Am I beinng petty?

[turtlemichael]

I had a stay in the last few days at the Hilton Financial District in San Francisco. The hotel hard product was generally ok, by Hilton American standards, but I had a number of service/soft product issues which I thought were badly dealt with by the management. I took them up at the time but did not receive satisfaction. My resolution was to move on and not let it spoil our stay in a great city. I now find there is a charge on our bill, added after checkout, which I am sure we did not incur. It is a small amount, less than $USD20.00. In normal circumstances I'd just shrug my shoulders, but given I am peeved at a hotel which most people seem to like, am I being petty to take it up? What do others do with small billing mistakes?

 

[bam71]

Under $20.00. Leave it and move on ....

 

[Ikara]

Hmmmmmmm!

So, 200 rooms at "under" $20 a room, that makes "under" $4000 a night. I agree, leave it and move on NOT!

JB

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I don't think it's petty, but I do think you have to decide if it's worth your time to follow up. When you say you don't think you incurred it, how sure are you? If there is a chance it was genuine, then it'd be a bit of a waste of time, but if you're sure it is not genuine, I'd personally take it up with the hotel and failing that, talk to HH.

 

[DC3]

Didn't leave a tip for housekeeping, who then added minibar items?

 

[turtlemichael]

Did leave tips every night for housekeeping It is a charge from the executive lounge which we didn't visit other than on the first night. The charge on that night was correctly billed, so, unless it is incorrectly described, it isn't ours.

 

[DC3]

Something similar happened to me a couple of years ago in the USA at a Hilton. About $25 was added to the bill after check-out. I wrote to the hotel, who replied "minibar", which I knew was not correct. Anyway, the money was refunded.

 

[snabbu]

Not being petty IMO.

As others have said if you have the time, chase it up. Hotels that continue to scam pax with these "small" charges will continue to do it, so it's in your best interest (and for the wider traveling community as a whole) to not let get away with it.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Not I don't think it's petty. Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

I'd leave an honest review on Trip Advisor about this issue and the other 'minor' things that weren't rectified and see how the hotel responds. Quite often when you read hotel reviews you see the contact name and email of the Hilton guest services employee when they respond to other guest comments and complaints.

 

[kermatu]

Not at all petty. I get random charges after departure every now and then. Usually 1 or 2 items from mini-bar. (and I'm not referring to the automatic mini-bars). I always contest them and have never had an issue with it being waived and refunded.

 

[Pushka]

If they add $20 to everyones' account then that adds up significantly if most people think it isn't worth it.

Maybe do it through the credit card as that can usually be done online.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I would follow it up and demand refund for your hard costs to follow it up. Phone calls, currency conversion loss etc. maybe a $50 credit on your next stay will cover this.
If they don't want to remove it, as pushka says go the credit card route and they will need to prove the charges are legit.

 

[turtlemichael]

I have sent the HH Diamond desk an email. That was the advice I got from them. I'll advise the outcome.

 

[Jurahn]

Not I don't think it's petty. Twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

I'd leave an honest review on Trip Advisor about this issue and the other 'minor' things that weren't rectified and see how the hotel responds. Quite often when you read hotel reviews you see the contact name and email of the Hilton guest services employee when they respond to other guest comments and complaints.

I don't think it's petty either - if you didn't incur the charge, why should you pay it?

Regarding leaving a review on TripAdvisor, we had a number of issues with a hotel in the US and were not impressed at all given the price point (by far the most expensive hotel of our trip) and I left a VERY honest review on TripAdvisor! I'd seen the manager respond to previous less-than-stellar reviews so thought it was worthwhile doing a review ourselves, especially as there was little or no response from the hotel staff to any of the issues during our actual stay. The manager did respond to our review, very apologetic, all the "wanting to make things right, please contact me on ....." comments, so I thought "great!" so sent him an email with further details of the problems/issues we encountered as well as some others I hadn't included in the TA review (to avoid the review becoming ridiculously long LOL). All I got in return was a bland email consisting of a couple of lines with the general gist of "thanks for that, we'll look at it in our staff training" and that was it - not impressed at all. Seems their public vs private responses to complaints can be very different indeed.

Hope the OP gets a better response from Hilton!

 

[tuapekastar]

You are certainly correct to follow it up if you are pretty sure you didn't incur it. I copped a 'late' CC charge (from Hilton Surfers Paradise) for mini-bar (I did not touch it) for ~$90, and they sent me a separate itemised list of what I had allegedly drunk by snail mail. A phone call to the property promptly sorted it.

 

[JohnK]

Not petty.

Fight for everything. Give them nothing.

 

[dajop]

Not petty to follow up. But before we all come down too hard on the hotel, I can't recall if exec lounge at Hilton San Francisco has the "Honour bar" that is common in many US exec lounges, where you sign a slip of paper with your room number and number of drinks you consumed, but if it does, it's not inconceivable that someone - either accidentally or deliberately - wrote down the wrong room number. Or that it was entered incorrectly by staff.

 

[AnnaB]

To me its not being petty, it would be a matter of principal. I would question it as well, but in saying that... if it would become a bit of a headache, then I would probably not pursue it. There is only so much energy one can put into an issue like this, sometimes it is just not worth it.

 

[drron]

Not at all petty.nearly 10 years ago now but the WA NYC really gave us a bad time.Many service issues including not passing on a message from Per Se meaning we lost our booking.Many other problems.Again after checkout $US10 appeared on the CC.Emailed hotel who said it was for minibar which we never opened.Maids didn't have a key to it supposedly.They refused to budge but I went straight to Hilton Head office with a copy to Diamond desk.Not only was $10 removed but an extra 20000 points.Probably did help that I truthfully told them I had sent an email to SPG requesting a status match.
Yes the little things bug me too.

 

[turtlemichael]

Not petty to follow up. But before we all come down too hard on the hotel, I can't recall if exec lounge at Hilton San Francisco has the "Honour bar" that is common in many US exec lounges, where you sign a slip of paper with your room number and number of drinks you consumed, but if it does, it's not inconceivable that someone - either accidentally or deliberately - wrote down the wrong room number. Or that it was entered incorrectly by staff.

Yes, that is the system at HFDSF and I have been careful not to blame the hotel. Yet lol.