Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Bad experience at SF Hilton

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

bonnie

I play a nice person on twitter.
Feb 6, 2011
16,429
9,943
Columbia River Gorge
I didn't know whether to laugh or just lose it by the time I got to my room. So I ordered a glass of wine (I'm resourceful!).

I'm here in San Francisco on business for a few days. Before driving in (130 miles, approx), I called a few hotels to find one near some of my meetings to make sure they had charging available. This one confirmed that 'yep, we have chargers available, no problem'.

I just arrived and as I was plugging in, I was told by Security that I would have to move my car no later than 6am because 'these spots are reserved and assigned to someone on a monthly basis - you'll need to come downstairs and move your car in the morning & you won't be able to plug back in til later tomorrow night again'. Really? No one mentioned that to me when I called and asked if they had charging available. (He was really nice and very apologetic that I hadn't been told - and somewhat annoyed that the Front Desk had AGAIN not conveyed that information, leaving them to be the bad guy.)

So I politely inquired at the front desk to speak to the manager after I checked in. I told her that had I known that I could only charge at certain hours, I would have found another hotel. And she responded by asking me if I had asked if charging was available 24 hours. Yep. It was MY fault because I didn't ask. I looked at her and asked nicely if she was seriously suggesting that I should have asked more questions other than if they had charging available for guests. Yep. On me. I just looked at her and asked her if I should be asking if they had towels in the bathrooms and power to the televisions and batteries in the remote controls. She just rolled her eyes at me and walked away. In fairness, the woman behind the desk slipped me the code for free internet access for two nights.

Pffyt. She's not ruining my night. I have some nice white wine on the way up. And I'll talk to the day manager about the charging information provided AND the response I received this evening. But I did learn I'm going to question a little more. I haven't had to before. And I don't actually mind going down to the parking garage before 6am because I'll be up anyway. But her response was really unacceptable.
 
The eye roll... It really does show how early things are with the whole EV thing though. Many locations are not up to speed, and far too often an answer in the affirmative re: charging, ends up being a standard outlet you may or may not get yelled at for using :rolleyes:
 
The eye roll... It really does show how early things are with the whole EV thing though. Many locations are not up to speed, and far too often an answer in the affirmative re: charging, ends up being a standard outlet you may or may not get yelled at for using :rolleyes:

I had checked online that it was a J1772, Level 2. The phone call was to confirm they still had it for hotel guests. Silly me, I neglected to ask if it was available for hotel guests after 6am and before 8pm. Because it is not.
 
Well that's just ridiculous. You should report it to Hilton corporate, not just the day manager. They need to know about this sort of unacceptable behavior by their franchises.

I will. After I check out and they cannot poison my food.

:)

- - - Updated - - -

The Marriot courtyard on 2nd street has a roadster EVSE!

Next time. Maybe tomorrow.
 
I can check out in the morning without penalty .. and will. But first I'll talk to the daytime manager. The whole thing seems silly. If you say you have a service, then you shouldn't be selling it to someone else during business hours (and thereby making it unavailable to your hotel guests). But what's done is done. I'm not going to argue. I'll just move my car by 6am. Grab a coffee. Get ready for the day. Pack up my stuff. Talk to the manager. And (most likely) check out before heading out to meetings. And then I'll find another hotel during the day. The Marriott isn't quite as convenient (walking distance is a bonus), but the fact they have a Roadster charger is enough to get me there. :)

And then I'll tweet about it to Hilton Corporate. They hate stuff like that.
 
Thanks :). I use those on plenty of day trips. I'm not in trouble regarding charging - the point is that I specifically chose a hotel because I wanted on-site charging. And they implied they had something that they really don't have to offer. So they will lose my business. It's an annoyance, not a problem.
 
Ugh. It's bad enough driving an ICE in SF. Not a car-friendly city. It's actually not too bad to drive there, but God help you if you want to park.

