finished my stay.
pluses: concierge Anthony, great location, free passes to the new Equinox gym across the street. having spent 20+ years going to gyms, this Equinox is one of the best equipped i have ever seen, particularly for such a small space (i.e., it is two floors but it isn't the size of some of the gyms i have seen in universities or even in san francisco where they are huge). but, this gym had virtually everything i could ever imagine wanting. equipment was state of the art and brand new. it was amazing.
i thought the bell staff was very nice and the front desk was never too crowded.
negatives: small room, sloppy front desk, inconsistent reasoning on why i couldn't have a bigger room/suite (please see comments above about how property changed its tune on why i couldn't have one of the suites available for sale on spg.com).
sloppy front desk:
1) my rate included two $10 off breakfast vouchers for room service. they were never given to me and i had to deal with having $20 taken off my bill at the end
2) i am platinum and was put on a non-spg floor where bottled water was not provided for free (it was free on the spg floors). when i mentioned this the second to last day of my stay, i was given vouchers which are to be left in the room if i drink the bottled water so that i don't get charged. why weren't these vouchers mentioned when i checked in? so, when i checked out, i had other items to have reversed off my bill. also, by not mentioning that i could drink the waters in the room, i didn't (except for one or two). saved them the bottled water, i guess.
3) i checked in after my traveling companion but i made sure he had access to the room. but, when i got to the property, i went by the front desk to give them my ID and credit card. i was no offered my platinum amenity (was not offered water cards, not offered $10 bfast vouchers). sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
4) when i asked about the gym (it is under renovation), i was told to visit the temporary gym in the conference room on the 5th floor. no mention was ever made about equinox passes. anthony (concierge) brought this option to my attention.
5) while i was never offered the amenity or the bottled water tickets or the breakfast vouchers, i was offered a daily paper. over my three day stay, said paper was never delivered (unless it was purloined by other guests).
i am not sure what the front desk personnel sees when they pull up a reservation. so, not sure i should be so quick to blame. knowing starwood's I.T. acumen (or lack thereof), maybe the front desk personnel don't have enough info. or, maybe they do and they are too lazy to look for it. i have no idea.
there was also a small fire in a guest room while i was there...no, not a drill. an actual fire with trucks, etc.
i saw a piece of paper behind the front desk that says that their reimbursement for a free room was increased as result of moving from a cat. 3 to a cat. 4 property. i think the rate went from $47 to $56 a night (rounded).