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I agree with OP, taking a video of the car is a little too much for me as well. A walk-around for a few seconds, looking carefully, and noting any scrapes, dents on the ticket -- that should do it.
The whole valet thing for me is wide-open for abuse. Valet boys don't check anything, they jump in, and drive away quickly. And they bring the car, get up and leave -- the whole thing is too casual for me. What if you checked and noticed a dent? Valet boy says "it was there before" and 1 inch x 1 inch ticket has no room for notes. It's not like a rental car agreement, which shows a diagram of the car, and room for comments.
Every rental company I worked at(and the ones I managed) had a diagram of a vehicle on it, and damages was noted, and "pointed out" to a camera
If I was the hotel manager I'd try to find evidence myself so I could discipline the employee responsible so there was no more accidents like this. Assuming you are telling the truth which I believe you are. They are taking the wrong course of action by fighting you on this. Who was the person who was standing trying to cover up the damage? Did you go back to confront them?
If they decide to fight you, you probably won't win. He said, she said, that whole thing. Chalk it up to experience. I'd tell you that I'd protest by not going to a Hilton, but I never go to them anyways because they are overpriced for what is essentially the same service a cheaper hotel would provide.
If I was the hotel manager I'd try to find evidence myself so I could discipline the employee responsible so there was no more accidents like this. Assuming you are telling the truth which I believe you are. They are taking the wrong course of action by fighting you on this. Who was the person who was standing trying to cover up the damage? Did you go back to confront them?
If they decide to fight you, you probably won't win. He said, she said, that whole thing. Chalk it up to experience. I'd tell you that I'd protest by not going to a Hilton, but I never go to them anyways because they are overpriced for what is essentially the same service a cheaper hotel would provide.
Well, the problem is that the valet company is a separate company from the Hilton - BUT there is no self service parking at this particular Hilton either. So I believe that the Hilton is partly responsible for the service quality of the valet company since the Hilton is the entity giving basically no other option if you want to park anywhere near the hotel.
When we came back, the guy who had been helping us was nowhere around (imagine that!). So no, we didn't confront him.
You're right, we probably won't win this, but I am not done yet - maybe between our insurance company (who doesn't want to pay for this, but will have to if they can't get the other entity to cooperate), and the Hilton, we can put some pressure on the valet company. Not holding my breath though.
I am so frustrated. Last week, my husband and I went to the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Austin, and we checked our truck with the valet parking company (a subcontractor of the hotel, a private company).
If you care about your car, never, never, never, never, never let a valet touch it. If you are too lazy to park your own car and walk, then pay the price. All valet drivers abuse cars. Thats just what they do. I used to have an apartment next to a parking garage for a medical office building. The valet drivers there would wreck cars on weekly basis, and I don't mean scratches. Though I'm sure there were plenty of those too. I mean running cars into concrete pillars at 50+ mph. I would hear it when it happened.
I can't see how you will ever win this. Its just like if you parked on the street and you found the dent on your car. Either claim it through your insurance or not.
Pretty much this. Hearsay for the most part. I'd just open up a claim
There you have it, OP. It's your fault for being too lazy to walk.
So shoot the messenger, why don't you? There are already plenty of bad reviews for how over priced and bad the valet parking is at that hotel, and how rude and over worked the valet attendants are. Yet people will keep staying there, and they will keep turning their keys over to these idiots, and then be all surprised when their nice car gets messed up.
If you care about your car, never, never, never, never, never let a valet touch it. If you are too lazy to park your own car and walk, then pay the price. All valet drivers abuse cars. Thats just what they do. I used to have an apartment next to a parking garage for a medical office building. The valet drivers there would wreck cars on weekly basis, and I don't mean scratches. Though I'm sure there were plenty of those too. I mean running cars into concrete pillars at 50+ mph. I would hear it when it happened.
The hotel we stayed at is in downtown Austin. Valet parking is the ONLY option, unless we want to park in a public parking garage several blocks away. (Just a note - the temperature in downtown Austin this time of year is over 100F during the day and I think it's a bit unrealistic to make that walk in the heat back and forth to a parking garage that is not any safer an environment than a hotel parking garage and open to the general public 24/7.)
Sorry, but I did think that the Hilton would probably provide decent valet service. MY BAD.
Pretty much this. Hearsay for the most part. I'd just open up a claim
I have filed a claim with their insurance company and with ours. The current status is that both insurance companies are duking it out at this point.
I have a GREAT insurance company that really goes to bat for the customer (USAA). If they can't win the fight, nobody can (I'm not going to take it to small claims court). So my plan of action is to see what happens with them over the next couple of days, and if they can't get any cooperation, then my next step is to put pressure on the Hilton and Towne Park to at least pay our deductible, even if the claim is settled by our insurance company. We'll see.
I'm just saying that if I was the Hilton PR department head, I'd at least kick in a few nights of hotel stays (we travel a lot so that would be easy). That is my final resort and I feel pretty sure we'll at least be able to offset our costs with that.
But we will not be staying at that particular Hilton again, because the only parking option there is valet.
Spare me the "victim" martyrdom. You weren't just a messenger, you proffered your own idiotic judgmental opinion. Own it.
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There are already plenty of bad reviews for how over priced and bad the valet parking is at that hotel, and how rude and over worked the valet attendants are. Yet people will keep staying there, and they will keep turning their keys over to these idiots, and then be all surprised when their nice car gets messed up.
