I stayed in this hotel this week. It was the 4th stay in as many years.
Overall comments
1. The staff seemed to be genuinely helpful. The typical "it is not possible" reply was non existent. Clearly someone has been upgrading the staff and their attitude. Every staff member I passed said hello and smiled. What a pleasant change.
2. On check in the lady said "I'm sorry your room is not ready, it will be an hour, please can you wait...oh you are a frequent traveller - I'll see what I can do"
I moved towards the bell hop and in less than 60 seconds she had run back and got the OK from her manager to move me to a junior suite which was open right away.
Another excellent experience and a great inner room - Personally I hate the canal view rooms due too the noise.
The room was large, bed very comfortable and the bathroom with dual vanities great. Probably not worth the $1300 rack rate but great as a free upgrade from the executive room.
3. The breakfast was unfortunately not as good as I recall. There used to be oranges to freshly squeeze...now replaced with sub par OJ. The food on the buffet was good...but the frequency of replenishment meant that on each of 4 visits (4 days!) not all food was available. Too many open plates or containers were left for too long. Also 27E = $40 was steep for breakfast, although they had a reduction if you chose to dine off peak times (before 9am). I imagine the high price is driven by the fact many rates include breakfast.
4. No paper was delivered any day - but not a problem as many were in the lobby but could have been irritating if I'd ordered room service breakfast.
5. The housekeeping and turndown was better and more reliable than I recall. The cookies, water and chocolates were as good as always (although I don't recall water before)
6. I asked the concierge to book a restaurant and 2 hours later he called back and said it was closed. I happened to walk by it later that evening and it was open and thankfully had room. Not sure why he was not up to speed with their opening hours when a phone call could have confirmed their open times. He booked a cab and there was no problem.
Overall the staff's change in attitude has dramatically improved my perception of this property. I'd recommend it.
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Earlier reports can be found at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html
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