MikeFromTokyo

I am not mistaken. There are more discounted rates at the PH than at FS GV. ADR is undoubtedly higher at GV.

Sydney is a totally different situation - PHS is the best in town and FS Sydney should not even be flaged as a Four Seasons.

pricesquire

Never thought I'd say this but...for SYD....Langham > PH/FS!

PokerHammy

Checked in last night as our final stop of our 10th wedding anniversary trip. Currently very irritated as we've lost sleep and time and switched rooms twice.

Emailed the hotel months ago to request a quiet room for our anniversary, and to my surprise the manager replied regarding a possible upgrade and champagne. We were upgraded from Park Queen to Park King on the 1st floor. Woken up this morning by sporadic sounds of some cranking metal noises. I know we are supposed to be out and about but we had been hiking in Italy and Switzerland and are just too tired and wanted to sleep in. Plus today is the hottest day at 90+ degrees.

The Mister did some sleuthing and found that we were above some delivery dock and that's where the noises are from. We actually recorded the noises and played them to the manager, but she said that she did not hear them when she went to our room.

We had to rush back from lunch to pack and move. By now the Mister wanted a nap and then we heard housekeeping cart and staff sounds. I opened the door and we were facing the housekeeping room.

Finally after looking at some other rooms we moved to the fifth floor. It's smaller with the slanted roof but seems quieter.

Just thought it was a bad prank on us. Don't understand how a request for a quiet room led to two noisy ones!

DHalltheway

You sound frustrated because the hotel staff lack of knowledge about which rooms are quiet.

Do bear in mind that staff would not have first hand knowledge if the room is noisy because they don't typically stay in the rooms of the hotel they work at.

It would be helpful to consider that staff are trying to accommodate you by moving you around twice.

PokerHammy

You don't think the manager would/should know?

MikeFromTokyo

The assumption at a five star hotel is that all rooms should be adequately soundproofed and quiet - although of course this is not always the case.

A normally quiet room could under certain circumstances not be quiet on any given day due to reasons beyond the hotel's control. e.g. loud guests in neighbouring rooms or a mechanical problem the hotel is unaware of.

And no, it is not reasonable to assume that management has perfect knowledge of which rooms are going to be quiet on a given day, although they should of course be aware if certain rooms persistently have noise problems.

It sounds like the hotel handled the problem very well by moving you around, in addition to upgrading you and providing amenities. I don't understand the complaint.

DHalltheway

When folks ask for a quiet room: first that comes to mind of is away from lifts, meeting rooms and F&B outlets.

The cranking metal and housekeeping, unless staff are notified of how noisy it is, hotel staff won't have any concept of those areas being noisy.

That said, some managers know every nook and cranny of their property better than others.

PokerHammy

All I asked for was a quiet room. It would be common sense that it's noisy above the delivery door and across the housekeeping room. I value time and sleep more than the half bottle of champagne and some extra space, which was a nice gesture but unasked for. Certainly such a simple request could be handled even at a Hilton on a regular day, not to mention on a special celebration.

I'm not surprised at your not understanding, being a PHP lover who obviously has not been given either of these rooms.

Biggie Fries

Do people still do PHP? No, wait -- that was PCP.

Sorry, wrong thread.

DHalltheway

Common sense isn't always common available.

You seems frustrated that the hotel is unable to fulfill what you deem is a simple request

However, I do not think your expectations are realistic because you require a manager of a 100 room establishment, to have intimate detail of all 100 rooms not just on the same floor but above and below. (if you think that is easy quick tell me where your bedroom at home is in relation to your furnace, HVAC, sewage main and breaker box - since you live there it should be common sense no?)

On top of which you expect them to be able to identify all variables that can make each room noisy because it is common sense.

The variables can make a room noisy could range up to the 100s.

For a manager to have such intimate knowledge would also require prolonged tenure at a property, which most aren't as it is common for hotel managers for all brands to switch hotels within 4 years of service on average.

