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| - I ended up staying in the Palliser due to some rather bad weather that Calgary was having recently; I found online that the Palliser was having some great 'weekend' specials, so I figured it would be worth the stay to stay somewhere nice, rather than be stuck in a Super 8 someplace. I also decided to go with the Fairmont President's Club membership, which allows access to the "gold" rooms...
So, I get there and I'm cold and tired from the short but exhausting trek from work (too much snow, too many people, etc). I went to the 8th floor to check-in, and was pleasantly surprised, the woman on the front desk was very nice, and accommodating and was willing even to give me a tour of the hotel so I knew where everything was. I didn't take her up on this offer, but rather headed out to my room.
I got to the room and it was COLD even though the heat in the bathroom and supposedly in the bedroom was on at full blast. So I asked up at the reception, and they had someone from maintenance there within 15 min, so in that aspect the service was great.
Then, I tried to order some food. I realize that I am terribly picky when it comes to food, but usually if I'm hungry I let quality slip a bit. So they brought up my calamari and my 'butter chicken'. I ate the calamari - it was rubbery and not overly fresh, but it wasn't horrible. Then I cracked into the butter chicken - which looked disgusting - like a brown sludge was over it. The 'basmati rice' looked like it had been drowned in oil, with weird brown pieces strewn throughout (those were supposed to be onions, but looked like worms); the "raita" was more like a sourcream sauce than a yogurt-based sauce. Now, if the dish had been decent within itself, I would have eaten it. But the rice tasted like kitchen cleaner, the chicken was overcooked, and the other bits on the plate weren't much to look at either. So I called down and told them I wasn't impressed... their response? "Well, that's the first time I've heard that!".. and then SHE ARGUED WITH ME (!) about how their chef was from India, and how she'd never heard of such a thing, yadda yadda. I asked her if the executive chef prepared my meal.. "Well, no".. which was exactly what my point was - maybe it was his recipe, but it was some poor schlub making $8/hr that actually cooked it - and cooked it poorly.
So I asked about getting a replacement meal, and asked if the seafood in the seafood pasta was fresh "Yes, everything is fresh".. well, I should have asked if the seafood was overcooked and old too, because honestly, that is what it tasted like. And again, much like the calamari, it was just not the standard that I would expect the Fairmont to meet But by this time I was hungry, so I ate the pasta - but the mussels were OLD in the mix, the halibut in the seafood was overcooked and dry.
So far this has only been about food. I guess when someone argues with me about my reaction to their food that puts me off a bit. But the real kicker was the loudness. I had specifically requested a very quiet room - away from the elevators and ice machines.. so I was away from the elevators and ice machines, but I was *not* away from the TRAIN. There is a large train track that runs right behind the hotel, and it ran about 5 trains during the night - usually no horns or whatnot, but still the clackity clack is just a bit much.
In the morning I woke up, was able to enjoy a complimentary breakfast because of that whole President's club thing, and then I went to check out. SO I was asked if all was okay, and I said, "Well, the room was a tinch loud", and the woman at the front desk nearly jumped down my throat, "well, we gave you the quietest room in the hotel, and there isn't much we can do to stop the noise from the train..". Then she went to print out my charges for the room, but I wanted to look it over before I left - and she walked away, instead of asking me if everything was okay! I had to make sure that my charges for my food were correct, but they weren't making sense, so she was eventually able to confirm them. But it was such a PROCESS that it shouldn't have been.
I left to go and get a taxi or something (whatever I could find outside) and was waiting in a taxi line behind another girl. There was the valet guy, he asked her what she needed, but never made eye contact with me, nor asked me if I needed assistance, or even acknowledged me. I realize that at that point I had on winter boots, massive winter jacked and was not well "made-up" but guy didn't need to overtly judge me like that. I'm sure he didn't know, or care, that I work in the same city, and in fact look for places to book visiting dignitaries on a regular basis - there could have been a LOT more business for the Palliser if I would have been a bit better responded to... but with service as it was - intermittent, and when issues were brought up, the staff became defensive - I don't know that I could recommend them.
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