Hampton Inn Santa Cruz — Hotel in Santa Cruz

I think my the title of my review sums up the experience. What’s worth two stars is the room was clean, and the front desk was nice.|However please see my experience below.||I have the Hilton app and digitally checked in before our arrival, and since 2:00pm, the app gave me a notification saying the room is ready and so is the digital key. |Usually, in this case when I arrived at the hotel, I will go straight to the room if the digital key is available. But yesterday, 01/13, We arrived at around 6:45pm, for some odd reason I decided to stop at the front desk and asked if they need anything. Guess what! It turned out when the front desk asked me for the last name of the reservation, she told me someone checked in to the room in person already, have a car registered under my reservation AND already in the room. |So if I didn’t stop at the front desk, I would open the room I originally picked and see someone else in it. This is ridiculous!|Mind that is at 6:45 pm, so the front desk was calling the manager, and she called three times, no answer. So at about 7:00pm the manager called back and she had me to write down my card number on a new registration sheet and gave us a room. How much will I be charged for it? I have no idea. She said the manager will modify the reservation and charge the correct amount.||Today 01/14at 8:45 am I went to the lobby and asked to speak to a manager. I guess he only goes in to work at between 9:00-10:00. We are here on a vacation trip so we have to hit the road, and the front desk told me that the manager will give me or my husband a call. Now is 8:42pm and we have yet receive a call from the manager.||This can cause sooooo many issues.|1. SAFETY. We could walk in to a room with someone in the room, SURPRISE!|2. I reserved the room with a diamond member flex rate. So did the person paid with my rate and now I pay with theirs?|3. HOW can someone check in to my reservation with none of our ID? HOW?|4. Customers service, with an error like this, the manager did not try to solve this...

I have the Hilton app and digitally checked in before our arrival, and since 2:00pm, the app gave me a notification saying the room is ready and so is the digital key. Usually, in this case when I arrived at the hotel, I will go straight to the room if the digital key is available. But yesterday, 01/13, We arrived at around 6:45pm, for some odd reason I decided to stop at the front desk and asked if they need anything. Guess what! It turned out when the front desk asked me for the last name of the reservation, she told me someone checked in to the room in person already, have a car registered under my reservation AND already in the room. So if I didn’t stop at the front desk, I would open the room I originally picked and see someone else in it. This is ridiculous! Mind that is at 6:45 pm, so the front desk was calling the manager, and she called three times, no answer. So at about 7:00pm the manager called back and she had me to write down my card number on a new registration sheet and gave us a room. How much will I be charged for it? I have no idea. She said the manager will modify the reservation and charge the correct amount.

Today 01/14at 8:45 am I went to the lobby and asked to speak to a manager. I guess he only goes in to work at between 9:00-10:00. We are here on a vacation trip so we have to hit the road, and the front desk told me that the manager will give me or my husband a call. Now is 8:42pm and we have yet receive a call from the manager.

This can cause sooooo many issues. SAFETY. We could walk in to a room with someone in the room, SURPRISE! I reserved the room with a diamond member flex rate. So did the person paid with my rate and now I pay with theirs? HOW can someone check in to my reservation with none of our ID? HOW? Customers service, with an error like this, the manager did not try to solve this the same day?

This is an experience that I didn’t expect to have...

Check in was fast and easy and the staff was very polite. The hotel is located off a busy road and next to a highway, so noise and pollution were an issue. There was a huge gap in the wall where the air systen was installed by the window, where you literally could stick your hand through to the outside, so polluted air from the highway just poured in. The design of the hotel is pretty poor, as it's the old style where all the rooms are circled around a large atrium type center, so you can hear everything going in the hotel, even when people are speaking at a normal level. Thankfully, our neighbors were quiet and we didn't sleep long so we were not disturbed too much. Not a fan of the disposable cups in the room that are flammable if put in tbe microwave, but to each their own I guess. There were no other cups available. We also asked (different staff from check in) for plastic knife to cut a lemon for tea, but was told none available as they don't have those. However, in the morning, playin knives abound during the continental breakfast. The breakfast is pretty good, as with all Hampton Inn so we appreciated that. Overall, if the price is right (especially with good brrakfast), it can be tolerable but I don't recommend if you need a good...