I’ve had many trips to Atlanta for business and pleasure and felt compelled to blog this time. They say there’s a first time for everything, and here it is, my first negative review of a Starwood Property.
I checked into the W Atlanta Buckhead and was so pleased to hear I’d been upgraded. I had no idea the nightmare I was about to have. The lobby is dark and noisy, but the artwork is great. The staff is hit-or-miss. Check-in experience was very good, but when I encountered a problem that evening, it was not dealt with well until I got a manager involved. There’s no concierge lounge and even though I got a certificate in my check-in packet for a free water – they informed me they ran out of mini-bar keys. Hmmm…are people stealing mini-bar keys? How do you run out?
So here’s the story – The man in the room that connected to my spectacular room had his TV on. It was loud! At mid-night, he still had his TV on, and I could hear everything, verbatim. 1am, TV still on, 2am TV still on…and finally, just after 2am someone called security. They knocked, I heard the whole conversation, he turned down the volume slightly and then, about 20 minutes later, turned it right back up. 3am, someone else called security. They knocked, had a conversation, he turned down the volume and again, when they were gone, turned it right back up. So finally at 4:15am I called security. They came back, knocked, had a conversation (yep, I heard the whole thing) and finally, around 4:30am he turned off the TV! Who does this? We’re at the W for heaven’s sake.
Well, it’s not the hotels fault, so I was still pretty calm, but definitely grumpy when my alarm when off 2 hours later. I didn’t get pissed off until I made my way to the registration desk and had a less than lovely encounter with the hotel staff.
I asked, the man at the desk if they could move me to a different room if the person next door was not checking out. He looked up my room – saw that I am Platinum – and then looked up the room next door. He confirmed that the person was not checking out, and promptly told me “sorry, I can’t move your room though, we’re sold out.” I asked if they could move me before some other’s checked in today. “nope, we can’t do anything” was the reply I got.
So, I went to work, and stewed all day. I returned to the hotel after a very long day at work and asked for a manager. I was prepared for a fight. I told him the situation and requested that he move my room – after all, I’m a loyal guest, it’s the least they could do. He actually agreed and within 5 minutes a member of the staff (Robert) escorted me to my old room, got my bag and brought me to the new room. Now that’s what should have happened this morning.
All-in-all, I don’t think the W is worth it. It’s trendy, stylish and the definately cool, but for business, I prefer the W or Sheraton.
Next time I’m back in ATL for business, I’ll be staying at the Westin Buckhead. So much nicer! They have a concierge lounge, great breakfast, bright, airy lobby with lots of space and oh, yes, the rooms are much, much quieter!