To the Hilt(on) and A Love Affair with Old Hotels by Anthony Watkins (books to read this summer txt) 📖

we waited, a pleasant gentleman, in a pink Hilton shirt, came by. I perceived him to be management and told him the story. He was horrified. I told him I didn’t like to get a working man in trouble, but I thought it was a bit much. He explained that under no circumstances was a guest to go to a car, the valet should have brought the car to us, no matter where it was parked. I have a feeling the lazy valet was attended to severely. The rest of the valet staff, apologized profusely, though I told them I could understand the mix up. They insisted, like the manager, there was no mix up, we should have never been sent after our car.

I cannot tell you the number of little things they did to make us feel welcome, it was like fit of a well made machine. The smoothness of our whims belied the skilled and practiced staff who made it all so easy. The basics from clean luxurious carpets, chairs, sheets and pillows, where so many places struggle were all in generous supply, but the staff made the difference.

The second ugly is the billing process. I have no way of knowing, but I have my suspicions. When we checked in, they asked for credit card, when my wife reminded them that we had completely paid in advance, she was told they still needed the card for “incidentals.” We never charged anything to our room, except our valet service. We awoke on the morning of our checkout. It clearly stated bill for our balance was for twice as many days of valet service as we had stayed. My wife called down and asked why we were being charged so much. The front desk said they had us down for two cars. When she replied that we only had one, they assured us they would take it off our bill. But just to be sure, she got in a long line to check out, and get a copy of the corrections. While she waited, a bellman came to our room, helped me load the bags and pushed them down. When we got to the lobby, we decided we would take our chances with the billing as she still seemed to have 30 minutes or more, at the rate the line was moving. The bellman overheard our discussion and offered to get us a print out of the corrected copy, and he did, within two minutes he was back, with a bill that was right.

After a pleasant drive back home, and folks, even the Hilton isn’t home!, we unloaded and began to look online at our banking, and lo and behold, there was a Hilton charge for $20.00, another for $40.00, and a 3rd for $24.00. My wife has placed a call to the bookkeeping department. We are hoping for an explanation and a quick reversal of the charges. $84.00 isn’t a lot of money, but it is a lot to be charged for services we did not request.

Under the heading of bad would be the following: our suite did not include a free breakfast of any sort. The internet cost $10.00 per day, which was just enough to give me an excuse to stay off line and focus on the family, and the third would be that valet parking was mandatory.

My suggestions to make the suite even better would be to add a real coffeemaker, a toaster and a mini microwave, and though it costs a bit more, layout the bathroom so it is a bit roomier and maybe stick a ½ bath somewhere so day visitors don’t have to go into the bedroom to go to the bathroom.

Will we ever consider Hilton again? Well, before we got home and checked our bank account, we had decided we would never travel anywhere without asking first if there was a Hilton. Now, with the surprises, I would add two caveats. First, if they don’t adjust it, I would never recommend anyone deal with them. And even if they do, you can bet we will be watching the statements carefully on future visits. If this turns out to be a common problem, we will have to leave the wonderful world of Hilton to those that consider eighty-four bucks incidental….. Verdict to be returned upon further evidence!


A footnote: the $84.00 has disappeared, and now there is a charge for $16.00.
My wife called and they claimed they just ‘test’ your card, but reverse the transactions, looks like that’s what’s going on.
A Final note: All mysterious charges disappeared and we were only billed for services rendered!


A Love Affair with Old Hotels

When I was about 12, we went to a pecan convention in Mobile, Alabama. We being my father, who had business there, and my brother and I who just got to terrorize the place, If I remember correctly, it had a back staircase and a grand front stair case with a huge landing where vendors had sat up booths outside the various ballrooms where the convention business happened. There was a really neat mail chute that allowed residents to post a letter on whatever floor their room was on and it all went into a glass an metal box in the lobby. Somewhere I had heard of a famous writer who lived in a hotel. I was mesmerized by the idea that I could live in a great room and have the staff clean my room, wash and press my clothes, polish my shoes and serve me delicious food on fine china everyday. I hadn't figured out yet how much one would have to have in the bank to live that way, but it sounded magic.
As I grew up to be a college student, a young father and into my 30s, I stayed at an assortment of chain hotels: from the old 8 Days Inn, and Motel 6s, back when the number meant the cost of the stay, and dozens of independent roadside inns, from cute and quaint to dirty and scary, and a few Holiday Inns and LaQuintas along the way. Usually I had reasonably good experiences with safe clean comfortable rooms for the night.

