Hilton Diamond Member Banned After Shower Injury—Hit With $150 Charge for Blood-Stained Towel – View from the Wing

A guest was banned from a Southern California DoubleTree hotel while visiting Disneyland after ruining towels that were in the bathroom. Their sister “cut herself while shaving her leg [and] used a towel to wipe and stop the bleeding.”

Rather than expressing concern for the guest (hospitality),

The hotel charged $150 for the used towelsAnd banned the customerWithout so much as a word

Unaware why they charged me this amount I called them and they told me that it was a fee because they had to throw away the towels since they had blood on them, and the lady also told me that they would no longer be accepting me as a guest. So I asked why and they told me because of this incident I would no longer be able to come back I thought that was ridiculous. not only am I paying for the towels they’re also banning me. I would understand if I refuse to pay for the towels or if my card declined, but it didn’t. I paid for the towels I apologized, but they still put me on a DNR list.

This woman has been banned only from the specific hotel, and not from Hiltons worldwide or the Hilton Honors program.

Ironically, the guest says they’re a former Hilton employee and a Diamond member for the past six years. She figures she can “just make another Hilton Honors account and Gift myself diamond status or I could just put it under my sister‘s name and give her a diamond status and get the same perks.”

The reported amount – even for a set of used towels – sounds outrageously high. And occasionally towels get stained. Guests use them on messy foods when they don’t have napkins. Guests make far bigger messes – confining the blood to towels on the floor in the bathroom seems quite reasonable. And as a hotel, it seems like the first reaction ought to be care for the guest (‘are you ok?’).

Of course you can’t really expect any given DoubleTree to be in the business of hospitality. They’re not owned by Hilton, and there are very few brand standards even. It’s a conversion brand, with the whole thing tied together by cookies at check-in. The cookie was a really brilliant innovation back in 1986.