Bryan B.
Yelp
Hotel Deluxe Review
As a very experienced solo traveler, I had no reason to believe that my stay would be anything but a good experience. Having worked for a major airline, I am well acquainted with hotels inside and out. I should have read the negative reviews more closely. Following are my impressions, of my experience.
Pros
Location. Being originally from Portland, I knew the layout of the land and wanted to stay centrally located to downtown and the alphabet district. Goose Hollow served that purpose, and there is a Max train two blocks away at Providence Park that serves the airport.
Price. I used Airline miles to pay for the room. My receipt indicates that the price paid includes tax and fees. This is not quite true as there are numerous other small change junk taxes and fees such as the " Tourism Assessment," at .87 per night, city/state tax of 3.77 per night based on the "Guest Amenity Fee of $29 per night. (More on junk fees later).
Cons
Older hotel remodel with a redundant Hollywood theme. Lobby was nice enough and checkin was straight forward. Staff pleasant, fast talking, and a credit card was dinged for $100 plus per night for "incidentals," should I incur them. After arriving at the 6th floor, I was greeted with an overwhelming musty, dusty odor in the hallway, which was dim and a little tired. The room smell was no better, and I regretted not packing my room candle or air freshener. The room itself was just okay. Comfy bed, large TV, and appeared reasonably clean. Oddly, there was no city guide, hotel information or brochures describing anything about the hotel, restaurants or city. There was however, the ubiquitous "personal message" with envelope from the maid, requesting a tip. I made note of the message from management stating that rooms would NOT be refreshed daily, unless you called and specifically requested it during certain hours. There was a broken refrigerator in a cabinet, no coffeemaker (a pet peeve) or drinking glasses. An $8 bottle of water adorned a desk. I supposed we are expected to tip for zero maid service. During my 3 day stay, I never heard or saw a single maid on my floor. There were no rubbish bins to empty trash. There was however a maid cart, which stayed parked outside the elevator, where I guess you could help yourself to fresh towels or soap. It was another oddity of the hotel.
I never used the over priced hotel restaurants or bar. In fact I did not use any amenities the hotel states were available. However, this did not stop the Guest amenity fee of $29 per night. Nor was I ever informed at check in what these amenities were or how to go about getting them.
Here is a list of the "amenities" sent to me by text from the manager after I complained.
Wi-Fi ( complimentary in most hotels)
Use of gym/Pelton bikes, MirrorWell and Fit kits ( use of gym for hotel guests are usually complimentary. The other things, I've never heard of.)
Bike rentals ( not interested)
Car charging station ( no car)
Morning coffee station ( the morning of checkout there was no coffee, only a bucket of iced tap water)
Fresh fruit in lobby (literally an apple, orange and banana in a basket sitting forlornly on the front desk, which I thought was for decoration. No one offered and I didn't ask.)
That's it. $29 plus taxes per night.
What became crystal clear was the hotel was nickel and diming guests for things that are complimentary and standard in most hotels. Further, they never tell you at checkin about this poor list of amenities, probably from sheer embarrassment.
Overall, the stay was just okay, until check out, where you are hit with extortionist pricing for things never used.
Suggestion to hotel. Print a copy of these amenities and provide with the room key. Let the guest know how much this will cost whether they use them or not. Better yet, charge a la carte for these items. Businesses can no longer use the pandemic as an excuse for poor service and gouging the consumer.
Personally, I have decided that I will never book another hotel that has any additional fee for items that are traditionally part of the room cost. This practice of charging resort, amenity, spa and other junk fees are illegal in California. Hopefully, the rest of the country will catch up. Booking online may not give you the whole story. Call the hotel directly and ask about junk fees before booking online.
In my very limited interaction with hotel staff, I note they were polite. The hotel manager refunded 2 of the 3 nights of "amenity fees," for my "inconvenience." All 3 nights of fees should have been refunded, but I accepted his kindness, and just decided never to book with the hotel again. However, I just had my credit card charged the full amount of the guest amenity fee of $100.92 and an additional charge of $7 for unknown reasons. I have had to dispute the charges with the credit card company and forward the text message from the hotel manager.