UPDATE–Apparently W Hotel City Center GM Edwin Frizell agrees with me on my displeasure. He refunded my entire stay. That’s class.
Given I expressed upfront that there were certain levels of expectations that needed to be met, he felt they didn’t deliver. What was also disturbing is he never got any message that I asked to speak with him while I was a guest, but he said he was traveling, but then again so was I. Bottom line, he restored my faith in the W brand, so I’ll give them another shot.
The month has just recently begun, but after three great stays in three great hotels, Seattle’s Hotel 1000, the swanky and ultra discreet London-NYC in Manhattan and the always reliable Sofitel in Philadelphia, I hit a speed-bump in Chicago.
My chosen hotel was the W City Center. MISTAKE. At $400 a night I expect just about perfection. What I got was average broadband as their 350 room hotel plus public areas is running off of a bundled T1, meaning 3 megs of bandwidth for a property that’s got a lot of people in the hotel all the time.
But here’s the kicker, if you use the public areas like lobby WiFi you’re knocked off every 30 minutes or so, as some genius set the router lease that way. It wasn’t the IT Manager who was super apologetic about it because he had no clue about the short lease, but explained it was likely due to people nearby wanting to latch on to their WiFi. Nor was it the Director of Operations who admitted he had no idea what a router lease was when I spoke to him about that. I doubt they homeless outside need Internet access, but if they do McDonalds offers free WiFi with coffee and the Corner Bakery down the street does as well.
Why is it an issue? Well on Tuesday when I first arrived earlier than expected I planned on having breakfast and getting some work done while waiting for my room. You see, hotels to me are not just for the S’s (sleep, shower, shave, sex and S*&*) but for work too. Just as you don’t rent a “sleeping room” but a “guest room” the public areas are also used by Global Nomads for more than simply something to look at. Anyway, back to breakfast. The very nice manager on duty apologized and said my room would be ready soon, but that there was free Internet all over the hotel lobby and restaurant area. NOT. It seemed the nice corner table I chose was out of WiFi range, so I was moved by the IT manager to the lobby to eat. Cool. Except thirty minutes later, in the middle of a voice call over my laptop, POOF, there went the connection. No warning. No advance notice. Nothing. It happened again thirty minutes later.
Yesterday, right in the middle of executing a secure transaction online, the same thing happened. I had spent a good seven minutes running through a hotel reservation system for an upcoming trip. I was just completing the transaction when the W City Center’s WiFi time dropped my lease. Now we’re not sure if the reservation is made or not, or what the status is. End result, we have to call the Palazzo in Las Vegas or run the risk of having a double booking (and a possible double charge.)
What did this mean? Well for the last four days instead of enjoying the lobby and spending money in the restaurant my wife and I were either at the conference in another hotel or as she said “leaving the hotel so I could find a place to work that had Internet other than in our room.”
Helene, who is online as much as I am, needed to do some work, but the W’s restaurant lack of quality Internet access clearly makes this a hotel that doesn’t grasp the idea that people do more than sleep and drink there.
But it gets worse. Someone, likely the never available by phone or to meet GM, seems to think that when the hour of 6 PM arrives the volume of the music should be louder in the public areas than a concert at the nearby United Center. I’m talking so loud when I asked about it two of the hotel staff leaned forward and said “sorry, what did you say.”
Here’s my point. Public areas are where I meet up with business colleagues and friends when I travel. I don’t invite them up to my guest room, and with a key required to access those floors, its even more difficult to even suggest that. So one reason for choosing the W was my past experiences in Silicon Valley, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hip and cool feel. Good drinks and a comfortable and relaxed lounging area. Not in Chicago. Talk about a hostile working environment. Every business meeting and even a casual meeting meant leaving the property in the evening hours.
Last but not least, was the tardiness of the housekeeping staff. On Friday we hung in our room until about 4 PM and then removed the Do Not Disturb sign and went wandering. We came back, had a cocktail, but couldn’t talk as the music was so loud. When we got back into our room around 730 or so we were horrified to see that the room wasn’t made up, but relieved that our laundry was returned. Let’s see. 5 PM Laundry returned. Bed not made. That means no one had the brains to call housekeeping and tell them the status of the room when they delivered the laundry. Talk about a lack of team work.
Bottom line, the W City Center in Chicago is NOT WORKING ANYWHERE APPROVED. And there’s now a GM whose on my list of people who should never be allowed to work anywhere but a dog kennel.