Despite not being officially employed by Hilton but rather working at a franchised property within the Curio Collection by Hilton, I feel a moral obligation to address this letter directly to Hilton’s corporate leadership. I am deeply convinced that the current situation in the hotel where I work threatens both the reputation of the Hilton brand and the trust of guests who choose our property expecting a certain standard of quality and service.
My professional background includes over eight years of experience in the hospitality industry in Greece, mostly in front office and night audit positions. I joined Sea Breeze Beach Resort – Curio Collection by Hilton in June 2025, inspired by the idea that a Hilton-branded hotel exists on the island of Santorini. However, the reality turned out to be far from what I had expected.
Everything I describe below is based not only on personal experience, but also on facts, photos, and documents. I am not writing out of resentment or frustration, but out of a sense of professional responsibility. At this hotel, fundamental Hilton standards are consistently violated, and both personnel management and internal processes are in a chaotic, and at times dangerous, state.
I. Lack of Training and Hilton Standards Implementation
Since the start of my employment at the hotel (June 12th, 2025), I have not been granted access to any corporate Hilton platforms, including Hilton Lobby and Hilton University. At some point, we were handed a printed checklist at the front desk listing the required trainings (with notes that some courses must be completed within 14 or 45 days), but this was never followed up with actual implementation.
When I asked the General Manager, Claire A., when my Hilton ID would be created, she replied, “in the next few days.” This was repeated over and over — for a month and a half now. Each time I received the same empty promise, and nothing happened.
As a result, all the “training” I received was a two-day verbal briefing from a colleague who had already worked the night shift. He showed me how to carry out the night audit, what reports to print, and how to close the shift. No Hilton standards, no PCI DSS procedures, no data privacy policies were explained or provided. Everything was handled in a “figure it out yourself” manner.
Moreover, none of my colleagues received access to Hilton University either. Training simply does not exist as a practice. Everyone is thrown “into the fire” from their very first shift, and they are expected to figure out everything on their own. This is not just a deviation from Hilton standards — it is a systematic negligence that undermines the brand itself.
II. Real-life Examples
1. Guest Pay Out used as a pretext for blackmail
On July 13th, a typical situation for a resort hotel occurred: a guest found himself late at night in a nearby village and asked the reception for help getting back to the hotel. At that moment, the hotel’s transfer service was unavailable, so we arranged a regular taxi — not affiliated with the hotel. The guest did not have cash, and the taxi driver didn’t accept cards. As the night auditor on duty, I was forced to pay for the taxi service from the reception cash drawer and then posted the corresponding Room Charge to the guest’s folio, clearly stating that it was for an external taxi service.
Two days later, the guest paid the charge by card upon checkout. Everything seemed correct — a standard Guest Pay Out procedure used in Hilton properties worldwide. However, when I submitted my night audit report and restored the cash balance, the General Manager Claire accused me of acting independently and demanded that I reimburse the amount from my own pocket — despite the fact that the guest had already paid it.
Her argument was that I didn’t collect a receipt from the taxi driver and therefore couldn’t justify the expense. This is essentially blackmail, based on the selective application of “rules” that were never explained to us. I am convinced this reaction was a form of retaliation for my refusal to take on unrelated duties — which brings me to the next example.
2. Attempt to impose F&B department duties
Another absurd situation involved the attempt to force me to carry out responsibilities belonging to the restaurant team. In properly managed hotels, when a guest pays by card in the restaurant, the Micros system automatically records the payment type (Visa, Amex, etc.), and the transaction is completed.
Not here. At this hotel, when a guest pays by card in the restaurant, the payment is processed as if by an “external guest” (paymaster 9001 in Opera). Then, the PM charge + POS receipt is physically handed over to the front desk, and the night auditor is expected to manually post it into Opera.
This “procedure” is not documented, not explained, and I was not informed of it until mid-July — by which point dozens of transactions had been left unrecorded. Management attempted to retroactively shift the blame to me, even though these are clearly F&B responsibilities. I refused, as I am not required to act as a restaurant cashier. My role as night auditor is to verify accuracy — not to “plug the holes” of other departments.
The same goes for the minibar: the staff member responsible for stocking it either couldn’t keep up or was never properly trained to post the Room Charges. This responsibility was passed to the front desk, then eventually to the night auditor — me — because my colleagues couldn’t keep up with the workload either. Management never offered any support to the F&B staff and instead tried to impose their duties on me, despite the fact that I have no access to the storage area and received no training for this function.
