$100 damage charge on my credit card after a stay at Hampton Inn, shaking my head, makes me wonder

[Panina]

I was going over my credit card statement and notice an extra $100 charge from a Hampton Inn I stood at for one night. I did not rent through Hilton Honors but through a hotel site as the cost was 1/3 the cost.

I call and to my surprise am told it is for the damage we left in the room. I askEd what damage? I am told they will call me back. They call me and say there was a fist through the wall and they have proof and pictures and we didn’t report it when we arrived so we are liable because it was in full view. I ask for the pictures to be sent to me.

I remember the room was worn, but clean and never saw a hole in the wall but I wasn’t really looking either.

So off I sent this letter
”Interesting, we obviously did not notice. It must have been there prior. We are two retirees, quiet, did not do. Expensive lesson learned, sadly I have to take photos of everything in a hotel room when I enter it. I have no way to prove we didn’t do this, except my word.

I must say I am truly disappointed within a Hilton property we are being held responsible for something we didn’t do. Plus not to be notified and only to find out about it because a charge was on my card. We have been a Hilton honors and Hilton Vacation Club members for years and never had an issue on damages. This time we booked through a site other then Hilton because of the big difference in price, over half.

I am asking that you pass this on to a manager and they ask the crew that cleaned the room prior to my visit if they remember seeing it. Unfortunately I feel too much time has passed. I need to write Hilton Honors also due to price differences so will also address this with them.”

I get a response very quickly. Basically they didn’t realize I was a Hilton Honors member as it wasn’t on my reservation and if I haven’t already contacted Hilton they will credit me back the $100, if I did I, will have to deal with them.

So I got my money back. Makes me think, what is going on?

 

[Ken555]

Sounds like a very shady operator, yet they realize they don’t want to jeopardize their relationship with Hilton.


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[WinniWoman]

Holy Moly! What the heck is going on?! Maybe you should stay home for a bit....LOL!

 

[Fredflintstone]

Good you questioned.

Once, I had a 250 charge at Wyndham in Vegas. When I called, they said it was because I smoked in the room. Huh? I told them they were mistaken. I never smoke in any facilities. Actually, I quit 2 years back but at that time, I still did smoke.

Anyway, I talked with the Manager and it was quickly solved. He didn’t want to go to small claims court I suppose and have to prove his claim


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[Krteczech]

Unbelievable! Glad you caught it and questioned them.

 

[DaveNV]

I once moved out of an apartment, and was denied receiving my damage deposit back due to all the cat hair found in the vents, under the baseboard heaters, and on top of the kitchen cabinets. "Interesting," I said. "I don't own a cat." There was a long pause, and a fair bit of hemming and hawing, but I finally got my deposit back. I found out from a neighbor the previous tenant was a friend of the owner - and she owned several cats.

Dave

 

[rapmarks]

We owned at a resort for 22 years. On our very last visit in 2012 I was pretty sick, I had undergone radioactive iodine treatment, itmade me sick, I had welts all over my tongue mouth and throat and could not swallow. Also we never smoked. When we entered the condo, I smelled a faint odor of cigarettes. I closed the door to the guest bedroom and never went in there again.
we had a low key week. Imagine my surprise to receive a notice from the manager that we had shoved cigarette butts in the air conditioning vents in the guest bedroom. She was considering what to charge us. I just about blew a gasket. Can you imagine accusing two seniors of doing this. We sold the weeks and never returned

 

[Talent312]

I once stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples for a business meeting. After checking out, I found a charge on my CC for both my room
and my boss' room (and her mini-fridge purchases). I anxiously called my boss about the charge for her room.

I said, "This is odd, but..." It was eventually fixed by the hotel. They claimed it was an mixup in matching CC's to room numbers.

Conspiracy Theory: My boss' dad was an top-level state official. Maybe the hotel tried to do him a favor and erase her bill. IDK.
.

 

[geekette]

I was going over my credit card statement and notice an extra $100 charge from a Hampton Inn I stood at for one night. I did not rent through Hilton Honors but through a hotel site as the cost was 1/3 the cost.

I call and to my surprise am told it is for the damage we left in the room. I askEd what damage? I am told they will call me back. They call me and say there was a fist through the wall and they have proof and pictures and we didn’t report it when we arrived so we are liable because it was in full view. I ask for the pictures to be sent to me.

I remember the room was worn, but clean and never saw a hole in the wall but I wasn’t really looking either.

So off I sent this letter
”Interesting, we obviously did not notice. It must have been there prior. We are two retirees, quiet, did not do. Expensive lesson learned, sadly I have to take photos of everything in a hotel room when I enter it. I have no way to prove we didn’t do this, except my word.

I must say I am truly disappointed within a Hilton property we are being held responsible for something we didn’t do. Plus not to be notified and only to find out about it because a charge was on my card. We have been a Hilton honors and Hilton Vacation Club members for years and never had an issue on damages. This time we booked through a site other then Hilton because of the big difference in price, over half.

I am asking that you pass this on to a manager and they ask the crew that cleaned the room prior to my visit if they remember seeing it. Unfortunately I feel too much time has passed. I need to write Hilton Honors also due to price differences so will also address this with them.”

I get a response very quickly. Basically they didn’t realize I was a Hilton Honors member as it wasn’t on my reservation and if I haven’t already contacted Hilton they will credit me back the $100, if I did I, will have to deal with them.

So I got my money back. Makes me think, what is going on?

oh, you're an Honors Member, well, then, we'll try this on someone else.... send a letter to corporate. I'm sure you are not the only one this has been tried on.

 

[Makai Guy]

Basically they didn’t realize I was a Hilton Honors member as it wasn’t on my reservation and if I haven’t already contacted Hilton they will credit me back the $100, if I did I, will have to deal with them.

