DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland, ME — Hotel in South Portland

I am writing this review with an overwhelming sense of disbelief and frustration after my recent interaction with the staff at the Doubletree Portland hotel, a Hilton-affiliated establishment. My experience has been nothing short of a colossal disappointment, characterized by a distinct lack of transparency, callous disregard for guest concerns, and a blatant attempt to exploit unsuspecting patrons.

My tale of woe begins when an unforeseen circumstance involving a colleague contracting Covid-19 forced us to cancel our business trip within 36 hours of our scheduled arrival at this establishment. I am accustomed to booking Hilton hotel rooms with the assurance that I can cancel my stay by 23:59 on the night before without incurring any charges. However, the Doubletree Hotel in Portland decided to throw conventional practices out the window and enforce a 48-hour cancellation policy – a detail that was nowhere to be found when I made the reservation.

The treacherous ordeal only escalated when, upon realizing the disparity between this hotel's cancellation policy and the rest of the Hilton chain, I promptly canceled my reservation through the Hilton app, well before the stipulated deadline. To my astonishment, the app confirmed the cancellation without any mention of fees, leading me to believe that I was in the clear.

Imagine my utter shock when I discovered that the Doubletree had, in fact, charged me for the entire night's stay despite my diligence in canceling within the time frame specified by the app. My fault for not taking a screenshot of the cancelation notice.

Equally concerning is the utter lack of professionalism exhibited by the hotel's management. My 3 attempts to communicate with the General Manager, a person presumably entrusted with guest satisfaction, have been met with abysmal failure. Not only does this individual appear to be 'missing in action,' but the Hilton associates themselves are left clueless, diverting the responsibility back to the elusive GM.

In one particularly disheartening encounter with a Hilton associate, I was informed that I had no recourse with them and was instructed to engage solely with the elusive GM. Such a dismissive stance reflects an alarming disregard for guest concerns and epitomizes the reprehensible customer service that Hilton is content to offer.

In closing, my experience with the Doubletree has left a stain on my perception of the Hilton brand. The tactics employed to deceive guests, the punitive cancellation policies that deviate from the Hilton norm, and the total absence of responsiveness from the management reflect a business model built on exploitation rather than guest satisfaction.

I must caution any potential patrons to tread carefully and remain vigilant when considering this particular Hotel as their...

My stay, though it was only 1 night was very lack luster. I’ll start with the pros of my stay as that list is shorter:

pros: The pool was excellent! I’m always willing to pay extra for a hotel stay if there is a good pool. I went for an evening and early morning swim as the pool is open 5 am to 11 pm.

cons: -The pool area was a mess. There were so many towels on the floor and in the designated bin that were not taken care of throughout my stay. -Breakfast was not included? I honestly was taken aback at the cost of the breakfast even just to get the buffet. The service at breakfast was also not great. There was no one there to show us where the breakfast buffet was located or even to tell us it wasn’t free, so we just looked around until we saw the buffet and grabbed a plate. About 20 minutes after we sat down, someone walked by and asked us if we would be charging the room or paying via card. I didn’t make a fuss, I just had it charged to the room. The one person working the breakfast area was rude and nosy. -The desk service was rude as well. I felt bad for the first person who helped us during check in because the person before us made her cry. I tried to be as understanding about the delayed check in as I could because I knew it wasn’t her fault specifically. Every person I interacted with at the desk after that was just plain rude. I felt uncomfortable asking for anything so my guest and I just avoided it all together. -The TV. This could just be a me problem, but every hotel I have stayed at in the last 2 years has had a smart TV so guests can use streaming services rather than cable. This hotel did not have that. It added to the outdated fee of the room A LOT. -Lastly, the price. I’m sorry, but with no breakfast included, horrible view a car lot, and rooms that were outdated, $200/night felt silly to me. The location of being near the mall doesn’t give the excuse of not updating your hotel out of the year 2010. Make it worth the guest while. $200/night which ended up being $240 after breakfast (which was the same breakfast as most free breakfasts at any other hotel; nothing special) would be worth it to me if breakfast was included, housekeeping dropped by even once, the customer service was better, and if the hotel was updated.

I feel awful giving a bad review because I’m sure some of these issues have to do with short staffing, but clearly your current employees are not being paid enough to have any incentive to give good service/take on the load of every missing employee the hotel has failed to...

I booked a stay here for me and my wife as we are on our honeymoon and we needed a place to stay in between our journey. When we first arrived the front desk staff was super unprofessional. He seemed to be new but his education on vulnerable populations lacked. He asked me for my ID after I had already booked and paid for the room. I gave him my ID which was no big deal but he then told me the room needed to be booked within my legal name. Me and my wife have stayed multiple different places and have never had someone say this to us. I explained to him that he could put it under my legal name and he looked at my ID and asked if someone else had booked the room for us, and if that is why it was under a different name. I kindly explained to him that I am transgender, and that if he seriously needs to put it under my legal name it was fine. I was open minded, but ticked off with how many questions he needed answers to. I have never stayed at a hotel that genuinely needed my legal name to be on the stay rather than just understanding that I am transgender, I am offering you my ID and explaining that I am trans but you still need to put it under my legal name. I was embarrassed with the lack of hospitality. Not to mention, afterwards he seemed to back track after seeing I was being short with him and then welcomed us to the double tree. I definitely did not feel welcomed. One day someone will come in who is also trans and they wont be as open minded as me, so train your employees better on vulnerable populations. We did get a cookie out of it which was nice though so I cant complain on that piece. We then went up the elevator and oh my heavens get ready for a giant sick feeling because it flies up and down those floors. We got to our room and it was nice but there were no trash bags, and dirty wash cloths in our room. For a 4-star hotel I expected better. The highlight of my experience here was the night shift guy. He worked last night in the lobby. He was way kinder, I went downstairs to get pepto bismol and ginger ale for my wife as she felt sick and he let us put it on our room bill and gave us both a warm cookie. He said he hopes she feels better. I personally thought he was extremely kind and caring. He should get a raise. Then I went back up the elevator and again I am glad I wasnt the one sick because I was about to be LOL. seriously if you have a stomach ache you want to hold that handle bar. We ended up sleeping okay and leaving at check out. The guy who worked the night shift truly made our stay...