A month into owning Mr. T, I've already completely given up on public charging. Like so many ideas, it runs great on a projector. In reality, charging stations are too far-flung, even here in Silicon Valley. They're too unpredictable. ("EV charger" can mean almost anything. Some are expensive. Some have a two-hour parking limit. Some require a membership. Some require yet another adapter I don't have. And many are simply broken, locked up, or turned off.) For the handful that actually work, the spot is always taken, often by a car that's not even charging. The whole situation is a classic tragedy of the commons.

But that's OK. To me, public charging misses the point. It's everything that sucks about gas stations, only 100 times slower, 100 times harder to find, and wildly incompatible (at least pumps are pumps and gas is gas). The beauty of an EV is that you don't need any of that: you just plug in at home. For the handful of times per year I actually need to drive over 300 miles, take the ICE.

Really, *that's* the way to think about hybrid: two vehicles. Let each technology do what it's good at, rather than jamming a crappy version of each into the same car.
 
I didn't know whether to laugh or just lose it by the time I got to my room. So I ordered a glass of wine (I'm resourceful!).

I'm here in San Francisco on business for a few days. Before driving in (130 miles, approx), I called a few hotels to find one near some of my meetings to make sure they had charging available. This one confirmed that 'yep, we have chargers available, no problem'.

I just arrived and as I was plugging in, I was told by Security that I would have to move my car no later than 6am because 'these spots are reserved and assigned to someone on a monthly basis - you'll need to come downstairs and move your car in the morning & you won't be able to plug back in til later tomorrow night again'. Really? No one mentioned that to me when I called and asked if they had charging available. (He was really nice and very apologetic that I hadn't been told - and somewhat annoyed that the Front Desk had AGAIN not conveyed that information, leaving them to be the bad guy.)

So I politely inquired at the front desk to speak to the manager after I checked in. I told her that had I known that I could only charge at certain hours, I would have found another hotel. And she responded by asking me if I had asked if charging was available 24 hours. Yep. It was MY fault because I didn't ask. I looked at her and asked nicely if she was seriously suggesting that I should have asked more questions other than if they had charging available for guests. Yep. On me. I just looked at her and asked her if I should be asking if they had towels in the bathrooms and power to the televisions and batteries in the remote controls. She just rolled her eyes at me and walked away. In fairness, the woman behind the desk slipped me the code for free internet access for two nights.

Pffyt. She's not ruining my night. I have some nice white wine on the way up. And I'll talk to the day manager about the charging information provided AND the response I received this evening. But I did learn I'm going to question a little more. I haven't had to before. And I don't actually mind going down to the parking garage before 6am because I'll be up anyway. But her response was really unacceptable.
Better than manhattan New York Hilton, no charging claimed not even regular outlet in garage. They probably use candles for light there
 
I used to publish a map of Telsa owner approved overnight charging hotels, until Plugshare.com came out with their "Hotel" filter option a month or two ago. I noticed the SF Hilton doesn't even have a Plugshare pin listed... maybe this is why! The great thing is you can read comments/reviews of each charging location when other folks check in, to know about these issues in advance. I highly suggest anyone that uses a public charging station to get the Plugshare app on your phone and check in when you use it.
 
Thanks :). I use those on plenty of day trips. I'm not in trouble regarding charging - the point is that I specifically chose a hotel because I wanted on-site charging. And they implied they had something that they really don't have to offer. So they will lose my business. It's an annoyance, not a problem.


Guess the >$300 nightly charge isn't enough to avoid hiring knuckleheads.
 
At least the hotel didn't try to electrocute you. At the Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley (yes, the same hotel used for Teslive) I got a nasty shock in my hotel room bathroom, right after stepping out of the shower soaking wet. It was from the illuminated shaving mirror; it wasn't on I was just trying to push it out of my way. ZAP.

Called to complain. They sent an electrician. I told him he shouldn't touch it, but he did anyway and got a good shock from it (dummy). He said, "okay just a loose wire". To which I said, "No there are several failures here: Loose wire. No safety ground connected. And apparently the connection doesn't go through the outlet GFCI either."

Hotel offered me free breakfast. Thought better of it the next morning and gave me a free stay. And breakfast. And I bought a friend to breakfast and they paid for him, too. Guessing the day manager was shitting bricks. For good reason, I wasn't about to let it stand at a free breakfast.