Bushwacker

Were you charged for the room upgrade or was it complimentary with your elite status? Also is the Canyons resort walkable from the hotel or do you need to take the lift up the mountain? Thank you.

sawtooth

I've heard that at the Canyons you have to traverse a lot and "take a lift to get to a lift" so that a lot of your day is spent doing something other than skiing down the mountain?

Problem or no big deal?

River in Sight

Just spent three nights at the Hampton Inn Park City (not quite the same scale as the Waldorf..) and skiied one day at Park City, one at The Canyons, and one at Snowbird.

Of the three, Park City and The Canyons were the most resort-like/luxurious. Park City was fun for the first day, had a lot of runs, and wasn't crowded. It was also fun to be able to do a bit of twilight skiing.. and the food at the mountain was really good!

At the Canyons, things are very spread out and we did spend a lot of time trying to get around the mountain, but I personally enjoyed that aspect of The Canyons. My friend is a snowboarder and found some of the flat terrain that we had to traverse to get from area to area rather tiresome and therefore did not like it there very much. We never actually did make it to the summit (9990) as we kept getting turned around trying to find the lift to get there.

My personal favorite, by far, was Snowbird - although it is a decent drive from Park City, the skiing was really great in my opinion. At the end of our trip, my ranking was Snowbird, then Canyons, then Park City. My snowboarding friend ranked them Snowbird, Park City, and the Canyons - and he went so far as to say that he would not recommend Canyons to a boarder.

Hope that info helps.

sharklover

I was expecting alot of this and there really was not much traversing. I only found it in 2 places. If you compare it to Vail this is about 1/10th of the transversing there.

sawtooth

Alta and Snowbird are definitely considered "world class" resorts. Just no place within a 30 minute drive where I could earn HH points.

If I'm not impressed with Canyons, DV, PCMR, we may end up condoing it at Alta again next year.

River in Sight

Sawtooth - YMMV, but we found the drive to Snowbird to be incredibly worth it as my friend and I both loved the skiing/riding there. We had a rental car, but there are also shuttle service available.

After Snowbird, we decided that next year we're just going to forget Park City, stay at the Hilton Salt Lake City (about 40-45 mins) and drive up to Snowbird for our skiing. There's also a Residence Inn probably 20 minutes from Snowbird where I've stayed many many times, but that might not help you.

jwill

Used 3 Q3FN certs as a Diamond, I got the Deluxe room, but there was no availability for an upgrade to a suite (at an upcharge or otherwise. It was booked solid).

The resort's staff is exceptional. They have a shuttle to The Canyons, Deer Valley, Park City..and the bar/restaurant district at Park City. As others have said, we stocked up at a grocery store in Salt Lake for booze, snacks, breakfast and some sandwich stuff for the slopes. The room's small kitchen area was fine for prep work. I wouldn't cook in the Deluxe room because it's just too small.

The fireplace in the room was nice and the pools/hot tubs are terrific.

There were some minor housekeeping glitches which you wouldn't expect at the Waldorf brand, but the rest of the service experience was terrific. Free Valet of the car and skis. Good location.

As for the resorts...I think Deer Valley is Ski Magazine's #1 resort the past 4 years. Park City has just about everything and The Canyons is very strong as well. All are terrific.

You can get deeper discounts via Liftopia.com or ski shop advance sales (I used Canyon Sports in SLC downtown) for Park City and Canyons. Deer Valley's discounts are a joke.

Don't pay full price for lift tickets!

I'd stay there again in a heart beat, but I could only swing the cost via reward travel.

Great food and Fun...

Wahso - Asian in Park City on Main Street. Exceptional. TripAdvisor's #1 restaurant in town.

High West Distillery - great cocktails and better than expected food. Just off Main st. Great bourbon, rye and vodka.

