Hotel Overwhelmed-Staff Couldn't Cope
My wife attended a conference at this hotel...stayed for four nights. I reserved her a suite as a surprise to allow her a little more room and an extra bathroom as she likes to have co-workers and friends drop by. Check in was a disaster. The process was done with a touch screen computer at the desk, and when my wife (who is not the most computer literate person) went to the "next" screen without checking a small box, the process cancelled and started over. My wife asked the male desk clerk, "What happened". He rolled his eyes as far back as they would go, let out his air, and said, "Well, what happened is you didn't follow my instructions, and you have to start over. This time, listen to what I tell you." He was so rude, sarcastic and intense that my wife started to cry. (It had already been a long day). I guess even this jerk had a conscience, or maybe it was because people started to turn to stare, but he then said, "Let me do it", and she was given her key and sent on her way. I called her a few hours later to ask how her room was, expecting a big thank you. "It's nice" she said. "That's it?" I said. Well it turns out that the guy who berated her about making a mistake, had himself made a mistake and had not given her the key to the interconnecting parlor room, and she didn't know she had a suite. When she called the next day to compalin to management, she was told that I had made a mistake and booked the two rooms (suite) as two reservations, so the desk clerk was not to blame. My wife told the manager that she still had the printout of the reservation which clearly showed only one reservation, and "1 one bedroom, one parlor suite, with two bathrooms" printed on the reservation. The manager then changed the subject. When my wife asked to speak with the general manager, she was told that the GM "was not accepting calls" What? Don't try to email in a complaint or comment...there are no email addresses on their website, only a phone number. Calls to upper management as suggested by the person who responds to these reviews go to voicemail, and are not returned. A person in our group happened to be sitting in the lobby reading, waiting for someone the following day, and heard a number of confrontations at the desk over lost reservations, where the staff was rude to guests.The front desk crew needs some definite retraining!
Other than that, the stay was OK, but the hotel had two conventions going at the same time...ours and a large Corvette Restoration group. This is a conference venue with an attached convention center, but they seemed understaffed and overwhelmed. This is our third stay here in the past 10 or so years, and prior to this trip, we had no problems. Our rooms, in the main tower, were in pretty good shape, with new tv's, and were clean, although some in our group had to switch rooms that smelled of mold & mildew. We ate at the mall, except for a few snacks at the hotel. The pools were clean and well maintained.
This is not a hotel I would stay at while on a vacation or for a getaway, but as far as a convention hotel, it gets the job done. The hotel circle area where it is located is an odd area, kind of out of the way, but there is a trolley stop. I much prefer to stay down by the Seaport Village/Downtown area. Don't expect a Four Seasons and you'll be OK.