$38.07 - that's all it would have cost the Hampton Inn & Suites Vilano Beach St. Augustine to make this three-time repeat guest feel good about our multi-night stay this year, instead of feeling that Hilton failed to honor its "Best Rate Guarantee." We booked our reservation online a month or so in advance, and obtained a non-refundable rate under Hilton's "Best Rate Guarantee." A couple of weeks before our arrival, I checked the online rates for the same Hampton I&S, and discovered that the rate on that day to book for our three-night stay was $38.07 lower, in total, on a charge of almost $500. I called the hotel, and the staff also confirmed the same lower rate, and that it was lower than what I had obtained previously. However, they also explained that, despite Hilton's "Best Rate Guarantee," they were unable to refund the $38.07 difference between the price that I had already booked and the current price. We arrived for our stay, and I spoke with the front desk agent, and asked if the manager would simply give us a "courtesy credit" of $38.07 on our bill so that we would feel like we were not taken advantage of by Hilton's refusal to honor its "Best Rate Guarantee." After some time, the front desk agent told me that he spoke with the manager, but that she said she would not give us any credit, even though I was a Hilton Honors Silver member and even though we were repeat guests at this hotel, having stayed here in each of the two previous consecutive years (even during COVID, when we were almost their only guests). So, for a total sum of $38.07, the manager at this Hampton I&S has not only switched a repeat guest from wanting to stay here again (we'll go to the new comparable competitor hotel next door, instead), but she has shifted our focus from what went well during our stay, to instead noticing what was wrong. Things that we would have otherwise overlooked, such as: the previous guests' hair on the top part of the inside shower walls, bathroom wallpaper separating from the wall, hand lotion dispenser falling off the wall, the small and incredibly slow elevator (we ended up taking the stairs to and from our 3rd floor room every time), unreliable in-room "enhanced wi-fi," digital entry key lock on our room door that never once worked during the entirety of our stay (and for which the staff had no solution), an in-room television with more than 60 channels but no guide to tell you what was on them, dirt and rust build-up on the bathroom floor corner that meets the shower, room carpet that desperately needed a good shampooing and left our bare feet dirty if we walked on it without shoes or sandals, blackened spoiled bananas at the breakfast buffet one morning, a poorly laid-out dining area that resulted in crowding next to guests that were coughing or hacking so badly that we had to change tables half-way through dining, no bike racks on the hotel property, and a Hampton Inn & Suites St. Augustine Vilano Beach hotel that upon closer examination felt worn out or possibly poorly managed.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.