Yemaya K.
Yelp
This is the 3rd or 4th time I have stayed at Hotel Los Gatos, and the second time we have stayed since quarantine .
I know that the service industry has been hit hard over this last year, as I was unable to work for most of 2020- so I try to not write bad reviews...but ....
This hotel in previous visits , is our gem of a getaway, our reprieve from the hectic East Bay and a great way to spend a couple of days chilling, swimming, eating and walking downtown. It was ALWAYS 5 star in past visits.
This trip was different.
In the past we have been greeted by mature, courteous and professional front desk staff, that were a reflection of the reputation this hotel has. For our birthday trip a few years ago, there was an unexpected note and cupcakes for our special day ( our birthdays are a few days apart
) !
This time when we checked in, there were 4 people at the front desk that looked at us like we were interrupting them until I said I wanted to check in. The gal was nice , but the demeanor was still like we were bothering them. We checked into our room, and overall it seemed clean/ buttoned up as we rushed off to our dinner reservations.
First night was good, no issues. We weren't told when we reserved there was some minor construction going on-but realistically it didn't matter to us tho, as it didn't effect our day or sleep , but the fact it wasn't mentioned until we got to our room and found a note about it on our desk was off putting.
Not really how I would go about things as a person who has worked in a hotel (Sofitel ) and in high end kitchens across the country. After the first night the A/C froze ( I think) so it wasnt working when we woke up. We called the front desk and they said they would have to send maintenance up... I wasnt ready to leave the room so we just waited it out ...then finally a few hours later the AC kicked in and dripped on the carpet. There was also 2 giant cobwebs on the ceiling that my fiancee noticed.
I would have offered a room change, not maintenance in the guests room- if the AC wasnt working.
We left for the day to do wine tasting and then before dinner, came back to a note under our door that the smoke detectors and other emergency alarms were going to be checked at 10 am the next day, and we needed to have our rooms available for the fire inspector? to check. When my partner went down to talk to the front desk about the issue, a younger gentleman said "well clearly you are down here for a reason , what do you want ?" . Then he let us know they couldn't do anything for us and no supervisor was available until 11 pm and managers are on vacation so we can call Monday to speak to someone about the issue.
This fire inspector thing is the kind of thing you make sure people are aware of on check in. Like Literally, you make sure they are ok with the fact the entire building will be going off with fire alarms.
A little triggered I was, as last year I was in the middle of the Ashland/Talent fires in Oregon, a mile away from where I was staying... It isn the hotels fault ...but again if I was aware of this before booking, I might have made a different choice.
In all, this is a bad set of circumstances mixed with inexperienced hospitality workers.
I get it covid has really turned everything around.... but the young front desk staff doesn't seem to have experience in hospitality or care to.
Id get it if I was at a Motel 6 , but this hotel is known for its rooms , charm and amenities.
Our second day we waited until 11 PM to talk to Brian , the supervisor. WHO WAS AWESOME, he was the first person we interacted with during our stay who was professional, listened , and helped us.
We weren't looking for free stuff.... we hadn't had a vacation in months, and we just wanted to chill and sleep in.... We did end up leaving that night and driving 1.5 hours back home so we could sleep in , but Brian made it right . We still love this hotel , we wanted to get married here... but Hotel Los Gatos needs to bring back the quality of hospitality like Brian has , in all your workers that interact with guests.