I am currently staying a few nights at The Plaza and my wife I are both hugely disappointed with the experience so far.

The greeting by the front desk staff was incredible and really set our expectations on high for the rest of the visit. The upgraded room is very nice but nowhere nearly as remarkable as most of my other Fairmont upgrades. (YES, I understand that it is the busiest weekend of the year and YES I am grateful for any upgrade and, NO, the room has NOTHING to do with our "meh" review of our stay.)

After a wonderful start, nearly every other opportunity to get it right has been missed -- from housekeeping to "the butler" to the "less than warm" behavior of the door & front end staff. Service seems to be a "nice to have", not a "need to have" ethic among the staff here. At $900 a night, I expected a bit more of an effort -- silly me!! I can only imagine how high Fairmont could push this wonderful, grand old property were they to install one of the managers from within their stable of top performing hotels -- someone who would demand accountability toward a great service ethic.

I am happy to be here for the holiday but I am sure that there are a dozen other places that could provide more of a "WOW" factor.