Just completed a stay here and was pretty disappointed. For a category 7 property that is one of the flagship properties of the brand, I was really underwhelmed.

(1) Room was old--paint was chipping off of furniture, there were scuffs on the walls and the room smelled of cigarette smoke (despite being a non-smoking room). Obviously it was serviceable but it wasn't impressive at all.

(2) Poor quality electronics technology in the room. The phone was equipped with a touch screen that seemed like it had been designed by Microsoft in the late 90s. The phone line itself was filled with so much static that I had to go down to the front desk to place my breakfast order as the woman on the line couldn't understand me through the interference.

(3) Room was dark and poorly placed, looking out onto a really abysmal alleyway through a single window. I know not every room in the city can have a great view but when you're paying $700+ a night I think the bar should be a little higher than this.

(4) SPG website and a conversation with a platinum representative confirmed suite availability after I checked in but I was told that the hotel was completely sold out and thus wasn't upgraded. I didn't pull the same trick that I used at the W Lex (booking a suite for a friend and then catching the property in a lie) but I suspect that's what was going on.

(5) While the service was polite, it was slow. I waited an hour for a room service order that I was told would take 20-25 minutes (which is actually sort of inconvenient when one is in a hurry in the morning).

On balance, the stay wasn't horrific and these are definitely first world problems but when I pay that much money for a room I expect the experience to be amazing. This was slightly south of mediocre.