Ripped off, overcharged and unsympathetic
I had booked my stay at the Setai as a 25th wedding anniversary/50th birthday treat for my husband and myself. Setting this trip in context, we are the parents of a profoundly learning disabled son and we had to negotiate and save our respite care for a year so that we could have our first holiday alone since our honeymoon. This was to be the most luxurious,spoilt treat of our lifetime.
In April, we booked the Suite Surrender package staying in an Empire State Suite. The package at that time was similar to the one currently on offer which promised:
• The attention of a Personal Assistant, a signature service provided by Capella Hotels and Resorts
• A couture kitchen filled with New York City’s finest flavors, stocked once and entirely prior to your arrival
• Complimentary refreshment center 
• A bottle of Taittinger Rosé champagne and fresh fruit upon arrival
• a $100 Auriga credit per night for treatments in-suite or in the luxurious Auriga spa. 
• Complimentary pressing of up to 5 items and shoe shine on the date of your arrival
Unlike the current offer, we were not promised the Bergdorf Goodman voucher but instead a luxury breakfast delivered daily to our suite. 
I specified that I wanted a room on as high a floor as possible and emphasised that this was a special occasion.
We were waiting for the call from our personal assistant prior to our arrival, but the call didn't come.
On arrival at the hotel, the door men did not open the door as we struggled through with our luggage and with only one member of staff on duty at reception joined the line to check in. Things started to look up when we were told we had been upgraded as this was a special occasion and we were allocated room 2702. Bizarrely,we were walked to the elevator and whilst in the elevator the promise of pressed clothes was explained -surely this should have been done at the reception desk? 
Still, we headed to our room, excited about our upgrade. This was an eagerly anticipated stay, so I had devoured the website and all of the photos, so when I entered the City one bedroom suite I was disappointed. This was NOT and upgrade but a DOWN grade. Although this suite was bigger in square footage, it was a cheaper suite. We looked for the bottle of champagne and fruit but there was none. We looked in the fridge for the finest flavours of NYC and found 6 small bottles of soda a bottle of water and four milk creamers for coffee.
I was gutted.
i phoned down to reception but no-one answered. I phoned the personal assistant line only to told it was nothing to do with them and I needed to contact reception. I explained I could not get through and asked if the city room was a lower grade room than an empire room, I was told by the personal assistant that it was a downgrade and she put me on hold and eventually through to reception. No apology was forthcoming for the poor service in fact I felt reprimanded for challenging the upgrade and was told that the suites had been renamed since I booked and that I indeed had an upgrade. Strange though that the same names are advertised currently on the website and that indeed, the empire suite is about $300 a night more expensive that our city room.
The receptionist said she would send up the missing elements of our package when it was checked out. We were by now exhausted, having been travelling for over 21 hours. We had just wanted to crack open the champagne, drink to our anniversary and get some rest. We waited over an hour for the delivery and then decided to get some sleep as the goods were clearly not coming. Half an hour into our sleep the door was persistently knocked. My husband had to get up, dress and answer the door to receive:
 the bottle of champagne
 the fresh fruit - this was in fact a small plate of sliced fruit salad.
 a wine glass with more fresh fruit salad and plain yoghurt
 a dish of nuts
 three one oz pieces of cheese on a tray
 a four pack of beer
 a four pack of root beer.
~Sorry, but do these latter 4 items classify as New York's finest flavors? In a five star hotel, I was expecting a lot more. AND they did NOT stock the fridge, they barely filled one shelf.
On rising on Sunday 28th October, we headed to Ai Fiori with our complimentary breakfast vouchers. Again, we had been promised luxury breakfasts in our room, instead we were given 6 continental breakfast vouchers for a muffin, croissant and danish with orange juice and a coffeee. Hardly luxury. Even this was poorly served. We submitted our vouchers and then were billed $60. We finished our coffees and had to ask for a refill. My husband called over the waiter, he went for the coffee pot, then filled my husband's cup and walked away leaving my cup empty. Surely, a Michelin starred restaurant has heard of silver service?
We headed out into Manhattan. We would have loved at this point to have had our personal assistant organise a ride in the Maserati as we were heading to Tiffanys to get a ring to celebrate our occasion, but as for the entire duration of our stay, we were not allocated a personal assistant "the signature service provided," therefore we did not get that opportunity.
On no occasion, did any member of staff apology for the lack of service or the failure to provide what was being paid for. All of these issues are basic customer care issues, a product was ordered and it was down to the staff of the Setai to deliver, but this was a total failure.
Subsequent issues resulted from the skeleton staff in situ.
When we arrived back in the hotel after our few hours in Manhattan, we picked up the letter stating that due to the imminent arrival of Hurricane Sandy, we would not have a housekeeping service. So we did not have any of the snacks delivered each afternoon that previous guests have raved about. We did not have any amenities replaced - i.e. soaps, and when we ran out of Nespresso capsules it took 3 requests and 9 hours before we had them delivered. We appreciate that staff were under pressure by this time, but we offered to collect the capsules from reception on two occasions and on each we were told they would be sent up to our room, without any apology. Ironically, they arrived 30 minutes before the power outage.
On Monday, we had no restaurant service and had to eat in the bar. In the evening, we were provided with a buffet dinner at a cost of $25 per person. Two choices of main course, one potato, one veg. Considering the conditions,$25 was taking advantage.
By Monday night, the power was out and so we were in darkness, no elevators (Essential on the 27th floor), no hot water in the morning and bread, cheese and ham for breakfast. 
In summation, during our luxury break we had:
 A downgraded room - one bedroom suite instead of Empire state - which had been specifically requested
 No personal assistant service
 One turndown service
 No daily clean of suite for entire stay
 None of the promised surrender package (until minimum arrived after complaint)
 No breakfast in suite
 Use of the Nespresso machine for one out of three days (due to lack of capsules)
 One breakfast in Ai Fiori
 Power and hot water for two out of three nights.
Yet, we were billed the full amount for our stay of over $3400. We did mention the lack of the suite surrender package, specifically mentioning the lack of the spa vouchers and were cheekily told that we could have the vouchers. What use would they have been with the spa closed and the power out?
We were offered a 50% reduction on the cost of our final night - the one with no power, water or food, which we did take BUT we were greatly under stress by this point. We had just been told our flight was cancelled, our son was due home with noone to care for him and we had to find a hotel in a city where 9000 flights had been cancelled stranding many others in a similar situation. With hindsight, we were sold short. We should been paying the cost of a one bedroom suite -without the package, we should have had the $100 per night spa voucher returned along with $120 the apparent cost of the four breakfasts we did not get. Without basic housekeeping we should have received some compensation. Our lifetime holiday- an opportunity we will NEVER have again, was in ruins. Not due to Sandy, but due to uncaring, inhospitable staff. 
We are very understanding of the difficult situation that staff were put in when NYC went into close down, but it needs to be stated that in our "new" hotel, the Westin Grand Central, we were made to feel very welcome, we were given free coffee when we arrived to check if they had room, they gave us free wifi for our entire stay to allow us to get in contact with home to make arrangements for our son and they had such a friendly outlook that staff in the Setai could learn from. 
This was sent to the Setai management and a phonecall to discuss this has been promised, but as yet has not happened. It appears from subsequent reviews that our experience was not unique yet others seem to have a magical time. Customer service should be consistently of a high standard at any price.