Yuki Arashi - sushi was very good, but overpriced. About like most things in Park City. On Main St. ;-)

MarkMColo

Thanks for the report, jwill, especially the info on lift tickets and the ski areas. I assume you rented a car; how much was the parking?

sawtooth

Just as an FYI, Erika's last day was Friday 2/25.

dealswelike

I just completed a stay at the Waldorf Astoria Park City using my Q3FN certificates as well. Originally all standard rooms were sold out so in house reservations was able to use my certificates but upcharge me $100/night for a suite, which I was fine with. As I checked on their website every day, I noticed that regular rooms started to open up. They were then able to move my reservation back to a standard room without the upcharge. As a Diamond member I was upgraded to a larger room with a kitchenette. The hotel apparently was only about 60% full so was slightly dissapointed about not being upgraded to a suite, but the women at the front desk was not very helpful on making that happen. Overall though, the hotel is wonderful with great service, especially their ski valet group. They do have a shuttle into town, but I would not trust it to pick you up on time. We had an issue with many other guests that I overheard complaining. The rooms are nice with the balconies, and some of the suites have a fire pit. The outdoor heated pool and hot tub was also a huge plus to sit in after skiing. Parking is including in the resort fee, however, if using points they do not charge a fee. A car is not necessarily needed, but we did eat dinner outside of the town a few nights so was nice to have. We were able to get a car for $70 for 4 days, so well worth it.

In regards to lift tickets, absolutely do not pay full price at the mountain. There are so many other ways to get your tickets for cheap. I blogged about this, so make sure to check it out: http://dealswelike.com/2011/02/03/sk...-ut-for-cheap/

Enjoy your trip, I loved it there!

sawtooth

I'm at the Salt Lake airport right now after a five night paid reservation at the WA Park City.

Really had a bad experience at this property which is doubly disappointing given it was an anniversary trip with Mrs. Sawtooth. Will write up the details once I've had a chance to send a letter to the GM detailing my experience (and they clean up all the mistakes on my bill)

Rizla

Sawtooth. Can you please post your experience? I was looking to stay here and just saw the thread.

thanks

sawtooth

Here you go:


Great building and great location. That said, had an absolute nightmare of a stay (paid) there in March. For context, I'm a diamond and a quiet guy. Have never complained about a stay at a HH property before. I've never sent a complaint. High(low)lights:

1) Couldn't check in until five minutes after guaranteed check in for general people. Woman at check in (Piper) seemed like she would have done anything to not be at work that day. Only informative thing she told us was that we weren't upgraded.

2) Paid for a one bedroom suite and got what must have been the worst one in the building (on the first floor, directly adjacent to the elevator and entrance to pools, view of some sort of metal maintenance shed)

3) Front desk folks were curt to the point of being rude.

4) Took, literally, an hour between ordering breakfast at Spruce and getting our food on four of five mornings. Order was messed up 3 of 5 times.

5) The Massive Screw Up: Went to the concierge on first night of stay (Bill, Georgia Tech grad) to make a dinner reservation for my anniversary. Conceirge talked my ear off about potentially buying property in Park City but no big deal. Conciege agreed to book me into Prime (off property) at 8:00 on a Friday. Thought I was all set.

Called the concierge morning of to confirm. No record of anything. No reservation at Prime. Prime sold out. Bill not working. Given this giant gaffe, I asked to be accommodated in the restaurant on property (Spruce) for my anniversary dinner. The concierge refused saying only that they were "sold out" for the evening. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is the closest I've ever come to raising my voice at a hotel staff member (didn't, of course).

Instead they booked me at a restaurant off property called "Farm" at 9:00. Farm had been open for two weeks at that time. Upon arrival, they showed us to our table literally two feet from the wait station where I had a waiter's ... a foot from my face most of the dinner. Service was bad (they never brought my wife's soup or my salad and missed up my wife's entrée order) and the food was spotty.

No call from a WA manager of any kind to apologize for the situation. No recognition by anyone that there was even a problem except for a twenty something "concierge" who was trying hopelessly to find me someplace to eat on my anniversary.

6) $750 delta in hotel's favor between what I should have been charged and what was on the bill. Doubly frustrating given I stopped by the front desk the night before checkout to make sure they didn't charge us for breakfasts (booked the "best of Waldorf" rate which includes $50 for breakfast each day and some resort credits). Only went to desk in advance because given how bad the stay was, felt sure they would mess it up otherwise. Was assured everything was all set. Next morning at 6:00, bill was totally messed up and the errors were exactly the ones I had told them not to make.

Still bad, but funnier:

1) When my wife and I take pleasure trips to Conrads or WA's we always buy a couple bathrobes to commemorate whatever occasion. Ordered mine on first day of stay with front desk staff (again with Piper). Again, given the almost comically bad service over the course of the stay, reconfirmed with front desk staff night before departure. Front desk girl: "I have no record of you ordering bathrobes." So, I order them again including giving the girl my address and telling her to charge them to my Hilton Amex. She said, "you're all set. We're shipping the robes to you and you'll have them in two days." It's June. Still no robes. I'm giggling inside.

