This was not a hotel of my selection, I was attending a conference that was held here.
So, I stayed in the hotel despite my initial distaste for it. Driving up and walking in, the hotel had me nervous, as it's not in a good area, the outside appearance is really bad and the doors and the lobby look like it should have had a makeover 20 years ago. The check-in took forever. Despite having four people at the desk, it was very inefficient and slow. There were probably 3 people ahead of me and check-in took about 30 minutes. And most of the check-ins took at least 2 of the employees working on each transaction, sometimes requiring them to leave the desk and go into the office. Later that evening I had an issue with my key and had to wait another 30 minutes in line, because they were slow in checking in other people.
At check-in, I was asked if a ground floor room was okay. It was fine with me. Once I got into the room, I thought it was awful. The white comforters were stained. And the bathroom was filthy as though it had been filled with fresh towels and soap, but not cleaned. Not only was the bathroom extremely dated (can't decide if it was 70s or 80s style), the grout was stained with mildew and the tiles had water spots and soap scum all over it. Not to mention the enormous bug in the tub.
I was appalled at the condition of the room I was getting for the price I was paying, but did not initially complain, because I had to stay there regardless and I was not aware that
there were other rooms that had been renovated.
It was around five o'clock in the evening and the maids (whose room was right next to mine) were still cleaning the rooms and hallways until later that evening.
I put up with it until the next morning when the bathtub would not drain and my roommate had to take a shower in my leftover shower water.
Then, the maids, gathered in the hallway outside their room and mine, got into a screaming match. Two of the maids were screaming and cussing at each other and several other of the maids were standing by and egging the argument on. The others were just standing around enjoying the entertainment. SO unprofessional and yet there was nobody in authority that was there to break it up.
I went to the front desk and had to wait in line again to say that I had some problems with room 110. And immediately - the man at the front desk asked me - "Oh, the drain"? Then another clerk said - "No problem, we will move you to one of our renovated rooms."
??????????
This hotel was NOT sold out by any means. Why did they put me in an old, outdated room that they knew to have problems when they could have just put me in a "renovated" room to begin with? I must say the renovated room was infinitely nicer. The only other issue I had in that room was the next morning there was scalding hot water only. As if there were NO cold water at all. I ended up taking a sponge bath because I could not withstand the water. Later that day, at the conference, I heard another woman warning about washing your hands in the restrooms, that it was scalding hot water.
The conference did not allow for much of a lunch break, so we were all pretty much forced to eat at the hotel's buffet, which had limited choices. I'm not going to say that the food was bad. But it was nothing special and absolutely and completely overpriced.
Last issue is that the hotel structure is really broken up and you can't use one elevator for all the floors. The conference was on the sixth floor, my second room was on the fourth and I had to go from the sixth floor to the first to catch a different elevator to take me to the fourth. And the elevators are as slow as molasses and always, always filled with maids dragging big stuffed black trash bags on it. It made it impossible to go to the room during conference breaks.
If you have lots of free time to wait for elevators, and you don't have to eat at the hotel, and you know to ask for a renovated room...this hotel might be okay for you.
If you are a conference planner - this is not a hotel that will be convenient or impressive for your conference attendees and I would recommend you look for an alternate hotel.
