This was the single worst hotel experience of my life and as someone who does a lot of leisure and work travel, I have had my share of hotel stays. I actually live in Chicago, but as there was a music festival right downtown and I had some free nights through an SPG promotion, my wife and I thought it would be fun to stay at the W Lakeshore during the music festival. The first night was fine – as a SPG Platinum member I was given a room on one of the top floors with a spectacular view.
The second night, however, was a different story. My wife decided to return to the hotel earlier than I, as I was staying out late to see another band perform. She returned to a dark hotel room to have someone jump out of our bed and scream “What the **** are you doing? Get the **** out of our room!!!” Before she could leave the person physically pushed her out the door. According to her, it was the single most horrifying experience of her life. She was in total shock.
She tried calling me, but unfortunately the music venue I was at had poor reception. After collecting herself she went to the front desk to explain that inexplicably some people were in our room. The front desk shocked her with their response. We had been checked out of the room because, according to this person, state law required luggage to be in the room for them to charge us for the room. Since the cleaning personnel saw no luggage in our room, we were checked out. Since we live in the city anyway we only had brought with us a single bag and had returned home that afternoon. The front desk person went on to tell her that the place was totally booked and there were no available rooms. My wife went home.
By the time I found out I was furious, but it was late and my wife was shaken up and wanted me to come home. I figured it would be best to deal with the manager the next day. When I phoned the following day, all I could get was the manager’s voicemail. So I instead called the SPG Platinum Desk and explained the situation to them. They were shocked and claimed they had never heard of such a policy of checking people out automatically if no luggage were in the room. I explained I wanted to know why our keys still worked if they checked us out and pointed out that my wife was put in a potentially dangerous position by the hotel with how this was handled. I went on to ask why they made no attempt to contact me to notify me I was being checked out by the hotel even though they clearly had my phone and email available. The Platinum Desk told me they were filing a complaint and the GM of the hotel would contact me within 48 hours.
Here was the response I received:
Good evening,
I received your file from Starwood Corporate and I apologize about your experience last night. As you stated, we had your reservation through today but when my Style team serviced the room, there were no signs of any guest staying in the room. I personally inspected the room around 10pm and the room was still vacant. At that point it is Starwood’s policy that we must check out any vacant room even if their reservation is through the following day. The only way the hotel can leave a room registered is if we were informed there would be someone taking over the room or if there are physical signs of someone occupying the room. Again, I am very sorry that you and your friend had to experience this late last night. I would love to personally WOW you on your next visit to the W Lakeshore, so once you have made your plans and reservations please contact me and I will make sure you have a wonderful experience. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Warm regards,
Grant
Grant Bruce |Welcome Desk Manager
W Chicago Lake Shore
644 North Lake Shore Drive |Chicago| IL 60611
t: 312.943.9200 |f: 312.255.4499
[email protected]
I replied that I had no plans to stay at their hotel again. I said I would like an explanation as to why I was never contacted to be told I was being checked out. I also said I would like to know why, if we were checked out, our key still worked for the room placing us in an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation.
The following day I received this email from the General Manager:
Well Hello There,
Thanks for visiting us at the W Chicago - Lakeshore. We miss you already.
How was your escape? Did you experience Whatever/Whenever service? Why not whisper how your escape was to us? We would love to hear from you!
Email me your thoughts on your visit and how we can grant your wishes in the future at
[email protected]
Warmest wishes,
Heather Steenge-Hart, General Manager
I sent Heather my issues with our stay and the same questions I had sent to Grant. I never received any response from either Heather the General Manager or Grant the Welcome Desk Manager.
I think for the W to give any guest this treatment is absolutely detestable. And the fact that I am at the highest level of their customer loyalty program (Platinum) says that this status counts for nothing when it comes to common courtesy and respect.
I should also point out that the W Lakeshore never credited back the free night that they took away from me by selling the room to someone else the second night of my reservation. When I realized the night had never been credited back to my account I had to again call the SPG Platinum desk and explain the situation to them before I was finally credited back the free night.
I would recommend avoiding this hotel and staying at the Westin River North or the Westin Michigan Ave.