I just got back from a 5 night stay over the Labor Day weekend. I've always really liked this hotel, but my experience there last week was not up to par. I won't likely stay there again at least until the renovations are completed and service is back up to the quality it once was.
I was given a great upgrade to a newly renovated corner room with a living room and another room as well as the bedroom. The renovations have brightened the place up, both in the hallways which are now well lit, and in the rooms themselves. The look of the rooms has been completely changed to sort of retro minimalist look. Lots of white. The cabinets and new couches are all primarily white. Not sure I'd like that look in my house, but it works in the hotel I think. I don't think all the white will wear very well though.
To me a HUGE disappointment is the new bed. I absolutely loved the beds that they used to have. I thought they were better than at any other W or other Starwood branded hotel I've been at. It felt like sleeping on a cloud. The new beds are quite firm. Sleeping on my side, my hip hurt in the morning. For our second night on, we requested that a feather bed be added and that made it better, but still not what it once was. Apparantly we aren't the only ones who have been complaining about the new beds.
There were many service issues that arose during our stay. The stock answer from any staff when approached about problems was an apology and explanation that the hotel was very busy. Well, at least two of the floors were still closed for renovations and I presume that the hotel has an idea of just how many rooms are going to be occupied, so being busy shouldn't be an excuse for lousy service. Put on more staff!
Here are a few of the problems we experienced:
1. Long waits for the Wherever/Whenever operator to answer the phone.
2. On Saturday, we pulled up to the hotel in the late afternoon and waited 15 minutes for a valet attendant to take the car. While waiting, we saw a couple checking out who said that they had just checked in but experienced so many problems in the short time they were there that they were leaving. The husband said that he stays at Starwood hotels weekly and had never experienced anything like this.
3. Also on Saturday, we returned to our room at 5:40pm to find that it hadn't been cleaned yet. We had friends coming over for a drink before dinner at 6:30pm. To their credit they were able to get it cleaned in time, but there was no excuse for it not being done earlier. They gave us a $25 food/beverage credit for the inconvenience, which was nice.
4. Also on Saturday, the hotel only had one of the three elevators working. Waits were extremely long. For the rest of our stay, one regular and one service elevator was available for guests' use, which was still slow, but not too bad.
5. On one of the days (can't recall if it was Sunday or Monday), the entire telephone system for the hotel went down for a few hours, so there were no incoming, outgoing or internal calls.
6. On Monday, we wanted to go to the pool in the early afternoon, but it was packed with outside people there for the hotel's "Labor Day Pool Party". There were no towels left. They kept saying that they were being cleaned and would be available shortly, but one person waiting said that he had been waiting for an hour and a half for a towel. There was no place left to sit near the pool anyhow since there were so many non-hotel guests there.