"⭐☆☆☆☆ One of the most disappointing “five-star” hotel experiences we’ve ever had.
I genuinely have no idea how this hotel qualifies as a five-star property.
We paid almost $400 for a Tuesday night, expecting the comfort, professionalism and service associated with a luxury hotel. Instead, this became one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had.
We were traveling by car with our six-year-old daughter, and one of the main reasons we chose this hotel was because Booking.com clearly advertises:
* Valet parking
* Parking garage
* Private parking available on site (reservation is not needed)
To any reasonable guest, this creates one clear expectation: if you arrive by car, the hotel will have parking available.
Instead, after a long drive, we were told that the garage was already full.
Our issue is not that the hotel has limited parking. Our issue is that nowhere does it warn guests that parking may already be full upon arrival. If parking cannot be guaranteed, simply disclose it. A sentence such as “Parking is subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed” would have allowed us to make an informed decision.
Had we known this beforehand, we would never have booked this hotel.
Before we even entered our room, we asked to speak with the manager.
We calmly explained the situation and simply asked if they would refund our reservation so we could book another hotel.
The answer was no.
What made the situation even more disappointing was that the manager never even came to speak with us in person.
We were standing in the hotel lobby asking for help, yet every conversation with the manager took place over the phone. She never came downstairs, never introduced herself, never listened to our concerns face-to-face and never made any effort to understand why we wanted to leave.
Instead, we were simply told that because our Booking.com reservation was non-refundable, the hotel would not refund us.
That was it.
No discussion.
No empathy.
No apology.
No attempt to find a solution.
No effort to make us feel like valued guests.
At that point, we had no real choice. After driving for hours with a young child, we either had to lose almost $400 or stay.
So we went to our room.
And that was when things became even worse.
The room was below ground level and honestly felt more like a basement than a luxury hotel room.
The only thing outside the window was a concrete wall covered with weeds and overgrown vegetation. Not a landscaped garden. Not a pleasant courtyard. Just an ugly wall with neglected weeds.
The room itself felt cold, dark and institutional. The tiled floors and overall atmosphere reminded us more of a hospital room than a luxury hotel. There was absolutely nothing warm, elegant or welcoming about it.
Then we opened the window.
It wouldn’t even close properly.
For a hotel charging nearly $400 per night, this is simply unacceptable.
As if that wasn’t enough, reaching the room itself was another shock.
To get from the reception to our building, guests have to walk along an extremely narrow sidewalk directly beside a busy public road while cars and heavy trucks pass only a few feet away.
This is not because we parked somewhere else.
This is not temporary.
This is simply the hotel’s official route to those rooms.
We even watched another group of guests dragging their luggage along exactly the same path.
Walking beside speeding traffic while holding the hand of our six-year-old daughter is not what anyone expects from a hotel that calls itself five stars.
What disappointed us most, however, was not that problems occurred.
Problems can happen anywhere.
A true luxury hotel is defined by how it responds when things go wrong.
Here, there was no effort whatsoever.
No alternative room.
No upgrade.
No complimentary breakfast.
No dinner.
No drink.
No late check-out.
No goodwill gesture.
Nothing.
After paying almost $400, we felt that once the hotel had our money, our concerns simply no longer mattered.
I also want to be completely fair and recognize the one employee who truly deserves praise: the bellboy.
He was the only person who treated us with genuine kindness, professionalism and respect. He clearly saw how disappointed we were and did everything within his authority to help us. Unfortunately, the decisions were not his to make.
He was the only member of the staff who made us feel that someone genuinely cared about our experience, and he deserves recognition for that.
Sadly, the management showed none of the same professionalism.
A five-star hotel is not defined by a beautiful lobby.
It is defined by honesty.
It is defined by professionalism.
It is defined by guest safety.
It is defined by exceptional customer service.
Most importantly, it is defined by how management treats guests when something goes wrong.
Unfortunately, our experience reflected none of those standards.
* Misleading parking information.
* No warning that parking may already be unavailable upon arrival.
* A manager who never even came to speak with us in person.
* Guests expected to walk beside speeding traffic to reach their rooms.
* A basement room with a view of a concrete wall and weeds.
* A window that didn’t even function properly.
* No attempt whatsoever to resolve the situation.
* Customer service completely unworthy of a hotel claiming to be five stars.
For nearly $400 on a Tuesday night, this experience was unacceptable.
This hotel may officially have five stars, but our experience reflected none of the standards those stars are supposed to represent. If this is what five-star hospitality looks like, then the meaning of five stars has truly been lost. We will never return, and we strongly recommend that future guests choose another hotel."
