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On October 6th, we arrived at the Hilton Woburn at approximately 9:30pm, exhausted from a long day in Salem, and ready to check-in. Upon walking in, the lobby was packed full of people and appeared somewhat chaotic. When it was our turn to check in, we approached the counter and gave our names for check in. A front-desk agent, told us “regretfully” we would not be able to check in as they had over-booked themselves for the evening. We were shocked and confused as to how this is possible as our rooms were paid in full. She stated that there was an “issue” at the hotel where guests decided to extend their stay and they could not be forced to leave, therefore, our rooms were no longer available. According to the front desk clerk, Massachusetts’s laws state that they could not remove a guest from their room if they decided to extend their stay. But to the contrary, according to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140: Section 12B you are able to remove the guest under certain provisions. If what she stated was true, people would constantly book a room at hotels where only one night was available and then refuse to leave. They told us that they (Hilton) had already arranged for us to stay elsewhere. They handed us directions to the Wyndham in Andover, Ma, which was approximately 25 minutes north, a further direction from which we had just come from and the complete opposite direction from our home. She said our Hilton room rate would be reimbursed and our “new” hotel room rate would be “comped”. It was clear that she had little concern regarding our situation that included 5 children and 2 cars that had to trek back out and drive 25 minutes back from where we had just come from, and only 6 minutes shy of the New Hampshire border. So now here we are at approximately 10:30 pm, arriving at the Wyndham in Andover, Ma. Upon our arrival, we approached the counter and explained to the front desk agents the situation. The male agent laughed uncomfortably and stated “I don’t know why they keep sending people to us, we are also booked”. He then searched through a stack of faxes that they had already received from Hilton and our reservation was not among them. We then told him that Hilton had assured us that we would have 2 rooms when we got there. He told us firmly, that their hotel was completely sold out and there were NO rooms. For approximately an hour thereafter, the front desk clerk, feverishly, searched and called numerous area hotels looking for somewhere for us to stay. We were now at roughly 11:45 pm, and did I mention with 5 children. It was at this time the clerks apologized profusely (they were put in a horrible situation by the Hilton) and said there were absolutely no rooms available in the area due to the Patriots game, Salem weekend, a racecar event and leaf peeping. At this point, we were left with no other choice than to drive the three-hour ride home, with needless to say, now crying children who were so looking forward to the events we had planned for the following day. Given we were from out of state, we had planned to visit some of the local area attractions. We had purchased advance tickets to Old Sturbridge Village and had multiple activities planned for Boston. This experience absolutely, unequivocally ruined what started out as a wonderful weekend of family fun that was planned for weeks. The negative ending of our day overshadowed our awesome day in Salem. Hilton has since then only given an apology! Wow Hilton, Wow!!!\r
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