Caribe Hilton San Juan, How Can You Do Better?

After all the hassles I had been through, I expected Caribe Hilton San Juan would accommodate me with a better room. I was finally switched to an ocean view room. However, I feel more disappointed with this Hilton property than before. This property has serious maintenance and guest service problems that cannot be easily fixed.

At about 11:30am, a Front Office Agent left me a message in my room and informed me an ocean view room was made ready for my transfer. I stopped by the Front Office at about 1:00pm and picked up my key. I was asked: “do you want to take a look at the room first?” What does that mean? The hotel was not confident of their ocean view rooms? I then went up to the room and took a look. Indeed, I was not quite happy with the view, I requested for another room. Then, I was asked to wait another hour for a better room because the “better” room had not been cleaned yet. At 2:30pm, the room was ready. Again, I was offered to take a look before I make the transfer… The Front Office was actually very nice of offering me a chance to take a look at the rooms before I made the transfer. However, my question is how good this hotel is if its staff is not sure whether a room can satisfy the guest needs.

After I moved to the ocean view room, I actually felt more disappointed with this hotel than before because I found more problems: (1) there are marks on the walls from previous guests here and there; (2) the coffee machine was not working; (3) the TV was not able to turn on; (4) the plastic bag of the ice bucket was missing, and (5) the water stop that was supposedly attached to the bath tub was loose and could be taken apart.

If you think these maintenance issues should not be associated with a Hilton resort hotel, there are more. I called the guest service agent with the house phone and reported the maintenance issues. Twice in a row, I heard a lazy voice saying --- as if she was too annoyed to pick up my call --- “How can I help you?” I asked myself: Pardon me? Am I am in a Hilton hotel? Am I supposed to be greeted with a “good morning” or a “good afternoon?” What about my name?

I certainly expect more from Caribe Hilton San Juan, not because I paid more, but because it is a Hilton property. I feel maintenance a big issue of this hotel. Very likely, it does not even have a good preventive maintenance program in hand. Without nice rooms, everyone is trying to fix guests’ complaints. What do you think?

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