This past weekend I stayed at the Hampton Inn San Francisco Airport on a great rate (around $80+tax). Considering that I earned 1,000 BMI miles and 2,500 Hilton points for using my HH card, in addition to the normal points earnings, the stay basically paid for itself in the points/miles I received. I’m a huge fan of Hampton Inn hotels in general — they are usually pretty nice with free Wi-Fi and breakfast, and are usually a great value. They also have the “100% Hampton Satisfaction Guarantee,” which reads as follows:
Our friendly service and complimentary amenities are all backed by our 100% Hampton Guarantee™. If you’re not 100% satisfied, we don’t expect you to pay. That’s our promise and your guarantee. That’s 100% Hampton.™
Well, while my stay wasn’t awful, it had a few hiccups. First of all, the room had an odd layout. The sink was in the room while the bathroom was tiny and only had the toilet and shower. That’s fine, no biggie.
The thing that annoyed me was the free Wi-Fi. My room was at the far end of the hotel which was near the Embassy Suites, so when connecting to the HH wireless network it gave me the Embassy Suites network (which tried to charge me), while the Hampton Inn Wi-Fi page wasn’t coming up. I called the front desk and after first getting the answering machine and then after letting the phone ring for at least a minute, the agent said something along the lines of “I hate to do this to you, but you’ll have to go into the hallway to connect to the internet, since you’re so close to the Embassy Suites.” Well, that wasn’t too bad, I guess. I went into the hallway and the code I was given at the front desk didn’t work, so I had to call again. As it turned out they changed the Wi-Fi code between the time of check-in and the few minutes it took to get to my room, apparently. Eventually I connected, but as I went back into my room it disconnected again. Long story short I only had a quick email to send out since I only had about seven hours at the hotel (and ultimately I just wanted to sleep), but it took me around 15 minutes to do so and I definitely wasn’t 100% satisfied.
I didn’t use the guarantee, but I considered it. While I wasn’t totally unsatisfied, I most definitely wasn’t 100% satisfied. Believe it or not, in the dozen or so Hampton Inn hotels I’ve stayed in over the past year or so, I’ve always been 100% satisfied.
So, would you have used the guarantee and not paid a cent, or is the guarantee not meant to be taken at face value?
My husband and I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Bowling Green Kentucky on 4/3/2024. The toilet was not clean so we asked the front desk to have housekeeping clean it. The man on duty said no housekeeping staff were there. He said he would clean it but we couldn't be in the room with him, so we went back to the room and removed all our luggage and moved to the TV room in...
My husband and I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Bowling Green Kentucky on 4/3/2024. The toilet was not clean so we asked the front desk to have housekeeping clean it. The man on duty said no housekeeping staff were there. He said he would clean it but we couldn't be in the room with him, so we went back to the room and removed all our luggage and moved to the TV room in the lobby. He let us know when he was finished and we took our luggage back to the room. Later we noticed that two of the towels - one hand towel and one bath towel were stained with make-up in several places (Hand towel) and black marks in several places (bath towels). We brought the stained towels to the front desk when we checked out the next morning. The person on duty just quickly moved them to the back of the room and said they were clean, just stained. We told him the towels should not have been placed in the room in that condition. He offered no apology for the dirty toilet or the towels. We were charged the full price for the room. We stay in a lot of Hampton Inns and have never experienced this before.
A lot of guests just want a free room if they have issues and do not notify the front desk. If the front desk doesn't know, how can they make it right. The guest must inform the front desk of any issues so then they can help find a solution. The 100% guarantee does not mean a free night. It means if the front desk can make your stay better, please let them know. If the guest fails to do this, then nothing the staff can do if it was not brought up during their stay.
So, I had a three day stay with a major issue on two of the three nights. I tried to get 2 of the htree nights credited, They said that I could only get credit for ONE night max. So, I guess it's really NOT 100% of stay, but only 100% of ONE night. =((
I called on it because there was no staff available the 3 times I went down to complain about teenagers screaming, running and jumping between 8pm and 3pm keeping my kids , husband and I up all night and being exhausted then turning around and having to work. They didn't offer anything free at all instead cut down price some and then still charged me full price leaving me going back and forth with my bank. So I call bull on their guarantee.
Personally I think companies should get called on their 100% satisfaction guarantee. I got a night credited at SFO airport Hampton. On check-in they didn't have a 2 bedded room available for my family but gave us a sofa bed. No problem but not ideal. However on returning late in the evening the second night, housekeeping had removed all the bedding for the sofa bed. When I called the front desk the associate said he...
Personally I think companies should get called on their 100% satisfaction guarantee. I got a night credited at SFO airport Hampton. On check-in they didn't have a 2 bedded room available for my family but gave us a sofa bed. No problem but not ideal. However on returning late in the evening the second night, housekeeping had removed all the bedding for the sofa bed. When I called the front desk the associate said he couldn't do anything as he was the only staff member, and I would have to collect the bedding myself. With 2 very tired young kids I was amazed an Airport hotel didn't have more staff to sort that out. So yes, free night thank you.
For sending one email, I wouldn't have invoked it. (ultimately, we all pay for it through higher prices... plus would you have gotten your points?)
But if I had been planning to use WiFi more extensively, I'd definitely have asked for a solution one way or the other (different room or refund).
I'd have used the guarantee, just to test the answer to that question.
It really does work I’ve used it plenty of times and I plan on using it tonight I will lyk how it goes tomorrow for another free night lol
Sounds like you want to stay and not pay