I went to Washington for a getaway weekend. I thought it would be fun to have pretty, panoramic, iconic views for this stay. I booked a special water view room that was $525 a night. Expensive but I had heard that Mandarin Oriental really understood luxury so I felt sure that they would make the splurge worthwhile.
I could not have been more wrong.
I checked in on Friday evening. The nice lady at the check-in said, "You are only with us for one night?" To which I replied loud and clear, "No, there must be a mistake, I am staying until Sunday morning." She looked at her computer and said, "My mistake."
I was not offered a bellman to take up my bag which surprised me but in fact I only had a small bag so that was fine.
I arrived in the room which did have a very pretty view of the basin, Lincoln Memorial and some kind of marina. The room was not on a high floor as I had asked but high enough to appreciate the vista.
I took a bath before going out and was surprised turning on the tap to get sprayed by the tub's shower. Obviously the cleaning lady had left it at the shower setting after cleaning the tub. Really unpleasant surprise.
The bath itself seemed very dated and in need of recaulking. The venetian shades in the bathroom looked more appropriate for an office than a luxury bathroom.
The toiletries are Gilchrist and Soames and not luxurious and exclusive at all.
I went down to the bar to meet a friend for a drink. No one was there to lead me to a table, the place was packed and clearly understaffed by rather unpolished waitstaff. I made my way to the only table that was outside, which was fine, and ordered a martini. Waiter was gone before I had a chance to say if I wanted it dry, dirty, with a twist... wow, they read minds?
I had room service delivered to my room that night. I asked, as a vegetarian, for a fried rice with tofu instead of meat, I was told, no problem, and then it arrived with pork and tofu!!
And lukewarm. No flowers on table, no bread. Incredibly basic.
Next morning I went out at 9 AM for a run expecting room to be cleaned by the time I returned (no sign available on door to ask for servicing btw) at 11AM- nope.
Went out to lunch and returned to find room being cleaned at 4PM!!
I went down to pool area to wait for my room to be cleaned. Pool is very much an afterthought. No music, no ambiance, one little door open to the outdoors to a very lackluster patio. Spa is much nicer and the hot tub was nice although in this day and age I think it's sad not to have a mixed-sex spa tub. Unless you're having a mother-daughter weekend who wants to sit in a single sex tub?
Needed to get on interned and found out that Mandarin Oriental charges a fee for this. Lots of places to do but when you are spending that kind of money don't you think they could throw in the internet connection? So cheesy.
Back from the pool my key no longer worked so I went down to the desk and asked for it to be fixed. Desk man fixed it without comment.
I was in the bath at 7:30 PM getting ready to go out when they came by for turndown service. Asked them come back in an hour. They never returned.
At 2 AM a loud banging on the door woke me up. I nearly died of fright (well, not really, but you can imagine). It was security announcing I was illegally occupying the room and should have left the day before. Mystery of non-functioning key now clear to me but why desk clerk didn't catch it at 5PM instead of 2AM we will never know.
I explained that it was the front desk's mistake and that I always intended on staying 2 nights and not one.
The next morning when I went to check out I asked for an explanation of events. I was met with great defensiveness and only the most lukewarm and insincere apology. Certainly no refund or rebate was offered. I was completely offended by their attitude.
There was a man lurking about during this exchange and as an afterthought the desk clerk asked this man, a limo driver, to take me to the airport "for the normal charge of a taxi". How generous!! This creep took me to the airport and had the gall to charge me $25 which was $10 more than the cab charged me go from the airport to the hotel.
Talk about one final kick in the teeth!
I was going to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant, just for conveniences sake, but after the cocktails arrived 20 minutes after the almost inedible oysters (full of grit, lukewarm, and a tasteless variety - only type offered), we decided to go elsewhere.
I was completely unimpressed by the decor, the inexperience and poor training of the staff (who seemed in general a nice if hapless lot), and the general lack of warmth and luxury.
Something is dreadfully wrong with this property. I don't know if it is a problem only with this hotel or across the board with the chain but it certainly takes it off my list of hotel brands to consider when I travel.
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