When my 2nd wife and I split up I stayed at the charming old Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth Florida for a few nights, it was a little rough and unrestored, but I loved the front porch the great lobby, and the old long check in counter, the lobby shops and a little bar tucked in between the porch and the lobby which still managed to look out over the street, and a fabulous restaurant across the lobby, and everything surrounded by old french doors each with a working transom! Sadly, the Gulfstream has been opened and closed several times in the past 20 years, the last incarnation was as a Holiday Inn, and while they didn't destroy it nor revive it to its grandeur, it was still a nice get away, but alas, again, it is closed. We hope the old lady is revived again in the near future, but I have not seen any plans for reopening.
After I started Scene and Abundance, I ended up working out a trade with the historic Seminole Inn in Indiantown, whose claim to fame is that one of the young girls who worked their along the way, was a relative of the family of lumber barons who built and owned the place. This young lady grew up to be the famous/infamous Wallis Simpson. The Seminole had its charm, but I sometimes felt like the Inn didn't give us quite the service they might if we weren't there on a trade-out. Still, if you are ever in Indiantown overnight,.. or even driving through on a Sunday morning, They have a great Sunday buffet, and the dining room is charming.
Well, time moved along and I met a new love and besides an occasional trip to the Seminole, we managed a beautiful week in the French Quarter, New Orleans in 1998, While it would take a small book to tell the tale, as to the hotel, We reserved a room online at the Bourbon Orleans, maybe the most beautiful hotel I have ever stayed in, but we certainly got the "low rent" treatment, and they as much as told us at the front desk that they didn't think we deserved good treatment as we had come at a discount! I hope they are more sophisticated now, internet bookings in 1998 was still a pretty new thing.
We also, a few years later stayed at a grand hotel on Miami Beach, not South Beach, but up about midway, that looked to have been in its heyday in the 1950s. I cant remember the name, it was covered we caricatures of the rat pack who had spent a good bit of time there, it had a greek spa, and a row of shops down in the basement, which was really pool/ocean level. The room was huge, beautiful and well appointed, the service was good, but somehow, while it wasnt quite as neutral as the Seminole, nor as shabby as the Bourbon Orleans, the service did not make me think they were terribly excited to see us. It seemed the staff was going about doing their job, but not exactly enthralled by the old hotel.
My other previous grand hotel experience was with an ex girlfriend for a niece's wedding on Block Island, at the National, Okay, maybe this hotel was grander than the Bourbon Orleans, and the stay was charming in everyway, but the hotel actually had closed for the season and only allowed its use for a wedding party because the bride and groom were staff themselves, so I have no idea if it would have been better if they hadnt been busy getting married, or worse because they had such special interest in taking care of friends and family, but either way, I can't image that one would stay anywhere else if they scheduled a visit to the little island way out in the Atlantic have way between Cape Cod and New York City...
Last night, in celebration of both Suzanne's and my birthdays and our pending 10th anniversary, my wonderful son Dylan, offered to look after his little brother for the night and we checked into what is surely the most perfect hotel experience of my 49 years!

THE COLONY and CABANA, DELRAY
http://thecolonyhotel.com/florida/index.html

Located right in the middle of the charming Delray shopping district, which means you are literally within about 2 blocks of maybe 100 nice restaurants,bars, art and clothing shops and a drug store and your choice of an organic coffee shop/grocery/health advisory shop or a Starbucks, We did not go to the Starbucks!!!!!
The hotel is beautiful, slightly creaky wooden floors, and old fashioned elevator that requires a staff member to run it!, french doors, ball rooms, mantels, and like the old Gulfstream, there is a little bar tucked in between the beautiful front porch and the charming old lobby.
The room we stayed in was 135, which is actually on the 2nd floor, as the first floor is all public areas and office space (this seems to be a common arrangement in older hotels), it was spacious, with an extremely comfortable king size bed. I mention the exact room number because the manager explained that there were only four rooms like it in the hotel. The bathroom is huge, all white, which is my only minor complaint with the entire Colony experience,
The entire hotel is painted in mood setting tropical colors, mostly a funny orangish/reddish/pink, that is much prettier than that sounds, some lime green, ocean blue and white accents, great black and whites that look like and might be Clyde Butcher's work,