I really wanted to have a positive experience at Embassy Suites by Hilton El Paso, but…read moreunfortunately, this has been one of the most frustrating hotel stays I have experienced. I am here for work for a total of nine nights, and within the first five days there has been an issue nearly every single day.
The problems actually began at check in. My company had already prepaid for my room, but I was initially told that my personal card would be charged for the entire nine night stay. I was then told I would personally be responsible for a deposit of more than $200. It took approximately an hour to get everything straightened out. I later learned that my company had actually been charged twice for the room and had to have one of the charges reversed.
On Monday, the air conditioning in my room was not working properly. When I called the front desk, I was actually told, "It's working, it's just not working well." That was the response to an acknowledged problem with the AC.
Tuesday night, the smoke detector began chirping and disrupted my sleep.
Wednesday brought a much more concerning problem. I was riding the elevator to the 7th floor when it stopped at my floor, but the doors did not open. I had to press the open door button several times before they finally opened and I was able to get out. Shortly afterward, I was told that the elevator was out of service and stuck on the 7th floor. It remained that way overnight. Housekeeping also did not service my room that day.
Thursday night, at around midnight, my room phone rang three separate times from the front desk. They were trying to reach Room 801. I am in Room 702. After several long workdays, being repeatedly awakened around midnight because the front desk was calling the wrong room was incredibly frustrating.
Then came Friday. I woke up to no running water. I tried calling the front desk and received no answer. I contacted the hotel through the Hilton app and received no response there either. I eventually went downstairs and found a small sign at the front desk saying that the water had been shut off because of an emergency. That small sign was the only notice I personally saw anywhere in the hotel. There had been no notification to my room or through the app that I saw.
One or two inconveniences during a long hotel stay are understandable. Things break. Emergencies happen. But this has been one problem after another: billing confusion and a duplicate charge, malfunctioning AC, a chirping smoke detector, missed housekeeping, an elevator malfunction while I was inside it, three unnecessary midnight phone calls, no running water, unanswered calls to the front desk, and poor communication about the water shutoff.
For someone staying here for work, these aren't insignificant inconveniences. I need to be able to sleep, shower, get ready for work, and return at the end of the day to a safe and functioning hotel room.
There is, however, one person who deserves tremendous recognition: Antonio, one of the housemen.
Antonio has been the bright spot of this stay. I have personally watched him go above and beyond to make guests feel welcomed and appreciated. He is friendly, attentive, hardworking, and genuinely seems to care about the people staying here. In a stay filled with problems, his hospitality has stood out even more.
I don't want the problems with this property to take anything away from an employee who is doing an exceptional job. Antonio deserves recognition at the highest level Hilton can provide. He represents exactly the kind of hospitality I expected when staying with Hilton. He is the only reason I am giving this location 2 stars.
Unfortunately, one outstanding employee cannot compensate for the number of operational, maintenance, communication, and safety issues I have experienced during this stay.
At this point, with several nights of my reservation still remaining, I should not be wondering what is going to go wrong next.
I sincerely hope Hilton and the management of this property take these concerns seriously, particularly the elevator and smoke detector issues, and recognize Antonio for being an exceptional representative of hospitality despite everything happening around him.