My wife and I got home 3 days ago from a cash & points stay at the Sheraton N.O. from the 22nd to the 25th. What was hoped to be a relaxing, family visit was marred each time we attempted to make use of what one would normally asssume to be standard services at such an establishment.
The start should have been a tip off-- at 5:30 PM Fri/22nd we sat in our car on Canal, 10 feet from the driveway entrance, waiting to turn in and drop our car, so we could check in. We sat there for 15 minutes... waiting. When we finally got to drive in, the valet took our info and when told it was a 15 minute wait, he said "that's not bad at all." I should have been forwarned by that.
Check-in was great (turned out to be the only "great thing") -- an inquiry for club level access got us on an SPG floor with club level access and a nice room view of the river form the 39th floor -- near the end of the hallway too, as the doors in this place are paper thin.
Thank goodness we cabbed it that night, because the next day, the fun started. At 11am we phoned the valet, as per procedure, to have our car brought around. After many rings, we got a canned reply, saying things were busy and we needed to present our ticket at the valet booth for our car. When we got downstairs, the was a lineup of about 30 people in front of us, and it was not moving. There were people like us, heading out for the day. Ther were also people checking out. No info, just wait.
My wife walked up to see what it was all about. There, in the valet office, was one person, on a single hotel PC, checking everyone's ticekt/room number to see if they had been charged for the last night(s) parking. If you were checking out and weren't charged on your bill, they spent the time to add it. If you were only getting your car for the day, they stil checked. And, when we we were finally within 5 people of the front of the line -- after
40 minutes of standing in line -- they started pulling people
with bills that had correctly charged parking out and getting them their cars ahead of the rest of us!
We hit the window at 45 minutes total, and our car took another 5 minutes to appear after that. Why they have valet auditing parking charges, and causing this massive inconvenience, could not be answered. The line at that time stretched what I would say was at least 45 minutes behind us, too. Needless to say we were late for our lunch gig, when we had planned to be early!
That night, I sat at the Lagniappe bar on the 2nd floor for a nightcap about 9pm -- the Pelican lobby bar was closed for some reason and was draped shut. The bar was empty, save for me, two tables of couples, a bartender and a table server. Ten minutes later, what appears to be a homeless person is dirty, dishevelled, clothing, a 4 day growth of beard, and carry a stuffed plastic Wal-Mart bag of belongings, sits at the couch and starts to watch a college footbll game on the widescreen. He asks for a glass of water and gets one. He gets a bowl of snack mix from the server, who obviously seems to know him because I can overhear her explaining to the bartender what the guy is "all about." The guy proceeds to chain smoke, each time blowing out his match and throwing it across the table in front of him and onto the floor. He reaches into his bag and proceeds to place match books all around the table. He carefully places his bag in the chair across from him (so nobody could sit there?). He takes snack mix and tosses it across the table, as if he is bowling. He sits back and then rocks forward, all the time. He talks to himself and gestures wildly at times, flinging his cigarette arm outwards as if scolding someone to make a point.
He collects his snacks and matches from all over the table into a pile and then tosses them about the table again. He has what appears to be an aftershave bottle in his other hand, but I do not see him drinking it -- maybe it's in the water?. Rinse-repeat-rinse-repeat for over 1/2 hour. He then asks for another bowl of snack mix, because he ate the rest of the first one, and gets one. he still has a 3/4 full glass of water. He stares wildy at me when he sees my eying him from the side. I finished my drink, shook my head at the bartender, and left. ...?
The next morning the valet was accepting calls for cars, but it took us 10 minutes to get the car out of the driveway, as we were jammed in by people checking in.
The last night we got into bed to discover that the non-fitted bottom sheet was untucked and riding 2 feet up from the foot of the mattress, with the padding below it also folded up and over.
I am putting this in a letter to the GM there and hopefully William here will grab hold of it. I never had the time to talk to the GM directly because there were always lots of people waiting for service at the front on the few occasions we had any time to actually stop in the lobby.
I fully realize that the city is in full-blown recovery mode and that good help is at a premium there. But this is a huge, well-known SPG property that gets tons of convention business all the time. I gotta tell you, it was the most bizarre Sheraton stay I have ever encountered anywhere and we will never stay there again -- and we go back to visit family a lot each year!