We really wanted to enjoy our stay. We were in from out of state for a Friday wedding. Being a member of the bridal party, I booked Thursday-Saturday night, to allow us a day after the wedding to enjoy the city and catch a Reds game. When booking, all rooms had the same rate. Given our 5 hour drive in from out of down and concern for rush hour traffic, we opted to go straight to the rehearsal and dinner Thursday evening rather than checking in first. When we did check in around 9 PM, we were informed that there had been a mix up with the welcome bags left for us, and they did not have one for us. The one visible behind the desk was "for someone who had already checked in." We didn't make a big deal about this, because mistakes happen.
We then proceeded to head to our small yet well designed room, which was just large enough for a king size bed, two nightstands, and a bench at the foot of the bed. The only other furniture in the room was a small minifridge/narrow closet attached and TV attached to the wall. As we went to retrieve the complimentary bottled waters from the fridge, we found one of them was open and half gone. We were told this was a housekeeping oversight and offered replacements. In the mean time, we had noticed the floorpan on the fire escape route diagram on the back of the door, that clearly showed our room (308) being at the end of the hallway, was was considerably smaller most others on the floor.
The next day, my fiancé set up his laptop on a nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed to work since there was no desk or even chair in the room. Our suspicions were confirmed when I saw a friend's room that was considerably larger and contained a decent size desk. We certainly understood not all rooms were alike, but we had booked at the same time, through the same website, and paid the same nightly rate. The only difference was I was staying three nights instead of only 2 nights.
We did bring up our disappointment during checkout, and received a verbal apology and an explanation that they do not pre-block rooms, and so because we had checked in later Thursday evening, that was the room available to us. We also asked about the welcome bag still sitting behind the counter, which in fact did have our names on it. So, three days later, we finally received the welcome bag intended for us after initially being told it was for "someone else."
Obviously we understand the physical space in the hotel may not allow every room to be the same. The hotel offers variety of room types based on bed size, even including bunk beds. However, if a room is not similar in size and furnishing/amenities, I don't think the rate your be equivalent to larger, better furnished rooms. I certainly don't think it is fair to penalize guests who check in later, especially if they have traveled and are staying multiple extra nights. While the staff were pleasant and helpful and the location convenient, we cannot recommend this hotel. There is no way to know what you are getting for your money until you arrive, and hopefully you can arrive early because that is the way they determine quality of your room.