We had an early flight into Baltimore and we arrived at the Hilton at 8am. I went to the registration desk and spoke to the reception clerk there. The gentleman informed me that my reservation was all set, "check in time is 4pm, nothing is available, check back later". We left our bags with the bell captain and went and got breakfast. Then we walked down to the Inner Harbor to kill a few hours. We returned at 11am. I again approached the gentleman at the front desk. He never even looked up. I gave him my name, he punched a few computer keys and said "nothing available". Since we were tired from traveling and walking around the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards area, we stayed in the lobby. Unfortunately, the lobby bar does not open until 5pm. So we couldn't even get a cold drink in the lobby area. At noon, I went to the front desk again and received the same robotic response from the same desk clerk. At 1pm, fortunately, the robot was busy with other customers. I spoke with a very pleasant young lady. She explained to me that the hotel was fully booked the night before and that the housekeeping staff was working as fast they could to get rooms available. Unfortunately, no rooms were ready yet, but I should check back at 2 pm. If only she had waited on me first, we wouldn't have wasted 4 hours hanging around the lobby. At 2pm, I was able to check in. We were given a room with 2 double beds, even though our reservation had been for a single king bed. After waiting for 6 hours, I took what I could get. The room was nice enough and the rest of our stay was uneventful. If you are attending an Orioles game, the hotel's location can't be beat. You literally walk out the door and are at Oriole Park. Upon checkout, the bell captain asked if we needed a cab. I said yes, we were going to BWI airport. She told me that a cab would be a flat rate of $30 or we could take a car service for $35. I opted for the cab. BIG MISTAKE!!! The bell captain blew a whistle and a cab from "Affinity Taxi" pulled up. Upon our arrival at the airport, I had the $30 fare plus tip ready to give to the driver. He informed me that his boss makes him use the meter and that the fare was $45. I reluctantly paid it and told him to get his tip from his boss. I think the bell captain should make sure that the cabs they use will honor the flat rate fare. We went to Baltimore 5 years ago and were ripped off by cabbies then also. We stayed at an outlying hotel and took the light rail into Baltimore. At night, we decided to take a cab back to our hotel. We got in the cab in the same spot 3 nights in a row and took it to the same hotel. We were charged 3 different amounts, ranging from $28 to $40. I have heard from others that they had similar experiences. Baltimore cab drivers are thieves. Avoid taxis at all costs
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