Hilton Palm Beach PBI — Hotel in West Palm Beach

DO NOT HAVE YOUR EVENT OR WEDDING HERE!! I hade a horrible experience here. My wedding was almost a year ago (February 24,2024) and I still get emotional thinking about it. The hotel director ruined my over $16K experience. Lets share: On 01/25/2023 (over 2 years ago) I entered a contractual agreement with Hilton Palm Beach International Airport to provide several services for my wedding. On February 7, 2024 (literally weeks before wedding) the Hotel Director (Rajul) began contacting me with several barriers to an enjoyable wedding. February 7: My best friend (made of honor) owns a baking company and was willing to make me a cake as a gift from her. We were told this day from Rajul the head chef would not allow my wedding cake to be refrigerated and stored until a few hours start of reception time. However, prior to signing the contract, I was told my wedding cake would be accommodated for storing. This new information caused me to have to find another wedding cake baker/designer less than two weeks before my wedding. Because of the exorbitant fees with asking for a wedding cake so close to the wedding, I could not afford a beautiful cake; I had to settle for a cake from Sam’s Club. Imagine spending thousands of dollars for a wedding venue and a cake from sams club?! I cant even post my wedding pictures next to my cake because I am extremely saddened by the way I had to settle for that cake after being told different prior to signing the contract. February 9: Rajul emailed me a banquet order and advised me there would be an extra fee of $2500 for my ceremony and $1500 for my reception for the venues I had chosen. This caused even more stress. I began to read over my contract and my contract stated these sites would be complimentary for my use if I spent over $12,000 in food & beverage. I spent well over $12,000 before taxes and fees. I explained and reread my contract to Rajul she began to be confrontational with me and advise she would call me back she’s with a client. I didn’t get a call back, the next day “I” emailed Rajul and advised her I didn’t receive a call regarding the removal of extra fees. She stated she removed the fees, but did not apologize for her error. February 24 (WEDDING DAY): My wedding colors were white, gold, crème and white. Rajul and the staff used blue banquet chairs (similar to airport chairs) for the ceremony seats. Before I even signed my contract with Hilton, Rajul advised me there would be white lawn chairs for the outdoor ceremony and gold Chiavari chairs for the indoor reception. She also advised my decorator of the white chairs. My coordinator advised me while I was in the middle of hair and makeup that blue chairs were at the ceremony and showed me a picture. I begin to cry instantly because this was the third time Rajul has done something to cause more stress to my wedding. I have an email from Rajul stating white lawn chairs would be used. Next my Wedding Coordinator explained to Rajul several times about the white chairs even showed her the email she sent me, Rajul refused to provide the correct chairs, and stated I would have to pay a FEE to have them removed/replaced and “she didn’t have the man power” There was over 15 staff members there to assist with my wedding (I paid over $3000 for the service alone, not including food and taxes). I was distraught. I even said I would physically go myself and move chairs. This was Thirty minutes prior to the start of my wedding, the groomsmen & MY DAD—in their wedding tuxedos—and other family members had to replace the blue chairs with the reception chiavari chairs that had been set up in the reception space. This error resulted in the wedding starting over an hour late while guests had already arrived and saw this as well. Also, since the chairs had to be rotated to the reception afterwards a lot of guests didn’t have seats during cocktail hour and had to sit in the lobby of the hotel or go to their cars and missed the hors d’oeuvres. At that point I felt as if Rajul was trying to...

I am only posting this review after writing the Front Desk Manager twice (Ryan Shuman) along with Hilton directly and receiving no reply.

Below is the email sent to the aforementioned parties:

Dear Ryan,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to express my deep disappointment and concern regarding my recent stay at the Hilton Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, on the night of (redacted), 2023.

Upon our arrival at the hotel, my experience took a distressing turn. The initial room assigned to us was far from satisfactory. The soap provided was clearly used and had hairs embedded in it, and the room showed clear signs of inadequate cleaning, including toothpaste markings in the bathroom and makeup residue on the dresser counter (see attached pictures). While we appreciate the assistance of your staff members, especially Gessica, who moved us to a more suitable room, including a complimentary upgrade, and provided us with complimentary breakfast, our troubles did not end there (note: the complimentary breakfast wasn’t used due to the horribly distressing stay that ensued from here).

