On Friday June 11, 2010 at about 8pm, my son fell between the Stucco railing on the patio outside the salons on the 3rd floor of the south side of the hotel. He fell between the railings and tumbled onto the awning covering the patio of the Sonoma Grille Restaurant located at the south side of the hotel.
After he rolled several times, he was able to run back to the patio and hoist himself up between the railings to safety. At this point I was able to help him back through the railings to safety. If he had been a mere 2 feet over to the east of the portion of railings he fell through, he might have fallen the 2.5 floors to his death. At this point, I was unaware he had actually fallen -- I thought he was trying to look through the railings and I pulled him back and scolded him for being too close to the edge of the patio. I noticed he was scratched and bleeding on his arms and legs but I thought it was from the Stucco on the railing.
As I took him along the 3rd floor walkway on the west side of the hotel towards the lobby elevators, I heard people calling my name. As I arrived on the first floor, event attendee D.T. approached me and said that she and her party were dining at the picnic tables next the fountain in the courtyard (south of the pool) and saw my son struggling to get up from the awning to the 3rd floor patio outside of the salons after he fell. Event attendee N.J. witnessed my son actually falling from between the railings. Event attendee K.E. and her friend were sitting on the Sonoma Grille patio eating dinner when they heard my son fall and saw his feet running above them as he struggled to get back up to the 3rd floor patio.
The event attendees who witnessed this were very shook up and witnessing this near tragedy really affected their experience with the hotel. We examined my son and determined that he had no broken bones or other injuries other than scrapes and bruises. He was also very scared and in shock. As I was in shock and my family was ready to go to dinner, we decided to just try to calm down before I approached the hotel about what had happened. We left the hotel to eat dinner at John's Diner across the street from the hotel on Highway 111. At dinner, my son was nearly catatonic and did not talk or try to eat for 30-45 minutes until after the event. He was in shock and very shaken up and scared.
After we had calmed down, we returned to the hotel at about 9pm. I approached the front desk and spoke to Mr. Y. behind the front desk. I don't remember his first name but I remember his last name because as I approached the desk, he was checking in some event attendees and was remarking about how he and one of them had the same last name. After he finished with those guests, I told him that my son had fallen from the third floor balcony outside the salons and that I was from the Desert Scrappers Retreats party. He asked for my room number, and then asked skeptically why were we up on the 3rd floor and I told him again that we were with Desert Scrappers and that is why I was up there with my son.
My son and I had gone up to get my purse from the salon so I could drive to the restaurant to take us to dinner. After Mr. Y. treated me so rudely and skeptically, Tricia from the front desk stepped in and asked me what had happened. She expressed her sympathy and apologized profusely and said they would get the problem resolved. She sat with me in the lobby to get the details of the incident and fill out an incident report. She called the General Manager and Hotel Engineer about how to remedy the problem and repair the railing and assured me that the problem would be taken care of. I had expressed to Tricia that I believed my son was okay, just bruised, scratched and scared, and that I really just wanted to see the railing repaired to avoid any further accidents or the death of a child falling through the railings.
Tricia told me to expect a phone call from the General Manager on Saturday. Tricia then followed me up to the salons and interviewed the witnesses. Tricia then talked with the event coordinator at length about the problem and our concerns about safety since there were other children staying at the hotel. I expected that I would see some repair, whether permanent or temporary, to the railings on the morning of Saturday June 12, 2010. At 1pm on Saturday June 12, 2010 I exited the salons to go to the lunch Desert Scrappers was providing and saw that there still had been no repairs done and no signs to warn anyone of the dangers. There was nothing done and not even a sign warning people with children to stay away because of the falling hazard.
I went to the lobby and asked for a manager at the front desk. Erica came out to talk to me. I told her about my son falling and she said she was aware of it. She informed me that the insurance company would be calling me. I am not interested in the insurance company calling me. I am interested in the problem being fixed so that a child does not die or suffer serious injury! How is the insurance company calling me going to fix anything? I told her that and that I had been coming to this hotel ever since Desert Scrappers started using it for their events and I intended on coming to the hotel with my family for future events. I wanted at that point to still be a customer of the hotel. I asked her why nothing had been done, why no signs were there to let other people know of the danger at those railings.
I was especially concerned because there were other children at the hotel that weekend who were smaller than my son and could more easily fall through the railings. She then asked if anyone was supervising the kids. This really upset me, her insinuation that we were just letting our kids run around willy-nilly. We were right there when my son fell through the railings. I told her that of course we were watching the kids but it just took a second for my son to fall and isn't the risk enough to warrant some action on the part of the hotel? I asked her what were the maintenance guys doing and why had no one put up a temporary fix, like stapling screening to the railings or something like that. She then said the maintenance man was not on site and she said she did not know what he was doing but he may be getting supplies for a fix, she did not know either way.
