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| - One of the worst hotel stays in our experience for a property in this class. A two star rating and not one only because the housekeeping was good - room was clean and the sheets and pillows were comfy.
But maintenance problems were abundant, guest service was poor and local management response was lackluster.
We would not stay here again, we would not recommend it to others, and it was poor enough for facility and service that it left us with a bad perspective of the Sheraton brand overall.
This is not an inexpensive place to stay, with real dollars or SPG points used. Were it a Motel 6 rate, one gets what one pays for. But here, the expectation of return for price paid is clearly off kilter in reality.
There are lots of good hospitality property options in the Phoenix area. This is not one of them. Details follow for how we "got there" for those interested.
LACKLUSTER LOCAL MANAGEMENT:
We provided candid feedback on the guest survey we received from Sheraton not long after our one night stay. We itemized the same issues as we'll share here.
The first local management response we received to our feedback may help explain why service process and maintenance here are poor. The manager agreed the rooms were in bad shape, that corporate needed to provide the funds to update them, and he hoped we'd stay again.
Huh?
Because the deal here is, aging facility aside, it was local maintenance problems that caused our "ugh" response. Local maintenance problems are completely in control of local management through maintenance staff priority setting and supervision.
As were the customer service problems we encountered fixable through service process and staff training .
Clearly overdue corporate commitment to property renovation aside, the lack of ownership tone in local management response may help explain why this property is in decline.
SETTING CONTEXT:
It helps to set context for reviews we think, so will share that we are Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Gold members due to owning a Starwood (Westin Kierland) timeshare. We stayed at this Sheraton Crescent property using a signficant number of SPG points. In the mode of expecting to get what you paid for, we feel taken to have those points used to return what we'd expect at a low end budget motel.
ROOM PROBLEMS:
Here's just a few of the reasons we were so unhappy for the room: 1) Room air vents were filthy with accumulated dust and dirt.. 2)Paint on ceiling in bathrooms was stained and bubbled. 3) Small and dark shower had heavy accumulation of lime scale on door and crumbling marble inside.
All of the above could have been mitigated with local management paying attention to maintenance. And we had to wonder...
...if the rooms to which they assign "Preferred" guests, which have designated floors and hypothetically are supposed to be better rooms, are in such poor shape, what are the rooms for all others like?
...orr did we simply get stuck with a poor room because we WERE SPG guests using points?
SERVICE PROBLEMS & SPG "BAIT" POLICY ISSUES:
1) It was clear that the front desk staff could have avoided the assignment of this room if they had the correct processes in place and training to do it as the hotel was not nearly full on that day and there were many rooms from which to choose.
2) In addition, at check in we were pitched an upgrade $15 fee by the desk clerk to move to a larger room. Which seems shameful bait to us given the SPG policy is for SPG gold members to receive free upgrades on check in when upgrades are available that day. We realize the desk staff doesn't set the conflicting policies, but this is part of the "guests as bait" SPG policies that make us increasingly unlikely to use SPG properties when we travel.
3) Last, after we returned from dinner I went to the desk to ask if I could get an extra coffee packet for our room . Informed there were none at the desk, I was told someone would bring extra coffee up "in a few minutes". That never happened, nor did the desk follow up to explain why it didn't happen. Bad form for service process.
It's a little thing, but it is a thing. A thing that is consistent with apparent lack of ownership at local management level that is mirrored in staff.
4) Finally, when we communicated to the desk staff on the morning of our checkout how poor was the condition of the room and bathroom, the response was this, "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your stay." No commitment to follow up to have the room problems addressed.
POSTSCRIPT: Weeks after our stay, a manager reached out with offer to refund our SPG points as apology for the woefully maintained room. Nice gesture. When after two weeks of waiting, the credit had not appeared, we followed up to learn "ooops...staff failed to take care of this." That we had to chase the manager on this issue to ensure follow through is consistent with the lack of attention to quality here overall.
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