Another stay to remember... for the wrong reasons...

1   Not Recommended
May 20, 2009 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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W Scottsdale
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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Liked:
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Amenities
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To provide an alternate view of the hotel, I'll offer my recent experience:

Booked it the night before and drove down, but before leaving my house I printed the available rooms for booking list. I did this because I rarely get upgraded, and I've had recent situations where I know the hotel is not upgrading despite availability. Arrived at the hotel to check-in and was told there were no suites available. Odd, since the list I'd just printed 2 hours earlier had every single suite type available for booking. (I mentioned this at check-in and was told nothing else was available). The place was crowded already at 8pm.

Got in the room and it was kind of like "meh". Not great, not terrible - I liked the rock wall thing in the bathroom. Left the hotel to go get some dinner and on the way there decided to call the Plat line to see what was up. "I'd like a suite for one night for one person" I said and they magically had available every single suite (it was now about 9pm). So I call back to the hotel, ask for a manager, and then ask the gentleman I spoke to whether they participated in the SPG program and provided the plat benefit to upgrade to select standard suites. He replied that they did, I asked what they considered standard, and he responded everything up to the spa suites. I related my earlier conversations to him and he apologized and immediately offered to confirm me in a suite (I requested the spa suite). He warned me that only one was available, and it was near the night club, so it would be loud until around 1:30am. No problem, I've got no plans.

I returned to the hotel and couldn't even get inside - there were so many people outside standing around the front door. I edged my way up there and since I was poorly dressed by comparison and carrying my bags, the bouncer guy finally ushered me in.

Long story short, I get up to the room and it's literally almost exactly the same room as before, just more square feet and with a bathtub. I note that the room itself is quite noisy because it's got hard surface flooring and sheetrock walls with not much on them (just an observation, not a ding). There's hair in the shower and bathtub, and the sink has a disconcerting yellow dried-in stain in the corner. They've put me in an ADA room without asking/warning me (I dislike them, and don't wish to prevent someone with a legitimate need from getting them). The ADA room has no door for the toilet, nor a door for the shower.

I'll interrupt now with a few photos:

The floorplan for floor 2:


Bed and Entry:


Sitting Area:


Work Desk / TV / Minibar:


Sink:


Toiletries:


Toilet:


Shower:


Bathtub:


The noise didn't stop until 3:30am (come on - that's ridiculous for a hotel - even a swank one), and what no one warned me about was that the plumbing for the bathrooms at the night club/bar (whatever's immediately to your right as you walk in the front) is on the shared wall, so EVERY TIME someone flushed the toilet, you'd hear a pressurized water sound. I finally gave up trying to get some work done and just listened to some music on the (nice) Bose system.

Since it was so noisy, I decided to step outside and enjoy the peace of the Zen garden...(it is pretty cool at night, BTW):


One final oddity was the TV - it's advertised as being a 42" flat panel TV, but it doesn't look like it's 42". And the sticker on the side of the TV with the model number starts with 37 - leading me to believe it's a 37" TV. Not a big deal, but you'd think they'd be able to properly advertise the in-room features.

So I'm not particularly impressed with the property, and I wouldn't go out of my way to stay there again unless I could be assured of 1) not having to fight for an upgrade and 2) having a clean room. I was looking forward to this being a great property to pop down to on weekends or between trips, but based on this (admittedly single) experience, I wouldn't return.

To their credit, the staff (except for the housekeeping person who came up at 12am to clean the shower/bathtub) was friendly, courteous, and seemed to genuinely care - even the lady who checked me in and apparently lied to me about the upgrades. At checkout, I was asked about my stay and recounted the above, whereupon the lady apologized and reduced the room rate. I certainly can't fault the staff for their positive attitudes and attempt at service recovery, but I am surprised that no one made any attempts on the night of my check-in to see how things were or to quickly resolve issues.

And of course, no cheese, crackers, wine, or welcome letter for me..., but plenty of whine to go around...

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