I told her to at least put up caution tape or cones, or block the area to help minimize the risk to the other guests. She shrugged me off. I then told her that I understand repairs take time but it was obvious by the speed they were moving that they did not care that my son could have died and that the hazard was dangerous and serious. I told her that if they did not do some kind of repair by Sunday morning, that I would be calling the media. She said, "Do what you feel you need to do," in response to that statement. I was livid at her cold, unapologetic, and uncaring attitude and could not believe that she did not care about the bad publicity the hotel would get from the media in this case. Erica again shrugged me off and did nothing.
I went to the room where lunch was being served and was so upset that I could not eat. I returned to my hotel room, walking through the lobby. Erica had ordered pizza and she and her staff were going to eat it instead of doing something about the problem. At this point I was livid with their inaction so I called the Embassy Suites corporate office. They expressed their sympathy and assured me that something would be done to remedy the problem and that they would be calling Erica immediately. I talked with my husband about the incident and then returned to the Salons, about 30 minutes later. I saw that one string of caution tape had been strung across the top of the railings. About 3 hours later, at 4pm, I noticed a second string of caution tape. Still, no repairs had been done.
I was later informed by Desert Scrappers attendee C.G. that she had overheard the staff talking in the lobby that night about how they were not sure what to do about the falling incident and doubted they should take it seriously. That they would just openly talk about this in front of guests, with such a cavalier attitude, is just appalling. On Sunday morning (June 13, 2010), I entered the Salons at about 10am and still nothing had been done to remedy the problem. It was at this point that I took photos of the area and measured the distance between the railings; 7 inches. I could not believe the attitude of the hotel in dealing with this incident.
My husband had ordered breakfast for me at the free hotel breakfast area and called me to come to eat. When I tried to eat, I noticed my eggs, which my husband had ordered over hard for me, were burnt on the outside and raw and runny on the inside. I ate the tortilla form the huevos rancheros he ordered for me and left. As I was leaving the breakfast area, the Guest Services Supervisor asked me how my food was and I said awful. So I talked to her about my eggs and she offered to get me new ones--I declined the offer but talked to her about my experience and concerns about the railings not being repaired. She asked me to fill out a comment card so I asked my husband to do it as I had to go back to the Salons to pack.
My husband gave it to her at about 10:30am and he talked to her about the incident and the other concerns with the retreat attendees' experience at the hotel that weekend. She said she would tell the proper people to help get the issues resolved. About two hours later, we were packed and left the hotel. At the time we left the hotel, around noon on Sunday June 13, 2010, no repairs had been started on the railings. Also, we were not offered any concessions or discounts for our bad experience. Not that I am looking for something but the failure of the hotel to offer anything further underscores their cavalier attitude about this entire incident.
If I had dined at a restaurant, I would have gotten a discount or portion of my meal free if I had a bad experience. If Starbucks makes a mistake on my order, they give me a coupon for a free drink. But at Embassy Suites, if your child falls through balcony railing and could quite possibly have died, you get snarky hotel staff and no repairs done. This failure of the staff to offer any kind of concession at all (nor repairs the dangerous railings) shows to me that Embassy Suites is certainly not the kind of business who values my patronage nor the safety or experience of their guests. On Monday June 14, 2010, I again called Corporate Customer Service. I was told the hotel manager was to call me within 3 business days of the incident.
On Wednesday June 16, 2010 I called Corporate Customer Service again. I was told that the manager was supposed to call me to help resolve the issue. While I wanted on hold, the representative called the hotel and spoke to Erica. I told her I did not want to talk to Erica and that they needed to get the GM on the phone to call me. I went ahead and called the General Manager Gina. She said that Code Enforcement had been out to look at the building (thanks to a call I made to report them) and that they were waiting for their report before they did anything. She said that she also replied to the BBB complaint I had filed and that it was confidential so she could not discuss it with me. However, I found out that the event organizer had met with her earlier in the day and she told the event organizer that she could not issue me a refund since the event organizer paid for my room and I had paid the event organizer.
The organizer said she would sign a form stating that she would forward the refunds to me but the GM said that was not possible. The GM also said she was not supposed to call me, that since I had brought corporate into it, I was supposed to call corporate. She said the people at corporate were mistaken. The people at corporate said I needed to deal with the hotel. She also said that they had not had anything like that happen in 25 years and that the hotel was up to code so they would not be making any repairs since there was no danger. This is unbelievable. So please be aware, that if you stay at Embassy Suites Palm Desert, your child may fall and die and you will be told that the building is up to code and they won't be fixing it. This is so unbelievable it makes me sick.
I called Corporate again on June 16, 2010 after this phone call with the so-called General Manager and told them what the GM said. They again said I needed to deal with the hotel. The hotel was supposed to respond to them by today and if they did not hear back by tomorrow, then the hotel would get a call from Corporate and then I am supposed to call Corporate back on Friday to follow up. Why am I calling them? Are they not concerned about customer service? Goodness Gracious!