Later that evening after being given the new room due to the more than inadequate cleanliness of the 1st room, we were happy, we showered and got into bed and tried to fall asleep. We then experienced a frightening issue when the neighboring room's occupant was playing extremely loud, disturbing, and violent-sounding video games with shooting/gun noises, causing us great discomfort and concern for our safety (video available upon request). To provide more context, this occurred late at night and continued endlessly. To illustrate the magnitude of our discomfort, this continued well into the early hours of the morning. It was in response to this disturbing noise that we sought another room change after about 2hrs of being unable to sleep from this noise and it now being well past 1am. We went down to the front desk in our pajamas, with our packed luggage’s where we met John who now assigned us our third room at your hotel. We got to the room to find that it had a malfunctioning air conditioner, making it unbearably hot - the A/C would not turn on at all. The thermostat was unresponsive, and despite our exhaustion and distress, our concerns were met with apathy from your staff member, John - we called down to John and at this point we were in near tears and told him that the air conditioner is broken. John replied “if you’re going to look for something wrong with every room, I’m gonna run out of rooms to put you in”. I was bewildered because these were legitimate and actually scary and disturbing issues that we should’ve been immediately apologized to and given the best treatment, and at this point it was 1:45 AM. Rather than simply provide us a new room, John insisted on sending up a maintenance person (unsure if this was their actual role/title or not) and after waiting for this person to arrive and fiddle with the thermostat, this person verified that the air conditioner was in fact broken and not working whatsoever. This person then walked us to a fourth and final room which we finally were able to sleep in from 2 AM until we left for the airport later that same morning.

Our stay was so far from the pleasant experience we expected from the Hilton brand.

I believe that the issues we encountered during our stay were not only disturbing but also fell significantly short of the standard of service that a most basic value hotel would have, let alone the Hilton brand. We were unable to enjoy a restful night's sleep and felt genuinely unsafe during parts of our stay.

Given the multiple issues and disruptions we experienced, we kindly request a refund for the one-night stay to compensate us for the distress and inconvenience we endured.

We hope that this matter can be resolved promptly and amicably. Please feel free to contact me at (redacted) or by return email to discuss this further. We look forward to a prompt resolution to this issue.

Thank you for your attention to...

Front Desk Review and room 409 Came for an event. Upon arrival, no concierge due to covid was what we were told. Then given room 409. The bath sealant came off, and the carpet is badly worn. These are a few highlights of this room. Oh, I forgot to mention the not secure twin room lock on the door to make patrons feel safe. We arrived and received the most unfriendly greeting from a front desk gentleman. The employee was all white beard hair, f6'0.

I asked do they have a concierge as a four-diamond property; we had lots of items and needed help with them from car to room and securing a parking location. The front desk appeared not to understand the request being made. He then looked at his colleagues and then asked questions in no relation to what I asked.

Monday Morning Checkout. Monday Morning, when checking out, I asked the front desk for a trolley as they didn't have a concierge on Friday. The receptionist told me to ask that man at the travel/concierge/welcome desk. He then proceeds to ask whether I need help. Im now confused as to when I wondered Friday they do not have anyone due to covid. The driver of the van employee was all too willing to help. I was confused after being told no sorry due to covid on Friday. I don't have any.

Food and beverage review Paul in the Breakfast lounge and Don in the were fabulous. That was it. Breakfast is powdered eggs. Or a substitute. Cornflakes are not Kellogg's cornflakes. This is a 19.60 add-on charge for Buffett. Tony Romas, dining, too short-staffed, had to get my drinks placed on order with don, who was a champion and then kept bringing them to the tables. Not sure where the staff was to better staffed. I asked about not being able to book an event through the franchised Tony Roma. I tried to book tony toma at the hotel before staying and was informed by hotel staff; sorry, we don't own that, and you need to contact them directly. This would prove to be a lie. As Tony Roma's staff, we asked looked confused and said this hotel is a franchise. If you use the Tony Roma website, they would never know, as that's not the hotel. Someone doesn't know their brand franchise aggreement with Hilton.

Room 360 had grown mold on the bathroom door frame. The bottom edge is rotten due to water blowing the structure out over time. The hotel's fix was to backfill with putty and paint. For four-diamond properties, the carpet is worn. Both rooms look tired, and the pillows are just wrong.

Event food. Why are you serving chicken and pulled pork for a banquet dinner if this is a four-diamond hotel? Did you need to cut costs that much? Again you are a 4-star diamond. It is worth noting that four people were sick, unwell, and throwing up on Sunday. I informed the breakfast staff that the toilets near the conference room needed cleaning. Due to Biomed issues. Not once did I hear from hotel leadership.

Sunday night meal was more in line with the brand and four-star diamond

Monday morning, I asked for the GM ad and was informed that we do not have one. No manager came or took the time to enquire why. This is when the penny dropped. There is no hotel GM leadership. This is why it is so failing in some aspects.

Hilton, you have a great downstairs and facility, but aging rooms are under renovation. charging full price on the website. With a short compliment of staff. Blaming Covid. The length of this review should indicate the upset...