I am absolutely convinced that shifting responsibility between departments without regard for job descriptions is not “flexibility” — it is a sign of managerial dysfunction. All of this creates a toxic atmosphere, undermines motivation, and breeds justified frustration among professional staff.
III. Management Collapse and Staff Turnover
One of the most alarming aspects of this hotel's operation is the near-total absence of effective managerial structure. Within just my first month of employment, I witnessed a mass exodus of staff: the Front Office Manager, Assistant FOM, Guest Relations, and a significant portion of the reception team (and not only) all left. Some were unable to work with the General Manager, while others resigned due to chaotic organization and a toxic work environment.
As of now, the hotel lacks essential management roles. There is no Operations Manager, no Assistant GM, no HR or recruitment manager, no guest relations agent, and no Front Office Manager. Virtually all critical organizational responsibilities fall on one person — Claire — who is clearly unable to delegate or build a functioning structure. This leads to a state of operational chaos, where accountability is either ignored or unfairly imposed on staff without consent.
Due to the absence of an HR department and structured onboarding, employees receive no training, no information about standards, and no feedback. The lack of career support leads directly to burnout, stress, and resignations. Quitting the job is seen not as a disruption but as something completely normal. I personally know of several cases where employees were hired and dismissed within just 2–3 days — often for questionable reasons. This is especially true for professionals who are unwilling to tolerate a disorganized or amateur environment.
The result is predictable: mounting pressure on remaining staff and serious violations of labor law. For example, the front office team was reduced from 6 people to just 4, with only one person left from the original team. I myself have now worked three weeks in a row without a single day off. Initially, I was promised two days off per month and an appropriate salary in exchange for this workload, but in practice, I’ve received neither. The justification given is simply “there’s no one else.” This not only exhausts the staff but is also a direct violation of Greek labor regulations — which could lead to severe penalties for the Hilton brand in the event of inspection.
None of this is emotional exaggeration. It is a systemic portrait of managerial failure. Employees deprived of support, training, and coherent organization are being forced to operate in crisis mode on a daily basis. A hotel that carries the name of a global brand like Hilton must not, and cannot, be allowed to function under such conditions.
IV. Financial Irregularities and Illegal Practices
Despite operating under the Hilton brand, this hotel employs financial practices that appear to violate both corporate standards and Greek legislation. Transactions are often carried out without transparency, without formal policy, and without even basic accounting controls.
One of the most concerning examples is the frequent offering of currency exchange services and “cash withdrawals” at the front desk — both with high commissions. Specifically, guests are invited to exchange foreign currencies (USD, GBP, and others) into euros using Google’s exchange rate plus an added 5% fee. These transactions are conducted manually, without official receipts or accounting documentation. In some cases, guests are offered the option to “withdraw” cash from their credit card with a 10% fee — as if the reception operates as an informal ATM.
The hotel is not licensed as a financial institution or an exchange bureau, which makes these practices potentially illegal.
What is especially alarming is that these actions are performed without any written instructions, without approval from accounting, and without any verbal guidance from financial supervisors. In the event of an audit or a guest complaint, all responsibility could fall on the front desk staff — employees with no authority to initiate or oversee such transactions.
Another serious violation I encountered concerns the mishandling of guests’ personal and financial data. Specifically:
• Passport copies, registration forms, and credit card numbers submitted for pre-authorization are not destroyed after the guest's departure.
• These documents are stored in the luggage room, where access is not regularly monitored or controlled.
• Guest folios and receipts, while stored in folders, are left accessible without strict protection, systematization, or oversight.
Given modern data protection standards (including PCI DSS and GDPR), this kind of neglect poses a serious risk — both to the guests and to Hilton’s reputation. A single disgruntled or terminated employee could access these archives and misuse credit card data, causing irreparable damage to the brand.
Such negligence is absolutely unacceptable for a hotel operating under the name of an international hospitality chain.
V. Housing Conditions, Meals, and Sanitation Violations
The living conditions and meals provided to staff members at the hotel are entirely inconsistent with the standards expected from a property affiliated with an international brand like Hilton. These are not isolated oversights — they reflect a longstanding pattern of neglect that directly affects staff health, morale, and retention.
Employees residing on hotel premises are not provided with basic cleaning supplies or sanitary materials. No mops, detergents, soap, brooms, or rags are made available. Staff are forced to purchase these items out of pocket. In my previous experience working even at small family-owned hotels, this would have been deemed unacceptable. Here, despite the brand name, the staff are essentially left to fend for themselves.
