Our second stay here in a month, due to some unexpected family-related travel. Staff was wonderful, and upgraded us (even though they don't have to per Hilton HHonors rules) as Diamond HHonors members to a King Whirlpool room. The property is clearly older, yet management is doing a very good job trying to keep it well-maintained. Breakfast is a notch above the usual Hampton fare, with the manager having some locally prepared hot food choices. I don't understand the very negative comments about this property.

On a two week trip, staying in eight locations, this hotel was not just the dirtiest on the trip but the second dirtiest hotel we have ever stayed in. The front panel fell off the a/c and the filter was exposed. I think it was the original one that was put in when the unit was installed. The bath towels were rough and worn. We have stayed in other Hampton Inns that were clean and well appointed, so it's not the brand that is deficient, it's this location. If this stay had been at the beginning of our trip rather than the end we would have cancelled the other Hampton Inn reservations. Thankfully our first stay was at the Hampton Inn in Grafton, WI. That location should be used for the example of how to run a hotel.

I'm having an interesting experience with this Hampton Inn. They have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. My wife and mother-in-law just stayed, and had two minor negative experiences which were compounded by VERY poor customer service. Minor issue - floors weren't vacuumed, and bathroom wasn't serviced (no toiletries or towels two days in a row in a three day stay). On first day complaint they fixed it. Second day complaint they were sarcastic, didn't fix the cleaning problem, but dropped off towels and toiletries. So, we looked up their complaint lines - phone, web-based e-mail from Hampton's national site. The phone support took the complaint and promised a call back. No call back ensued. No response to e-mail happened. (I'm a long time HHonors member, bouncing around silver, gold and diamond status over 7 years, I pick Hilton family chains on purpose because I usually have good experiences! I gave the HHonors number so they could see my long history with their chains. This is the first time I've ever registered a complaint with a hotel chain.)

I turned to their social media platforms of choice (Hampton on Facebook, HamptonFYI on Twitter) and registered my dissatisfaction with lack of response. After quite a bit of time on Facebook they asked for contact info - but they have a Fan page, there's no way to message them so I posted my e-mail address immediately. No contact. None! So I removed my e-mail, shared my dissatisfaction at promised response that didn't happen. Posted on Twitter as well. The next day they asked again for contact info, this time on Twitter, and apologized for having missed it on Facebook. I DM'd them immediately with phone and e-mail (yay private DM!!) and they responded "Thank you" by DM within an hour - finally I thought "Progress!" but sadly 5 hours later STILL no direct contact. So, I shared it as an example via Twitter with a faculty member at my institution who teaches social media courses.

They raised expectations with a guarantee, with a web contact, with a phone contact, with social media responses on Facebook and on Twitter, yet still haven't made contact to find out what the full issue was, or how to correct it. They attempted to look responsive, but weren't and I shared my experience publicly. I imagine some people will see each and be negatively influenced. Contrast that with the Boston Intercontinental who had great service, great social media interaction, and who as a result had great reviews posted on Yelp, on my own web site, on Twitter and Foursquare for each of their hotel restaurants we tried as well as the hotel, and positive mentions on Flickr where I posted some pics of the hotel, and from the hotel. Their brand management account followed me on Twitter after I posted, and retweeted my positive tweets. They seem to get it.

Ultimately they are likely losing at least three customers who travel a lot because of their social media responses, probably more from this than from the room problem - I can overlook an underpaid hourly staff member at the desk or cleaning service. I can't overlook how their customer relations pros interact. There's still some shot at salvaging the relationship, but I'd have to see some sign they took this seriously. I booked my wife into a Hyatt for her next night, an hour away, just to avoid Hilton chains.

Just a warning for all of you HHonors members out there. This Hampton is not worth paying the premium. I have stayed at over 20 Hampton Inns, in 13+ different states during the past 12 months. During this particular week, I stayed in 5 different Hampton Inns in 4 states. I was in town for a wedding and chose to stay at the Hampton due to my brand loyalty (as evidenced by my HHonors Gold status ). I paid $40 more for a night at the Hampton thinking that the brand was worth this added expense. In the case of the Coralville Hampton Inn, this was flat wrong.

The bathroom was extremely outdated, loose tile on the floor, broken knobs on the A/C unit, thin ceiling and walls where all foot traffic and partying neighbors kept me awake until midnight.

The lobby during this night was similar to a Fraternity house with groups of young men milling about. The neighboring room was full of young men yelling at the television until 11:30pm. My calls to the front desk for help in quieting the racket went unanswered for 30 minutes. Finally, the front desk answered and handled the situation. Nonetheless, my departure was fixed at 5:00am the next day.

Upon check-out, I expressed my disappointment to the front desk attendant who had a blank stare. His only comment was "this is a college town and the hotel was booked full last night". I am not sure how this reply was to be a redeeming comment, or a commitment to 100% satisfaction. I can only surmise that it was then my fault for choosing this hotel to try to get some sleep.

If you are in Iowa City/Coralville, try the Comfort Inn and Suites (not the Comfort Inn). This is where the rest of the wedding party stayed. It is a little ways from I-80, but a newer, nicer hotel with indoor pool and 100 foot water slide.

Poorly done Hampton!