Blake Hotel Should Reimburse California Delegates for $310 a night dump
Stayed 4 nights for the Democratic Convention. Good points: bed was OK, my shower was strong, lobby OK, complimentary newspapers.
Bad points could fill a book, and my room wasn't as bad as many others--at least my shower worked and the carpet wasn't wet.
Rooms and 'services': Dark, dingy, ugly rooms--it just had the feel of a place that needed every surface deep-cleaned, and updated out of the 1970's. Phone never worked despite requests for service--they asked if I didn't have a cell phone. So much for wake-up calls. No directory of services/extensions (there WERE no services.) Elevators inadequate and unreliable and so beat up they looked like a slumlord's dream. One day one got stuck and when we got the door open we were afraid to ride another one so all walked down the stairs.
3 ice machines for 14 floors. 4" space under our door so we heard every sound from the hall. No coffee pots. Internet signal weak and sporadic. No towel bars in bath, only place to put on make up had a nauseatingly yellow florescent light, and there was a big brown water spot on the ceiling. I heard there were people who had wet carpet in their rooms, so I guess I was lucky. Ancient hair dryers. Last day we got no maid service. In interactions with staff, they were always polite, as was everyone in Charlotte, but you got the feeling they were embarrassed and couldn't promise anything would get better. And despite having paid $100 per person for a 4 day breakfast package, they slipped an extra breakfast $28 charge on the bill.
Restaurants: One over-priced, the other was cheaper but nasty: essentially a circular bar with cheap folding tables set up around it. Menu items not available. Bartender told me the place was sold a month ago and new owner had set up the bar last weekend just for the convention, all the employees were temps, and it would close down the day after the convention. That free bottle of cheap wine they gave us after there were so many complaints was just a joke.
Location: isolated. There is NOTHING around this place. No restaurants, drug stores, nothing. Several blocks in the heat and humidity to go anywhere on foot. So once you're there, you are stuck with cabs or a miserable walk. We passed lovely looking hotels with bustling restaurants and amenities in the vicinity, but this definately isn't one of them.
Cost/Value: By my calculation, this dump made over a million bucks off the California delegates, at a rate of $310 a night. I don't know what the hotel assignment process was, but whoever selected this armpit for us should be ashamed. More like a $100 a night motel. We should get money back.