One particularly absurd example: a dead cockroach lay in a main hallway for nearly a week, completely unattended, because no one had been assigned the responsibility for cleaning shared spaces. Smoking areas, stairwells, and back corridors accumulate garbage and cigarette butts, sometimes for weeks, with no one held accountable for maintenance or hygiene.
The situation with meals is equally disturbing. During my first month of employment, complaints about food quality were constant. We were often served reheated frozen food: plain boiled rice with deep-frozen ground meat — no vegetables, no sauce, no seasoning, no care. For seasonal workers, meals are a vital factor in both motivation and basic survival. This ongoing neglect directly contributes to staff burnout and attrition.
I am fully prepared to provide photos of the meals, living quarters, and unsanitary conditions upon request, as evidence of the organizational breakdown affecting personnel welfare in a hotel that purports to carry the Hilton name.
VI. The Management Style of Claire: Avoidance, Pressure, and Evasion
Throughout my time working at the hotel, I have had direct experience interacting with the General Manager, Claire A., and I must emphasize: in all my years in the hospitality industry, I have never encountered a more unprofessional, closed-off, and toxic management style.
Her method of operation can be characterized by gaslighting, evasive communication, an inability to delegate, and a complete lack of empathy toward subordinates. Instead of addressing concerns, she often pretends not to understand the issue — even when it is expressed in her native language. I personally witnessed situations where even Greek-speaking employees were left speechless when Claire suddenly "stopped understanding Greek" during uncomfortable conversations.
Any attempt to raise a concern is met with psychological pressure that causes the employee to question their own perspective. Claire frequently employs manipulative tactics, turning any constructive criticism into accusations against the employee. Rather than engaging in dialogue, she denies obvious problems and diverts attention from them.
One particularly telling example is the issue of tips, which our front office team tried to raise collectively. There is no transparent system in place for handling gratuities, and new staff members were never informed of how or when card-based tips (processed through guest accounts) would be distributed.
When we asked Claire a simple question — “When will the tips paid by guests via credit card be distributed?” — her response was so dismissive and condescending that it left us stunned. She literally said:
“I don’t know. One day it’ll happen. Don’t ask me such questions,” — and this wasn’t a joke, but a sarcastic deflection and a refusal to even engage on the topic.
This behavior is not only humiliating for staff, it also raises legitimate concerns about whether the hotel’s financial instability might be a reason for withholding or delaying tips. I am not claiming this as a fact, but given the total unwillingness of the General Manager to even address the issue, such questions naturally arise. If everything is transparent and fair, then why does a simple inquiry about tips provoke sarcasm and hostility?
This overall style of leadership — harsh, opaque, dismissive — directly contributes to the departure of qualified employees, the demoralization of the team, and the deepening of chaos across departments.
VII. Conclusion: Reputational Risks and a Call to Action
I understand that Curio Collection by Hilton encompasses properties with varying degrees of operational maturity. Nevertheless, a guest who chooses a hotel under the Hilton brand does so with the expectation of a high standard of service, transparency, and managerial excellence. In the case of Sea Breeze Santorini, these expectations are consistently being betrayed.
The high staff turnover, lack of training, assignment of inappropriate duties, dismissive attitude toward employee compensation, unclear tipping procedures, and financial irregularities — all of this creates not just inconvenience for the staff, but a direct reputational risk for Hilton as a global brand.
I am not someone who seeks conflict lightly. My goals are simple: to work under fair rules, uphold standards, and carry out only the responsibilities that correspond to my role. But when an entire system is built on avoidance of responsibility, fear, lack of dialogue, and covering up operational chaos — silence is no longer an option.
With this letter, I urge Hilton representatives to:
* conduct an internal review of the operational and HR policies at this property,
* provide a clear response regarding the legitimacy of the ongoing practices,
* and consider the retraining or partial replacement of the hotel’s executive management team.
I am prepared to provide:
*internal correspondence,
* photographic evidence,
* screenshots of folios and cash journals,
* descriptions of specific incidents,
* and personal testimonies of other staff members who have resigned or been forced out due to similar circumstances.
The Hilton brand deserves to remain associated with ethical practices and competent leadership — not with negligence and managerial dysfunction. But for now, that is exactly what is happening — and it is happening every single day.
