saaveraward

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
King club IC, executive suite..... more on this below

How are the rooms?
Well the hard product looks great, but then you actually have to use it. Case in point: The shower room floods in to the main bathroom without exception. So 3/4 of your towels end up on the floor. so not being careful you walk in to a wet spot in socks. You take out the hair dryer to dry it. Outlet in the bathroom doesn't work. You take it to another room and there's a short in the hair dryer so you have to hold it just so, like a 1970's TV antenna, to make it work.

The toilet has an automatic flush and no buttons like a public washroom. Except it decides when it wants to work and behave and when it doesn't. Without going in to too much detail, I developed a four-step procedure to make it flush. Do your business. Place the seat cover down. Sit on the toilet for 10 seconds. Get up. Walk away. I'm not even slightly joking.

Every time you turn on the TV, the surround sound in the bathroom kicks on. So if you mute the TV to take a call, better get up and go to the bathroom too or turn the TV off.

How is the exec. lounge?
Lounge is beautifully appointed. Hosts work extremely hard and are very friendly, but there's only one of them to service everyone. Food is HORRIBLE. It's a great menu they can't remotely execute. Things run out frequently and are slow to replace. Omelette with mushrooms and truffle sounds great. They take the poor eggs and cook it to a point where it's so overdone, I can't believe they serve it. Then the put shaved truffle on top and drown the whole thing in synthetic truffle oil. Scrambled eggs turned out the same. Speaking to some guests, eggs benedict were cold and steak & eggs produced some sort of top round hockey puck. In the evening risotto could be turned upside down and not move. Plenty of choices, none of them good.

What was good and what was bad?
- hard working staff, but not trained well... in fact I was giving out training tips, just what you want to do on holiday!
- early Ambassador check in
- Martin, great concierge
- spacious suite, but nothing labeled on power switches and many don't work.
- slowest elevators I've ever seen
- valet uses a car elevator. expect delays
- welcome amenity fruit, charcuterie and chocolate.... very nice, but had to ask for water refresh
- booked a King Club (since verified), they thought I booked a superior and had already upgraded me. An embarrassing conversation for me to try and prove otherwise, but still front desk very nice. At one point I declined the upgrade. Walked in to the King Club and it was 32+ degrees. Anything facing east broils. The poor people at check in and concierge have to stare at direct sunlight in the morning and it's very warm. Owners must have run out of money. They deserve hazard pay for this. So walked out of that and got the executive suite. Must have been 20+ hairs on the the duvet. Not 2.... 20. Asked the front desk manager to accompany me to the room to view for himself. He thinks housekeeping may have folded the duvet on the floor before placing it on the bed. ON THE FLOOR?
- 2 drink coupons on arrival. I went to the bar. I could have had 2 beers at 8.90 each. I asked if I could have 1 cocktail instead that costs 9.50. Impossible! Against the rules! I get it, but hospitality 101. Make the guest happy, and I'm saving you money as well. I mentioned this on checkout and surrendered the coupons. Instead of waving the charge on the bill, I was offered coffee in the lobby. Uh, I just came from a horrible breakfast in the lounge. Again, basic training takes care of this stuff. By the way, the roof bar had 25 customers (I counted) on a Saturday night with 1 bartender and 1 server.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
ehhhhh.... This hotel has the tools to be best in class. I love the staff, even though they probably weren't told how to operate a hotel. They've been open long enough, they should have gotten their act together by now. I give them an incomplete, which is being rather kind. I'm rooting for them, but they have a long way to go.