Recently my 18 year old son who is now an active duty member of the U.S. Coast Guard was traveling across the country enroute to his new duty station. Late one evening he stopped at a Inn in Illinois after a long day of driving. When he attempted to checkin in, he was turned away by the manager for being too young to register for a room. He showed them his military ID and orders and explained that he was traveling to his new unit, but he was still shown the door and had to find another hotel.
I have been attempting for several weeks to get the Hilton Corp to answer why they would turn away a young military member, but all they do is thank me for bringing the matter to their attention but will not discuss it. I do not understand their rules where young americans can volunteer to serve their country and go into harm's way, but can't be trusted or allowed to get a night's sleep. He wasn't even asking for reduced rates, just a room.
I hope that everyone will consider during their travels not using any of the hotels in the Hilton line;
CMC Bruce Bradley bruce.bradley@uscg.mil 609-898-6923
This message has been edited. Last edited by: GerryRM3,
since all these are individually owned and operated your being rediculous-
that is holding every single owner responsible for one persons actions.
yes a LETTER of complaint to the corp is in order, but since I am a hilton honors member and choose to only stay at hiltons I cannot nor will not boycott a company I feel did nothing wrong.
Originally posted by race6fan: since all these are individually owned and operated your being rediculous- that is holding every single owner responsible for one persons actions. yes a LETTER of complaint to the corp is in order, but since I am a hilton honors member and choose to only stay at hiltons I cannot nor will not boycott a company I feel did nothing wrong.
Except when I talked to the Hilton Corp they didn't say it was an individual hotel policy, it was their's.
Well I can speak from personal experience that it isn't a corporate wide thing. I checked into some of those hotels underage and with a gov't card just fine. I also had SN and FN who were 17 with gov't card do this as well. I would not recommend a boycott because they are a huge supporter of the military out here in Hawaii. They give us rooms for gov't rates that are way nicer than what the cost could afford. Sorry, but I like the Hilton and I see there support very often.
GerryRM3 is one of the Military.com "super moderators", an assistant to Rob, the forum administrator.
Interesting that the edit link leads to Bruce's profile page. I would suspect however that Military.com, through GerryRM3, is probably again reacting to another corporate complaint. While the Military.com TOS states that "thou shalt not bash the Commander in Chief, ever since Monster Boards took over Military Advantage Corp, there is an unwritten clause to the TOS that specifies, "thou shalt not bash large corporate entities wich monster sized legal departments."
Again, I would look with suspicion on why GerryRM3's link leads to Bruce's profile page. Something stinks like rotting herring.
I notice that a list of the seperate hotel chains within Hilton's empire has been deleted from the original thread.
I for one have stayed in Hilton Hotels often during my career. They have probably been one of the easiest hotels to get a military rate while traveling, vacation, etc... I too have stayed there while 19 and had several junior guys stay there that were 18-19 without any problems. Sounds like one manager that screwed up, not the whole company
I find the censorship of what military members wrote to be very disturbing. Was he just not practicing his 1st amendment from the constitution that you all took an oath to protect against all enemies foreign and domestic? Sorry but I do not think our heroes should be censored but I am just a coastie's wife what do I know.
As for the OP original question. Thanks for letting us know. Perhaps if Coast Guard members and their allies (ie; dependents, friends, retired/veterans) stick together and all sign a petition or do a letter writing campaign to this 1 praticular hotel next time a young active duty member of any branch of the military tries to get a room he won't be turned away. A boycott won't work, education does.
Originally posted by USCGLifer: I generally don't stay in Hilton's. Can't shake the feeling that everytime I give them money it's just funding another photo op for Paris.
i agree with you, but the hotel location should be posted so we can stay away from it. the Hiltons are very nice hotels so not all should pay for this one manager ignorance.
I work for the Hyatt corp. right now. From experience I can understand why they may have turned him away due to his age, I do not think this makes the Hilton anti military. They most likely have been taken advantage of by underage renters in which some form of policy was adopted to prevent future actions. Is this right probably not but what matters to these hotels is the bottom line. Personally the Hyatt will not allow persons under 21 to rent rooms but we do make acceptions. Government employees usually is one such acception.
Also many of the hotels out there are simply a franchise of the said hotel for example a "Hyatt Place" is a franchise of the "Hyatt corp" this Hilton hotel could have been a franchise in which to some extent they make many of there own regulations.
Originally posted by wheatacre: I work for the Hyatt corp. right now. From experience I can understand why they may have turned him away due to his age, I do not think this makes the Hilton anti military. They most likely have been taken advantage of by underage renters in which some form of policy was adopted to prevent future actions. Is this right probably not but what matters to these hotels is the bottom line. Personally the Hyatt will not allow persons under 21 to rent rooms but we do make acceptions. Government employees usually is one such acception.
Also many of the hotels out there are simply a franchise of the said hotel for example a "Hyatt Place" is a franchise of the "Hyatt corp" this Hilton hotel could have been a franchise in which to some extent they make many of there own regulations.
I agree with this. Prior to joining the Coast Guard, I worked in Daytona Beach as a front desk clerk and then on to night audit. Of the two hotels that I chose to work at had a you must be 21 to rent policy.
Again, there were exceptions made on a case by case. I know that the hotels had this policy due to issues that can or have come up in the past.
It is not just hotels that do this. Some rental car companies will not rent to you if thou are under the age of 21 and will charge you an additional fee if you are under the age of 25. I do think that for the most part military is exempt IF you are under orders. However, if not on orders you are out of luck.
Wow..You fellers must have money..i slept at a sheridan(peanut island $$$) once...they offered a free nights stay to military members back in the GW41 days and the first iraq war.
Now i try staying at military bases or with family..when travling .
(i once slept on the floor at a U.S.O in san fransco comming back from christmas vacation it was actually alright had lots of company too and donuts and coffee when i woke up)..i like that place that leaves the light on for you too.
mostly i like staying home..that way i ain't paying more for luxurys i already have..he should have slept in the car at wal-mart or something..imho.
Has there been a response from Hilton yet? I'd be happy to support a wronged shipmate, but would like "the rest of the story". Was it local policy or corporate? Did the organization ever respond to a written complaint, and what did they say?
Yes Frank they did reply. It was a regional policy for the Hampton Inn chain out there. There response to the complaints was that they sent my son several vouchers for one night stays at Hampton Inns. But the first time he tried to use one guess what. And he even showed them the letter that they came with but no budging. Sometimes you just gotta wonder.
sc
