could get some fresh air. Not this time, completely sealed. So with the AC running all the time, I came back to a room that smelled like ammonia had been sprayed everywhere. It turned out it was the AC unit, which let me know why I was so congested as soon as I walked in.

No room service, cleaning only on request, trash not picked up in the hallway. The front desk/bell staff have been friendly and helpful answering questions, and it's easy to catch a ride or get food delivery here. Parking is interesting, bring a tiny car. By tiny I mean my Fiat 500 barely fits. And check your luggage when you check in before parking if possible. There's a very interesting super narrow creepy stupid STAIRWAY to go down from the garage to the elevators. From the garage you open a door, and then immediately open another door while trying to get your luggage through both doors at once (the landing between doors is super small). And then watch your self or you'll fall down the stairway that cannot be code compliant; there are grippy bump strips at the edge of the tread that seem made for tripping you. In fact they're TRIP strips not GRIP strips. Who raises the outside 2" of the tread a half an inch? Someone whose brother is an attorney in California, that's who.

It's true I am not here for fun, and I hate the City, so my review may be a bit skewed. But I want to have a clean, safe room while I'm here and this hotel only kind of checks off those boxes. Full disclosure, I am working near Civic Center, so my uber to work goes through the Tenderloin and the heart of the cluster that SF is with its high concentration of homeless, and therefore needles, feces, drugs, street camps, sleepers, etc. all come together. I'm not in the financial district or nob hill, or other supposedly picturesque postcard places. So take this review with a grain of salt. If nothing else, travel with a supplemental door lock/alarm, just...

The hotel's location is very good, but as to the stay, I cannot say I've left completely mesmerised by this hotel. First of all, the day I checked in, I wanted to have a shower that night and I noticed that the conditioner bottle was empty. I called the front desk to ask that they refill this so that I could shower, but I rang 4 different times and no one picked up, I called the other service numbers provided in the room telephone, and nothing. This forced me to physically go down and, once there, they told me they'd try to contact with maintenance so that they could fix this. After I return to my room, I got a call from the front desk saying that had not been able to get a hold from the maintenance or cleaning service, so I'd have to wait until the next day to get conditioner on my shower. Of course, I told them that was unacceptable, if I had checked in that day they should've made sure to refill the amenities offered with the room, and that, if anything, they could just go to another empty room and get that bottle of conditioner and give it to me. After some minutes, they notified me that they were able to miraculously find a bottle of conditioner and could now refill mine. In other words, the hotel had not prepared the room for my check in, and the personnel seemed unwilling to fix this. Additionally, I had to be the one to notify the person from maintenance, that they'd also left the structure that holds the bottles, unscrewed, which is a safety hazard because it could have fallen on my feet while showering. Lastly, the straw that broke the camel's back is that I contacted the hotel via their chatbot services, to ask if they received packages on customers's behalf and they confirmed they did. Additionally, on IHG's webpage it also clarifies that they receive a package. But the surprise came when I check out and I see that they had charged me $3/package, which was never mentioned by the agent, and is also not disclaimed in their webpage. This is also unacceptable before they should advertise their services properly, and not surprise guests with surprise fees that were never notified, neither publicly nor privately.

On another note, the walls between rooms might be very thin because I could hear guests on the other side breathe, even though I was on the 16th floor, the windows do not isolate properly because you could still hear the noises coming from the outside very loudly inside the room. And in the mornings, the cleaning personnel was quite loud as well, so if I wasn't being woken up by the outside noise, or the neighbour on the other room, it was due to the cleaning personnel.

I do appreciate very much that the person at the front desk gave me a welcome gift when I arrived, due to my gold elite status, which were just two small water bottled, but to be honest, I don't think it's that much of a significant gift, and it left me wondering if it was the correct gift, or the hotel had ran out of the real gift and had just given me two water bottles, to give me something :P.

I did have a hot chocolate and a pain-au-chocolate at the hotel cafeteria which was very good, and the price was...