This was by far the most frustrating hotel stay I have ever experienced. My fiancé and I traveled to Philadelphia from DC to celebrate our engagement. We were excited because we had heard great things about the Loews Chain of Hotels and it was our top choice to have our wedding reception there.
The first incident began upon arrival at 4:10 pm, when we went to check in we were told that there were no clean king rooms, but there were rooms with two double beds available. We paid for a king, so we said we would wait. We then proceeded to wait over an hour before the room was ready. After being slightly perturbed, we decided to brush it off and go up to our room and get ready for dinner.
After being in the room for 15 minutes, a maid knocked once and promptly opened the door and got a clear view of my fiancé changing. The housekeeper explained that the room had not been cleaned and she was told to clean it. This made us question 1.) The security of the room (the dead bolt was latched) and 2.) The cleanliness of the room (and if in fact we were staying in a clean room). I decided to call the front desk where I voiced my concerns, (after being told that simply putting the do not disturb sign out would prevent future intrusions) I was told that we would be receiving a complementary bottle of champagne and strawberries sent up to our room. 50 minutes passed of sitting in our room before I decided to call back down when I asked to speak to Marcus (the manager I had originally spoke to), I was told that he was not “available” (after being on hold for 5 minutes). I was then informed that he would make sure we received the champagne and that we would get a call back. Another hour passed with no champagne and no call. I decided to call down and say that we were leaving for dinner because we were late now for our reservations and that we would deal with this later.
We left had a great dinner at Morton’s and came back in good spirits despite the earlier incidents. We then decided before we turned in to check-in with the front desk to try and get some clarity on the status of our champagne. We respectfully voiced our concerns to an individual at the front desk who told us that the champagne had been delivered to our room and that “Josh” had left a note that our room would be complimentary due to the earlier incidents. I asked the individual for some contact information or a printed confirmation that our room would be free (I booked through a third party website so I could not get the refund on-site). I agreed that I would go through the appropriate channels to get the refund, but again simply wanted confirmation that this would in fact happen. The situation quickly escalated when the flustered employee decided to call Jessica (the night manager) to deal with the situation. My fiancé at this point was quite upset that we could not get a simple piece of paper assuring us that we could get a refund. Our reasonable frustration logically escalated and prompted a pompous security guard (void of any coping mechanisms or tact) to inform a crying five foot tall female that we had two options either go up to our room and take the “algid” free room or get kicked out… Yes, get kicked out for sensibly voicing our concerns about not being able to get a piece of paper with a name and a number on it.
This was the most exhausting and taxing experience I have ever dealt with in a hotel or any customer service environment. We spent our entire trip not relaxing or talking about our upcoming wedding, but instead talking about the way we were treated by the employees and the downright ridiculousness of all of the situations we encountered while at the Loews. I realize this is a service industry and there are a lot of difficulties and annoyances that staff deals with. We never asked for any of the items the staff offered: I did not request a bottle of champagne or a free room, but when I am told I will be receiving them I expect to receive them and in a curious and timely manner.
I have never seen such an arrogant and argumentative customer service model. I ask for just the basics in a hotel and I spend my money to be treated like a “guest”. I felt like I was in line at the DMV for all of 20 hours I spent at the Loews Hotel. I kept putting myself in the shoes of one of our wedding guests and imagining if they went through a fraction of what we did, how awful I would feel. I am sure I will never see a cent of the refund and we will certainly be having our wedding reception elsewhere.
hotel reviews