Rick L.
Yelp
I'm a fan of Kimpton hotels and have stayed at a number of them in cities all over the U.S. So I was excited when planning a vacation in Savannah that one existed here. Unfortunately, the overall experience was not up to the standards and amenities I'd experienced at every other Kimpton I'd been to and, if returning to Savannah I would stay somewhere else.
The hotel is on the edge of the historic district...yes it's across the street from what will eventually be an expanded River District, but it's not there yet, so it's probably a 10 minutes(ish) walk to get to the center of anything on the river or most of the sites and restaurants in the center of everything. That wouldn't have bothered us so much if the hotel was a better experience.
They do have the famous Kimpton wine hour at 5pm, though, unlike every other Kimpton we've been to, they serve the wine in plastic cups instead of glasses which didn't feel quite as nice. The lobby is smartly decorated with books etc and is cool to hang out in.
Our room was a King Jr. Suite (room 229 in case anyone on board wants to check any of the following out) These rooms are accessed by an outside hallway, whereas much of the other hotel room's doors are accessed by air-conditioned hallways...so we found the room was fighting the humidity quite a bit. In fact our room felt damp from the moment we first checked in...it smelled a little musty and the carpet itself was the slightest bit damp. This bled over into the bedroom where after being out in humid Savannah all day, the sheets in our bed never felt exactly dry leading to uncomfortable sleep. (We stayed in 2 other humid cities on this trip and did not have this issue in either hotel including another Kimpton.)
I hate to use words that feel exaggerated in reviews, but housekeeping here was terrible. During our 4 night stay, after the third night, we noticed our room hadn't been serviced at all. Not cleaned, no bed made, bathroom items not restocked and no new towels. Literally, no one from housekeeping had set foot in our room during those first three nights.
We called down on the first night to get an extra pillow and blanket. No one every brought us an extra pillow or blanket.
On our second day we noticed the iron was not working. We called down to ask for a new iron. No new iron was ever brought to our room.
The bathroom itself was nice...we liked the large walk in shower with soaking tub. But a few little oddities...there were bars of soap, but no soap dish so after using it, it would stick to the counter. We ended up make-shifting a soap dish with the cardboard that the soap came in which housekeeping didn't attend to. There was a box of facial tissue, but not in a tissue box of any kind...just a generic brand cardboard box of tissues sitting on the counter...which almost ran out while we were there.
In the lobby, the fruit-infused water which we love from all our other Kimpton stays (including another one later on in this trip) was almost always empty. I recall coming back to the hotel after a full day or evening out on 3 separate days and the water being completely out. It's a tiny container too which we noticed when we were there and which was accentuated when we want to another Hilton later on in this trip to see a huge water container which was never empty. The first time I noticed it empty I asked the person behind the front desk and he said that he had just filled it but lots of people came down and filled up large water containers. (And they were out of water bottles.) Okay, I guess that was an issue, but since we encountered again, empty, 2 more times on 2 different days, maybe they should realize they're not meeting their customer's needs with what they're providing.
The exterior facilities of the hotel felt a little dates...the pool especially didn't feel particularly modern or boutique. The fitness room was small and very little to do in it. A few machines and, unlike almost every other fitness room I had been in at other Kimptons and other companies' hotels, no handheld free weights...so that didn't serve our needs either.
While we were checking out, the phone rang and the front desk person who was dealing with us, turned their attention to the phone call and spoke with them for a while before telling them they had another customer and putting them on hold.
So after all that (and we had a truly wonderful time in Savannah, a gorgeous city we definitely hope to return to) we were glad to leave and, if we're lucky enough to come back) we would choose to stay at a different hotel. Probably one closer to the center of the River Front District.