Moreover, hotel managers have more pressing issues that require their attention when managing a property than understanding such minute details as there is no value proposition as it does not generate additional revenue for a property.

So I disagree with your view on how small your request is, and they generally take a rule of thumb, which I highlighted above, to pick out a quiet room.

Most of the regulars on this forum are candid about their views and there is no need to resort to name calling over a disagreements.

MikeFromTokyo

The hotel presumably had hundreds of other guests in house, so you have no way of knowing what room inventory was when you arrived.

To assume that the hotel deliberately put you in a room they knew to be noisy is absurd. They have to juggle rooms for hundreds of people all arriving and departing at different times. Even at good hotels one has to insist on a different room if the one provided is unsatisfactory.

You booked a standard room, which means the hotel could have stuck you anywhere they wanted to. They upgraded you, gave you champagne, and moved you twice to resolve your complaint.

PortlySpartacus

I would say the great hotels, with top management & staff, would have systems and processes in place to gather this type of guest feedback and then make their staff aware of these important points thru training and automation.

If rooms above delivery docks are more noisy than others, then this would likely be a common guest complaint that gets documented and then the staff knows how to accommodate a quests simple for a quiet room. Computer systems and software programs can capture all of this info but a hotel needs to know how to harness it.

I think its hogwash to say, in this day and age, that their are simply too many rooms and the manager and staff are too busy with other aspects of the business to be able to have this level of detailed focus. Technology and training and a sincere desire to provide the best guest experience can eliminate this type of situation.

scented

A quiet room is a common request. This is not a Hyatt Place, it's a luxury hotel bearing the French palace designation. They do know which rooms are quiet. It's not rocket science, they will allocate a room facing the Les Orchidées courtyard (which is closed, opposed to the Terrace courtyard), away from elevators and staff rooms. First floor has management offices plus Suite 101 (hairdresser), so not quiet at times. Don't know why you ended up there in the first place. I assume the hotel was very busy and they did their best. Champagne and upgrade was a very nice touch on their part. As some here know, I love the hotel but a quiet room is a request they get all the time and certain room numbers usually guarantee that. They denial is odd and normally not their style. But as usual with those reports, we do not get the full picture or the hotel's side of the story. I hope PokerHammy enjoyed the celebration nevertheless, even though the most basic request any hotel irrespective of category should be able to deliver (a good night's sleep and tranquility) seems not fulfilled here.

DHalltheway

You assume too many things because:

1) Not all guest provide feedback, it is more often guest just never returns after a terrible experience with no feedback at all.

2) A room near a docking door maybe noisy on at certain times of the day and most hotel guest are typically out of the room by a certain time.

3) To develop a system to capture all of this information if it is not in the software would cost time and money.

4) Even if the system is free, how much more money can it make for the hotel?

In a world of cost cutting to eek out higher yeilds, you are asking a company to add additional responsibilities and cost that does not affect the bottom line.

This idea goes against what I deem as logical business sense.

You are right to suggest that higher end luxury hotels should follow this model, and it appeals to my ideals of how a luxury hotel should be managed.

However, the returns on investment of such a practice isn't the most practical from a business perspective.

FD1971

Folks, with all due respect, this is a hotel we are talking about, a hotel in a very busy part of Paris, so the vast majority of the rooms are subject to noise. This is not Schloss Elmau after all.

Putting the comment by scented into context; ironically, the original Hyatt Place set up has very quiet rooms, top floor at the end of each corridor right next to the stairway (hardly anyone uses a stairway in the US anyway...)

But there is one problem, quite often the rooms closest to the elevator are larger, so what should a hotel employee do in case a Diamond guest requests a large room and a quiet room in his profile or in advance?

They upgraded Hammy to a larger room, they even offered a free bottle of Champagne and probably did everything they could during a very busy week...

BTW, 3M has very inexpensive 'noise-cancelling options' in various colours.@:-)