Hilton Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley

Reviews 3

JO

John Smith

PROS: > Beautiful exterior to the building and very nice decor inside. > Great location if you want to be within driving distance of Santa Cruz while still being outside the traffic and chaos of the boardwalk/shopping area. CONS: > It wasnt originally a Hilton so its been modified to fit their needs, which has not worked at all. > ONE elevator for guests to serve all 4 floors, so every time the door opens youve got housekeeping wheeling a gigantic laundry cart out of the elevator. This has happened 4 out of the 6 times Ive used the elevator here. Shouldnt there be a maintenance elevator for this purpose?? > The front parking lot is totally useless because its 8 feet lower than the building and separated by an impassable stone wall. Why they didnt put a set of stairs through this wall completely baffles me. So if you park in that lot, you need to walk 200 feet left or right in order to walk around and up to the front entrance--zero logic here. > I have stayed in Hiltons in 11 different countries around the globe and this is the FIRST one to ever charge my credit card $100 before Ive checked out and told me that they will "refund that $100 within 8-12 days" WHAT??? Ive had hotels hold a certain amount of money before and then released it at the end of the stay, but never had a hotel charge the amount to my card and then refund it over a week later. Seriously?!? > Everyone at the front desk was either arguing on the phone with a customer or trying to explain to an arriving customer their WEIRD policy of charging their credit card for no reason. Bizarre and unprofessional. > Our towels had both red AND gray pubic hairs in them. When we requested new towels they said "No problem" and brought us a new set. NO apology, NO "oh, were sorry about that and well make sure it doesnt happen again." I just had a guy who barely spoke english hand me a stack of towels and promptly leave. > The downstairs lobby bar/restaurant area was DEAFENINGLY loud, maybe there was an event going on so I can let this item slide a little. I realize that conference attendees can get a little loud, but it was still over the top. > Every employee walking down the hallways at night had a walkie-talkie that was LOUDLY blaring. Im not yet ready to go to sleep, so I dont care THAT much at this moment...but if this is still happening at 2 am its going to be a real problem! > The pool was largely unusable at 10pm due to a dozen or so children screetching and splashing away in it. Not 5 pm... 10 pm. This isnt really Hiltons fault, but it seems that this place is a popular destination for school trips--just FYI to fellow travelers out there. > The internal directional signage is non-existent! If you want to find the pool, good luck! Looking for the ice machine? Good luck! For a place with million-dollar decor they spent zero money on functional graphic design. > When we arrived at 3:00 our room wasnt ready and they said "we dont guarantee anything before 4 pm" We got into our room at 3:59 pm, again... this is just an FYI. I understand hotel policies, Ive been to 35+ countries around the planet and I have encountered this maybe a handful of times. Check-in time should be 3 pm like almost every other major hotel chain on the planet. I expect waaaaay more from Hilton. > The front desk staff needs WAY more hospitality training. Ive been to hotels that were having TWO WEDDINGS at the SAME TIME and theyve managed to handle everything better than this place. The manager should be held accountable and is obviously a problem. Conclusion: With more training, better management and some very key changes to the property (ie: the parking lot debacle and pubes in my towels) this hotel could be a potential gold mine. Instead its dragging the Hilton name under the proverbial bus. Maybe Californians are used to this---I certainly am not.

A

A Private User

I stayed at the Hilton Scotts Valley/Santa Cruz on July 15-16. I paid approximately $200/night. The fee included complimentary breakfast and valet parking. My first disappointment was that hotel room purchase through Price line means NO Hilton Honors points, because the room was “sold to Price line, not to you.” OK, no huge deal… I used the valet service for my first nights stay. When I looked out from the hotel lobby, I noted that MY car was the ONLY car parked facing out, as apposed to every other car simply driven straight into their respective parking spots. In the morning, when my car was brought to me, I walked to the passenger side and saw a large dent running down the side of it, with fresh paint transfer. I asked the valet attendant and he simply shrugged his shoulders and said “I didn’t do it.” I was in a hurry, so only had time to have the valet kid fill out a short incident report. When I returned, I asked to speak to the manager in charge to figure out how my vehicle was going to get handled. The general manager walked out to my car with me and after seeing the damage, said “wow, that’s too bad. Unfortunately we are not liable and there is nothing I can do for you.” I was shocked and explained that his staff was the last to drive it. He told me to look at the fine print on my ticket and I would learn that they are not responsible. In the end, he offered his business card and said I could submit a bill from my insurance, but that it would not be paid. He concluded by saying “I didn’t want your car to get hit.” I was pretty angry to say the least. When I returned to my room, after SELF PARKING my car, it was 5:30pm. I found that the room was not cleaned, as room service had not yet got to it. When I asked the front desk why my room wasn’t cleaned yet, they said it was a busy weekend. As much as a hassle as it might be from this point forward, I will NOT, to the best of my ability, stay at a Hilton hotel, much less this specific location. I feel like they made ZERO effort to make things right. It was shocking that in this day and age, a hotel manager would think its OK to let a customer walk away with a screwed up car and a clearly articulated BAD experience without making ANY effort to minimize the damage. Really, they could save some money by eliminating the position altogether if all they can do is say “sorry.” I am almost more surprised with the bad treatment than I am angry that my car was damaged…NEVER AGAIN.

TR

Tracy

Very dog friendly! Brought our two dogs. Very friendly staff and atmosphere! Great breakfast! You can enjoy omelettes made to order or the huge buffet. Too bad some people arent responsible dog owners. Grounds littered somewhat with dog poop. There was even a dog poop station with bags although there was only one on the parking level ee were on and kind of hidden. Someone brought their dog into the restaurant claiming it was a service dog which it clearly was not. Staff told us they had been bitten by dogs and dogs have been left in the room alone to bark, one case a dog kept people up til 12 am. There was a dog in the room next to us that was left alone to bark as well although it wasnt a problem for us. It was a pleasure to find such a nice hotel that was so accommodating and dog friendly. If you bring your dog, please be responsible and courteous of others and its not the staffs job to clean up after your dog! We paid extra for a "forest/mountain" view and we had a huge tree in front of our window, lol, which totally blocked any view. We were on the 6th floor. Also, the window only opened a little bit. Finding your way around the hotel is extremely confusing...everyone was lost. I stopped to ask one of the housekeepers for help and she didnt speak any English and/or totally ignored me..lol. Elevators are extremely slow and depending where you are you have to take different elevator to get to different levels. There seemed to be plenty of parking although the lot fills up, particularly at night. Overall, the hotel was clean and decor was nice and appropriate for the location. Checking in and out was quick and easy. Theres a bar in the lobby which is a welcoming sight after a long trip. I would definitely come back to this hotel.

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