We came to Baltimore for the Sailabration event the last weekend of June. My wife booked this hotel through the event website- not directly through the hotel. She booked it based primarily on location and the promise of "Harborview Room". It was definitely a good price for $249/night for 2 nights. We received our confirmation from the hotel and we were good to go. I usually take care of travel arrangements for my family as with a prior job I travelled extensively. My only concern with this reservation was hearing about the change in ownership prior to our stay but was willing to try as I have stayed in the Boston Royal Sonesta and was impressed.
Upon arrival there were several groups ahead of us at check in, each group was getting agitated upon hearing that the room they had reserved was not available I was beginning to get nervous as we arrvied at the checkin desk, and sure enough- we were told the harborview room we had booked was not available. The business traveller in me took over and involved the manager- needless to say all of a sudden Harborview room was available but needed to be cleaned. Apparently due to the large crowds housekeeping was behind. Note to hotel staff-BE HONEST with guests- most of us are reasonable people. We were offered free drinks at the bar with an estimated wait time of 2-3 hours for our room to be ready. We checked our luggage, got our drinks, went out for dinner, and our room was ready when we got back. There was also a complimentary bottle of white wine and excellent cheese plate waiting for us with a letter of apology from the concierge about the check in issue. This was the only real issue at this hotel. My rating would have been higher if the staff had not attempted to shunt us into a less desirable room, it really got our vacation off to a bad start. Below I have listed the good/ bad for the hotel:
Bad:
Check-in
Parking (self park have to cross entrance to garage outdoors, go down 4 steps then thru a maze of corridors to check in)
Room service/housekeeping slow to fill requests (however they did meet all my requests eventually)
Good:
Room and view were beautiful, clean and well appointed.
Staff generally helpful
great pool and garden on rooftop
fantastic location
I would stay here again with a discounted rate if available- not sure if I would pay full price until the bugs are worked out
hotel reviews