2) Card keys were hit or miss for the gate to the pool and hottubs. So, it's snowing outside and about 35 degrees and a group of 10 or so of us have just exited the hottubs. My key doesn't work to re-open the gate. Everyone else tries. Theirs don't work either. A bunch of us standing there wet and freezing waiting for some person to come into the area so we could get inside where it's warm. It was pretty funny.

3) Last night of stay had dinner at Spruce (only on property restaurant). Waiter was cool. We asked for a recommendation. He insisted we have the Wagyu beef. Wife and I both ordered it.

While waiting for dinner, some dude from Barclay's (they were having a corporate event there) stood in the middle of the restaurant about 10 feet from us (totally empty) talking loudly with the manager about logistics for his team dinner later that evening. This guy was the loudest talker on the planet. Went on for fifteen minutes. Dinner was to be held in private room which was vacant at the time. Apparently, conversation about the dinner couldn't also have taken place in there. My wife and I were giggling at how loud this conversation was in an empty dining room.

Fast forward five minutes: Restaurant manager comes over to greet us. I was floored because this was the first time someone not wearing a bellmans' cap had gone out of his way to make us feel welcome. After five minutes worth of small talk he gets to the real reason he's come over. "We're out of the Wagyu," he says.

Keep in mind that we're probably the second table for the evening. We say ok and order something else.

Waiter comes back three minutes later and asks if the manager told us the news. We say, "yeah, you're out of the Wagyu." Waiter (God bless his naive honesty) says, "No, we're not out of it. It's one of the three entrée choices on the set menu for the Barclays guys and we have to hold enough back so that if every single one of them orders it, we don't run out."

I say: (and this is about as acerbic as I ever get): "please tell the manager that if he's trying to make me feel like the least significant person on the planet, he's doing great so far."

No re-visit from manager.

A few days after returning home, I get the boiler plate survey. I'm honest in the survey.

A couple days later, I get a voicemail from Piper wondering why me experience was so bad. Given that she was part of that experience, didn't return the phone call.

Hilton would be well served to take the Bell staff, the ski valets and the turn-down guys out of the hotel (who were all fantastic) and replace everyone still left in the building.

Worst experience I've ever had at a HH property and put a dent in what was otherwise another great anniversary with my beautiful bride. When you drop almost $4,000 for a five night stay, you expect much, much better.

Net-Net: Before this trip, no other hotel company but Hilton had gotten a single dollar of my money for 2.5 years. Between the end of March and now, Starwood has gotten $7,800 and Hilton has snagged only $1500 or so.

If you're planning a trip to Park City to ski and want to stay somewhere where you treated well , take a look at the St. Regis at Deer Valley.

Bushwacker

Sawtooth-Sorry about the bad experience. On a better note, I stayed with my family in March using Q3FN for 4 nights. We were upgraded to a suite with full kitchen and utilized it every meal. We were there for a ski trip and with a 6&7 year old were not interested in eating on site. The stay exceeded our expectations. Nice property and location with the lift taking you up the hill to the Canyons.
First day the lift was down and it was a mad scramble to get to the resort. Staff had vans and other transportation taking guests to the ski resort. Thankfully we had learned our lesson with our vehicle parking the prior night and were able to drive ourselves. If we had waited on their transportation we would have been late for lessons. We had been a bit frustrated with the valet parking after the first time getting our car took more than 30 minutes. After noticing on the claim check that to expect 30 minutes to retrieve it, we parked on our own where we could come and go on our schedule.
The pool was nice and we enjoyed sitting in the hot tub while it was snowing. Cool picture of snow accumulating on our heads. Our kids noticed other children at the pool with the robes so we inquired how to get them and staff brought them to us promptly. Did not have much interaction with staff but they seemed very responsive.
Rizla-Let me know if you have any specific questions.

sawtooth

I can see how a stay here (if things go well) could be absolutely fantastic. This property has as much or more potential as any HH property in North America and if they could impart the spirit of service from their ski valets and bell staff to the rest of the crew, this would be a top five property in the chain.

Again, fantastic building with really nice rooms, great location with its own lift directly accessing the Canyons (which has gone from the redheaded step child of the 3 PC resorts to potentially the best)

The above makes my experience there all the more disappointing given that in advance of staying here, this is a place to which we saw ourselves making an annual pilgrimage.