So I got my money back. Makes me think, what is going on?

If the damage charge were legit, it should not have made any difference if you were a Hilton Honors member. Surely a Hilton Honors member poking a hole in the wall would be held accountable for the damage. Sounds like they are running a scam and should be reported to Hilton headquarters.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

also post your experience on Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Google in the reviews.

If the hotel site you booked through also provides comments (such as Booking.com) include it in review comments there.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Was that the Hampton Inn by Universal? We just stayed there in January. It wasn't up to Hilton standards.

 

[Gypsy65]

I was going over my credit card statement and notice an extra $100 charge from a Hampton Inn I stood at for one night. I did not rent through Hilton Honors but through a hotel site as the cost was 1/3 the cost.

I call and to my surprise am told it is for the damage we left in the room. I askEd what damage? I am told they will call me back. They call me and say there was a fist through the wall and they have proof and pictures and we didn’t report it when we arrived so we are liable because it was in full view. I ask for the pictures to be sent to me.

I remember the room was worn, but clean and never saw a hole in the wall but I wasn’t really looking either.

So off I sent this letter
”Interesting, we obviously did not notice. It must have been there prior. We are two retirees, quiet, did not do. Expensive lesson learned, sadly I have to take photos of everything in a hotel room when I enter it. I have no way to prove we didn’t do this, except my word.

I must say I am truly disappointed within a Hilton property we are being held responsible for something we didn’t do. Plus not to be notified and only to find out about it because a charge was on my card. We have been a Hilton honors and Hilton Vacation Club members for years and never had an issue on damages. This time we booked through a site other then Hilton because of the big difference in price, over half.

I am asking that you pass this on to a manager and they ask the crew that cleaned the room prior to my visit if they remember seeing it. Unfortunately I feel too much time has passed. I need to write Hilton Honors also due to price differences so will also address this with them.”

I get a response very quickly. Basically they didn’t realize I was a Hilton Honors member as it wasn’t on my reservation and if I haven’t already contacted Hilton they will credit me back the $100, if I did I, will have to deal with them.

So I got my money back. Makes me think, what is going on?

Who are you people?
Do you kids party like Joel Walsh when he sings about destroying hotel rooms?

I have a mansion but forget the price
Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice
I live in hotels, tear out the walls
I have accountants, pay for it all…

 

[Tacoma]

I once had a landlord keep my damage deposit because my cats had clawed the screen doors. I took him to small claims court and won when I proved that my cats had been declawed years before. My gut was that he was a shady operator who regularly kept damage deposits figuring most would not fight him.

 

[isisdave]

Almost all car rentals nowadays are non-smoking and include a window sticker threatening a $250 cleaning fee. The last car we were given smelled of smoke, so I refused it -- they would have tried to nail me on return. Plus it stank.

I think $100 is pretty low for fixing a hole in drywall. I'm surprised they didn't try for more. At nice places and all timeshares, we always take on-arrival photos just to remember the place. Guess I'll have to do that at other places now too.

 

[Big Matt]

I will bet you that the maid did it some how by accident and blamed it on the guest.

 

[Beach57]

Panini, this is a wake up call for us. Thank you for sharing. Glad it turned out well for you, but it may not have for someone else who wasn't capable of going to bet for themselves.

 

[AnnaS]

They were probably hoping you had a ton of charges on your statement and would not have noticed.....

Something smells fishy.

 

[bbodb1]

Almost all car rentals nowadays are non-smoking and include a window sticker threatening a $250 cleaning fee. The last car we were given smelled of smoke, so I refused it -- they would have tried to nail me on return. Plus it stank.

I think $100 is pretty low for fixing a hole in drywall. I'm surprised they didn't try for more. At nice places and all timeshares, we always take on-arrival photos just to remember the place. Guess I'll have to do that at other places now too.

Taking photos at arrival and departure at any timeshare, hotel and rental car has become a SOP for me these days.

Just....in...case....

Thankfully with cell phone cameras this is pretty quick and easy and as a side benefit I have TS photos useful for posting to TUG!

 

[geekette]

I will bet you that the maid did it some how by accident and blamed it on the guest.

I'm betting there was no damage at all and was a complete scam.

 

[AnnaS]

We have taken videos of our car when returning the lease. The one time we took the Autotrain also - Autotrain also videotapes your car before boarding it.

Perhaps if there is damage, take pictures (showing date and time) and report it immediately to the front desk.

So many things to think of when leaving the house

 

[Panina]

Got my $100 credit today, got the alert on my phone. It took a few days. Recently set my accounts to send me alerts on all transactions. This way I will know if anything out of the norm occurs in the future.

 

[Big Matt]

I'm betting there was no damage at all and was a complete scam.

If that's the case, then Hilton should be pretty concerned about the franchisee. Stuff like that impacts the brand pretty severely.

 

[Panina]

If that's the case, then Hilton should be pretty concerned about the franchisee. Stuff like that impacts the brand pretty severely.

I didn’t realize Hampton Inn was a franchisee. The room I got was openly listed on a discount site at $169 less then it was listed for on the Hilton site. I wonder how much Hilton gets when it gets a reservation on its site plus if they would be happy with this. I have gotten Hampton Inn on Priceline before but did not know the hotel until I booked.

 

[CPNY]

I’ve driven my own car out of my monthly garage and when I got to my destination I parked, when I got out of my car and walked inside I saw the head light was broken. Clearly this was done in the garage. I called the manager and explained the situation and they fixed it. I was lucky as the garage attendant could have said you needed to report that before you left but I have been a monthly customer for years.

I haven taken that lesson and now it may be overkill but whenever I rent a car I take my phone and do a walk around filming the cars condition on the outside before I drive off the lot. I now may start doing the same when checking into hotel rooms.