Extremely bad experience at Le Parker Meridien in NYC (Starwood hotel)

1   Not Recommended
September 5, 2011 by

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Le Parker Meridien New York
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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Wanted to share our less than stellar experience at the Le Parker Meridien (a Starwood hotel in New York City) - during the weekend of hurricane Irene, for which we had to evacuate our downtown apartment.

Check In

Close friends of ours advised that the voluntary evacuation would for certain turn mandatory and suggested we find a hotel in a 'safe' zone in Manhattan ASAP. After having had an earthquake scare earlier last week, my fiance was not about to take any chances and asked her brother, a Starwood Platinum Elite member, to make a reservation for us. While he called, somehow wires got crossed and the reservation was made under my name - and status - SPG Gold. This did not become obvious until we arrived at the Le Parker Meridien late on Friday (~9PM) with our dog - a very timid and confused rescue yellow lab. A very polite and friendly lady who checked us in (By the way, she was STELLAR and absolutely deserves praise - and possibly a raise - for how professional and personal she treated not just us but everyone else as well. She was the only thing GREAT about this hotel!) explained we could not get a bigger room without an extra charge. She was even willing to speak with a manager and offer us a $75 vs. the originally quoted $100 upgrade fee. We initially declined this - still in shock over the $16 internet fee per device/day (during a state of emergency where everyone is trying to make sure their loved ones are ok!!) and the $10 gym fee per person/day - and went to our first room - 6311.

Service

I was massively startled when I opened the door and found a lady in our room. Fortunately, she was the housekeeping manager and just there to check on things (she did find a broken remote control). Upon looking around, my fiance confessed to me she felt the room was too small and too high up - she was worried about Irene approaching. I called Starwood's hotline to see whether my status could help at all to get the upgrade fee waved and I was - very passively and politely - told that my 'status' was essentially not worth anything at this Starwood hotel - not even a free bottle of water! Very frustrated and upset over the more than embarrassing turn the call had taken, I decided to go and plead with the front desk. Afterall, they were fellow New Yorkers and should empathize with the situation we were in - mandatory evacuation, etc. Well, the lady I spoke with, had zero empathy whatsoever and - to my surprise - initially would not even honor the $75 upgrade price and insisted on $100. After much debate and two sessions of checking back with someone in the back room, she was willing to 'grant' me the $75 fee. I went back to 3611, grabbed our luggage and we went downstairs, cross the lobby, into the other set of elevators and into room 616.

Room

My fiance and Maggie, our dog, were ahead of me as I had my hands full. She opened the door, hit a light button - nothing. Stumbling around in a dark room, the next thing I heard was a yelp from Maggie and a scream from my fiance who, in the dark, had tripped over our dog. After some more searching, we found a desk lamp that worked. Furious, I went to the front desk and spoke with the same lady from before. I recounted recent events and she merely said 'oh, I forgot...you have to put the room key into the energy saver holder by the door to turn on lights'. => you can probably understand why this grand gesture of absolute lack of caring or exhibiting anything that could be mistaken for Customer Service, was a true test of patience and discipline for me. But, as they say, 'stick with me, my story gets better'. The bathroom lights were dirty (dead bugs in the fixtures), the night stand personal lights hanging by a thread and the AC basically did whatever it wanted, usually that meant blowing ice cold air into the room. Beaten for a day of evacuation from work (for the second time this week) and having to abandon our home, we just went to bed. I didn't make much of my runny nose, headache, cough or difficulty breathing as I figured I was just fatigued. Well, I actually felt sick by the time I woke up and started looking around in the room (which, by the way, looked like a less than qualified person 'patched' it up) - random, poorly concealed patchwork in the ceiling, rust and MOLD/MILDEW in several places. Add the dirty bathroom light fixture and a less than slow drain in the sink and shower, I found myself pleading with the front desk again. This time, Irene was mentioned - as the reason for why I could not get a different room period. I was told I could also not get the upgrade fee from the prior night waived and there was no way at all I would get the dog fee waived - although the hotel did not even provide a free bowl for water (you guessed it, bowls are for rent at $7 per bowl and day). My 'victory' consisted of getting the $75 'upgrade' fee waived for the next two nights (which we had booked) - considering this meant having to stay in a severely moldy and chilly room, I can't say I felt very happy or understood.

Intermission: I have traveled a lot. I have worked in the hotel industry. I have experienced amazing and poor Customer Service. I have felt the difference status makes. However, prior to a recent, very disappointing stay at the St. Regis in Dana Point, CA and now the Le Parker Meridien, I have never seen the proverbial dollar signs light up in managers' eyes when I brought legitimate concerns to their attention. I hold Hilton Diamond and Hyatt Diamond Status - earned tier by tier. And, not even at no tier, have I ever been treated with so much disregard and arrogance as I have at these two Starwood hotels. The St. Regis single handedly managed to ruin an engagement trip (and just barely managed to respond to me 3 days ago) and the Le Parker Meridien just said 'we waived your 'upgrade fee', be happy (with no regard for my fiance's fall, the mold, the AC issues or the dirty bathroom). Starwood does a 'good' job of assigning a case number to my issue - then they forward the complaint to the hotels and guests are - again - at the mercy of staff and management that has proven to not care.

Back to the weekend: After doing our best to not spend time in the hotel, we had to return Saturday night. The 'fast lane' process for Burger Joint did not work so we got in line with tons of other people and waited for almost 35 minutes for what is far from 'the best burger in NYC' - but that is not important. Another Customer Service failure point though. I took a bunch of allergy medications and tried to get some sleep. The following morning, I spied a sight that truly made me laugh in sheer disbelief - the wallpaper next to our rusty and moldy AC had partially come undone! At this point, I've had it and literally had to argue my way out of having to stay yet another night (and waste even more points and spend yet again $50 for a pet fee - when our room was a lot cleaner than some of those we saw open while we walked around).

Overall

I have tried to speak with staff, have escalated to managers - I am tired of having to fight over something as basic as a mold/mildew free room, human treatment and common decency. What little illusion I may have had that SPG Gold actually meant anything, is gone for good. Clearly one should not even dare considering a high end Starwood Property unless he/she has at least Diamond Status - and with two major disappointments I won't risk any further disappointments, allergic reactions or falls in the dark.

Here a few pictures so you can get a first hand impression of what I am upset about:

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