Front Desk Staff - nightmare!
Unfortunately my friends and I stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Times Square, NYC. This was my first time staying at a Crowne Plaza, and I certainly expected more (it is supposed to be a 4 star hotel). The front desk staff needs to attend a lengthy training session that goes through the basics: organizational strategies, room bookings and customer service. They made so many errors including but not limited to: wrong bed assignments, cancelled keys (which involved a huge ordeal with security, almost making us late for a Broadway show), rooms not ready 1 hour after check in and time promised (even though we requested an early checking time) and they even gave our room away to another family!! The family walked in (with their key) while we were in the room. It is a shame that so many problems occurred since I found the hotel in general to be quite lovely (although the ice machine on our floor wasn‘t working). The room with 2 double beds was clean and a good size. The lobby area was comfortable and Leonela at the concierge desk was extremely helpful. The hotel manager gave us breakfast vouchers to help ease the pain of their mishaps, and the food at the buffet was good (however not worth the $25 that it would have cost). Keon, a server at the breakfast restaurant was wonderful and helped to start our day off on the right foot.