The breakfasts at this hotel, especially the huevos rancheros, are something my family and I look forward to every time we attend one of your retreats at the Embassy Suites. This time, breakfast was awful and I barely ate anything both Saturday and Sunday mornings. First, the lines for the cooked-to-order breakfasts were out the door and moving slow all day both mornings. In the bar area, the fruit bowls were nearly empty or had yucky looking fruit in them, there were no yogurts most of the morning, and very few bread or pastry selections as they kept running out. On Saturday I ordered huevos rancheros for myself, with eggs over hard, pancakes for my kids, scrambled eggs for my daughter, and an everything omelet for my husband.
The cooks threw the plates down on the counter when the food was done and failed to give me or offer any breakfast meats or hash browns. My eggs were also jiggly, so they were not cooked over hard. I ordered huevos rancheros again with over hard eggs. This time they just cooked the eggs with no tortilla. So I asked for them to pour ranchero sauce on the eggs and they rolled their eyes. They did not give me any bacon on the second plate. I transferred the over easy eggs to my husband's plate so I could eat the tortilla with my over hard eggs. About halfway through the "over hard" eggs, the white and yolks were runny. I could not finish eating as this grossed me out and the line was too long to try to reorder my eggs for the third time.
The kids' pancakes were hard and disgusting. I saw the cooks take the cooked pancakes from a hotel pan and heat them on the grill. My daughter's pancakes had onions all over one side so she could not eat them. The onions and vegetables in my husband's omelet were raw. My family and I left that breakfast hungry. On Sunday, the line for breakfast was out the door again, the line moving extremely slowly. My husband patiently waited in line to order food while I packed my stuff up from the retreat. He called me down to eat my food and my eggs, that he had ordered over hard for me. The eggs were again runny and uncooked inside and burnt on the outside. I ate only the tortilla from my huevos rancheros dish. I'd rather I were charged less to stay at the hotel than to be served that appalling breakfast two days in a row.
The bathrooms on the east side of the Salons were not tended to most of the weekend. On Friday the toilets were clogged. The hallway smelled of sewer all weekend. On Saturday morning, there was no toilet paper and no seat liners in 2 of the 3 stalls at 8am, which means no one tended to the bathrooms. Paper towels and other trash were on the floor. I saw people who were not guests of Desert Scrappers using those bathrooms and leaving trash. Again on Saturday the toilets were clogged. On Saturday night, fans in the salons blew the stench from the hallway and bathrooms into the salon, making me and another guest nauseated. It made for a very uncomfortable weekend. A Porta-Potty would be been more enjoyable to use than those bathrooms.
For several hours on Friday and Saturday, no staff could be found to tend to the air conditioners. The temperatures outside had reached into the high 90s' (possibly over 100 degrees) and the air conditioners in the salons had cut off. Many of the attendees were sweating. Finally, on Saturday night, the hotel staff came through with some fans but it was too little too late.
Michelle cut her leg on the broken metal parts protruding from under her table. On Saturday night, as she tried to leave the Salons to tend to her leg, we all saw the 1" gouge in her leg and the blood running down--it was unsettling to see all that blood but further unsettling that hotel staff could not give her first aid and give her at least a Band-Aid. They covered the metal pieces with duct tape but they still continuously stabbed Michelle's legs. This is unacceptable.
The tables set up in the Salons looked like a yard sale. There were different shapes, sizes, and heights of tables, some with tablecloths, some without. Some tables had skirting and others did not. Many of the tables and chairs were broken making many of the attendees uncomfortable all weekend. Or the tables injured the attendees, like Michelle. I was really shocked at the room's appearance and at how the hotel really seemed to not value our business. I have never seen such shoddy banquet work in my life. We stayed in Room 169 and the tub floor is cracked right down the middle. The floor gives if you step in the middle and pinched our feet as we took showers. This is unsafe and disgusting.
My kids did not want to take a bath in that tub and I felt it was unsafe as well, so they were forced to take showers. The tile that ran around the edge of the pool was breaking off, laying on the deck on Friday. The deck was also wet with no slipping signs or anything out to warn of the hazard -- I nearly slipped and fell several times while walking around the pool on Friday afternoon. The tile and area around the fountain in the courtyard were wet and slimy--several us slipped and nearly fell on these grotesquely slimy tiles. Sprinklers in the common and patio areas were coming on in the evening as people were trying to sit on the patio furniture and enjoy the evening.
We were wet by the sprinklers on Saturday night as we ate dinner by the fountain and several other groups were wet by the sprinklers turning on as they tried to sit on the grass to cool and the sprinklers started and wet them. Maybe the timing could be changed? My son has scratches on his legs. My family is very shaken up. We now have had to move the September event to another hotel. We had to eat other food we purchased for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday since the hotel did not provide breakfast as advertised. I had a $10 co-pay to take my son to the doctor plus traveled 90 miles round trip to take him.
