If you want housekeeping entering your room while you, ahem, celebrate your wedding...
If you want to be flippantly told by the front desk staff "Oh, we have you in our system as already checked out" after this happens...
If your idea of great concierge service is the concierge directing you (without eye contact) to the basement when you ask for a xerox of your wedding license...
If you want attitude and near eye-rolls during your stay...
check in right away to the InterContinental!
My husband and I were married in New York last April. We were trying to save money, and got a less expensive hotel for the days leading up the wedding, and "splurged" to stay here for the night before our wedding and the wedding night. After those two days, we wished we would have stayed at the budget hotel the whole time, as we were treated much more nicely there.
The good: The beds are very comfortable, The bathrooms are beautiful. Housekeeping service is friendly and good... when they are welcome in the room (more on that below).
The bad: I'll go ahead and start with the very worst. We initially booked one night, then added a second night on. I called before our arrival to make sure both nights were "linked" on one reservation, and was told no problem. When we showed up, the person at the desk says "You're staying with us just for tonight?" They spent awhile (supposedly!) straightening things out, and then we waited (see below). Fast forward to our wedding night, when a housekeeper comes to the door. She seems surprised to find anyone in the room, and said her papers show only one night booked in that room. We tell her that is incorrect, and she apologizes and leaves. As anyone who has had a wedding knows, it's tiring and sometimes the "wedding night" happens the next morning. Well, right in the middle of that happening, our door is opened! A very embarrassed housekeeper closes it right away. We heae chattering in the hall. A few minutes later, another person knocks on the door, explaining we were supposed to have checked out the day before. REALLY? That was probably the worst part of our stay, but let's go back to the beginning...
We went to check in at 2:55. I know this is technically early, and I was prepared to wait a few minutes for the room. I was not prepared to hear a sigh and "check in is not until 3pm." I was friendly, and said that we could wait, and mentioned that we were staying there for our wedding. "Uh-huh" was the flat response. We finally got a room around 3:30 (I can't be five minutes early, but they can be half an hour late.)
I have a Priority Club Platinum membership, which at most Holiday Inn affiliated hotels gets me free internet. When I asked at the front desk if that would be true here, the man practically scowled and said, "Well not just for base Priority Club members. We include it for members of the Ambassador Club." That information could have been conveyed a much different manner. But more importantly, why is a $400+ a night hotel charging $15 to use the internet, when every other rinky dink hotel includes it?
I had heard great things about the concierge desk here, and several people mention getting extras like champagne, flowers, and chocolates for birthdays and anniversaries. I had no expectation of these things until I read these stories, but once I saw those anecdotes it was strange that for our wedding day we not only didn't get a gift/acknowledgment of any kind, but no one could even deign to say congratulations or smile. Our wedding photographer opened the door for me while I walked through the lobby in my wedding dress with bouquet, while three bellman stood by looking at me without a smile. They clearly saw me; the next day one of them said to me and my husband, "Still happy with your decision one day in?" My decision to get married? Yes. Our hotel choice? No.
The next day I called the concierge, and excitedly said "We were married yesterday! Can you help me to get a copy of my wedding certificate?" No 'congratulations,' just "there's a business center in the basement with a self-pay copy machine." I will note the man running the business center was very nice and helpful, and was the best staff member we encountered the whole stay. Of course they keep him in the basement.
I don't expect the place to go out of their way for us just because it's our wedding day. But a congratulations or a smile from anyone at the front desk or on the concierge team would have gone a long way toward making me feel like this place has good service. There are so many better choices in NYC if you actually value adequate service.
It was disappointing to read so many great reviews of the service and have a terrible experience. I contacted management with my story in April, and never heard back. That says it all right there.
hotel reviews