Doubletree Hotel Birmingham

My parents stayed here for 2 nights and departed this morning (6/28/2010). The first night, their truck was broken into in the Double Tree parking garage. The thief used a tool to punch a hole in the lock (didn't break a window, just a one-inch hole by the lock) and stole numerous items, including their GPS, prescription sunglasses, a birthday gift for my nephew, a bag of clothes, books, and their registration & insurance cards. All of these items were locked in the truck's lockbox and out of sight...but they were parked next to the stairwell door on the 3rd floor.

Through the investigating police officer, we learned that not only was another car broken into the SAME night (on the 6th floor), but this is at least the 6th or 7th theft in just the past few weeks. The police believe it's the same guy doing it, always with the hole punched in the lock, and the Double Tree is the ONLY HOTEL in the Birmingham area that this has been happening at. There is NO SECURITY - the security camera holders are empty - and when I spoke with the front desk, they told me that guests park at their own risk. But when your hotel has numerous thefts within just a few weeks' timeframe, you'd think they would do SOMETHING to increase security??? Not at the Double Tree.

Here is where it gets worse - not only did this happen, but the front desk people were beyond rude. When I was speaking to one woman, she didn't even say "excuse me" but proceeded to answer a phone call while I was talking mid-sentence. Then, this morning, when my parents got their bill, they were charged $10 a night for parking!! (They didn't even park there the 2nd night; we parked their truck at my apartment building.) And when my mother wanted them to amend the bill, the front desk clerk (a different clerk) got snippy with her!!

To top it off, the manager wouldn't even come out of her office to speak with my mother this morning to address the incident! She sent the same snippy clerk out, who said "we're following our procedures"...not even one single Double Tree staff member had the decency to apologize to them. Not once. The staff overall was completely RUDE and INSENSITIVE.

Yesterday was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and they spent the majority of the day on the phone with the police, insurance company, and credit bureaus. Their entire day was ruined...

The only good thing we can say about the overall visit was that the bed was comfortable. That's it.