It's unfortunate that my week long stay had to be tarnished by a few (yes, more than one) bad encounters with people at the front desk.
We booked our rooms through the RSNA (a very large conference) that we attend yearly (11th year for us). We've stayed at the Palmer House and the Hampton Majestic previous to this property. We chose The Homewood Suites because of its location to nearly everything, which is quite perfect.
After reading multiple reviews about this property I waited until I knew that the hotel had the rooming information from the conference, I called the property and was transferred to reservations who couldn't understand why I was requesting a corner suite and a suite nearby for my in-laws, who are from another country. The person from the reservation center transferred me to another person who understood what I was asking but wasn't sure why I was transferred to them and had me call the hotel directly, again. This time I spoke with Marcus who was very helpful and accommodating. He explained the room types to me and stated that he was going to actually hold two rooms for us next to each other, one of which was a corner suite. A few days later my husband called but wasa told he would have to call during regular business hours and ask for someone in the sales department to switch the credit card we had on the rooms. I called back to change the credit card on the reservation from mine, to my mother-in-law's card. I was transferred to the number of a woman in the sales office at the property and had to leave a message, which is did (on Wednesday). I called back right away and asked the gal at the front desk if there was someone else I could speak with. That woman at the front desk was actually able to help me right away so I'm still not sure why we were told to speak with someone during business no
It's in the sales department. So we arrived on Saturday afternoon and were greeted by a grinch. I walked up with my MIL and asked the gentleman at the front desk if he was Marcus, the frown that he had when I walked up actually got even more frowny... A scowl. He said "No" (This was Michael)... Very matter of fact like and what appeared to be anger for me assuming he could be Marcus. Then proceeded to scold me for believing that anyone would have told me what Marcus said when I spoke with him. To make matters worse Michael, then tells us that there we no corner rooms left near another room for my in-laws. After about 10 minutes of back and forth with Michael, he said that he would put us on a higher floor near one another but neither were a corner room. At this point we were just annoyed that he was so grumpy and took whatever. We went to our floor (13) and to our separate rooms, just a couple of doors apart. 3 Days into our trip we went into my in-laws room and discovered that their room was indeed a corner room. At this point I was infuriated but the was nothing I could do about it.
First of all... Michael should greet guests with a smile or less of a scowl. Michael should know which rooms are corners and which are not. If he had done these two things that I assume should be normal protocol for someone in his position, my perception of this property would be much different and our vacation/conference experience would have been less aggravating.
Every time we said something positive about the property to one another we would always end it with... "It's too bad that the front desk is so rude".
Positives:
Absolutely the best location (maybe that's why they get away with a grimacing front desk)
Better than average breakfast
Excellent evening managers reception
Decent pool (although no hot tub)
Very friendly door men and housekeeping
Quiet rooms
Love having a kitchen... Especially with so many grocery type places near by
Negatives:
Impossible to regulate the heat in the room. It's either hot or cold, never comfortable in both the living and bedroom. I have the thermostat on 78 right now just so that the bedroom is warm.
The bed is worn and should be replaced. My husband and I roll into the middle.
No king pillows on the king bed.
When you go to the bathroom you can hear absolutely everything coming from the room next door... Everything.
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