We got off to a very shaky start in their horrifying garage. It is the stuff that nightmares are made of. After two trips up and down through the garage, we finally found a parking spot which required carrying our luggage up a treacherous narrow stone set of stairs. Things didn't improve at the desk, we were given a room with two double beds, we could have lived with that even though it was our anniversary, but the room overlooked the pool on the second floor which requires that you carry your luggage up two flights of stairs. Not happening baby!!!
Back down to the desk we went and we were given a room on the 8th floor. The rooms are small and sadly lacking in amenities. No fridge, no microwave and not enough electric plugs. And only one rather small window which is unusual.
The mattresses are spring mattresses and not the least bit plush or luxurious. The funniest thing was the vanities, I am not tall, 5'3 1/2 inches and I have to stoop to use the sink. They look to be child height, very strange.
The room and the bathroom were both clean, I had no complaints in that department. I was also able to connect easily to the Internet. The TV was quite small but had a reasonable number of channels.
The lobby is quite lovely and the pool and the hot tub certainly are nice.
The hotel has a spa, Spa Elle and we were able to get reservations for massages. We need to relieve some of the stress caused but the previous issues.
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, One West. Like everything else, it needs updating. I ordered the Panzanella Salad which turned out to be tomatoes and mozzarella with balsamic on pita bread, what the what? It was described as having crispy Italian bread in it.
I then ordered the Thai curry mussels with garlic toast, they also came with pita bread, not garlic toast. Was there a sale on pita?
In fairness, Al had the Berkshire Pork Chop and it was fabulous with a great maple jus. We had a pineapple upside down cake for dessert and it was good, not great, but good.
Later in the evening, I wanted some ice. Since there was no folio in our room, I was unable to look up the information myself and called the front desk. The ice machine is on floor M, only one ice machine in a hotel with 179 rooms and 14 floors.
Did I mention that only two of the three elevators were working? And that very active train tracks are nearby?
Morning brought to light another very awkward setup. I went to make a cup of coffee. Good news, there is a sink outside the bathroom and that is where the coffee pot is located, bad news, there is no plug there so you need to move the coffee setup to another location in order to brew it.When I went to blow dry my hair I noticed that the blow dryer was cracked in several places, I am not sure how safe this is to use.
A USA Today was dropped outside our door on day one which was nice but not on day 2 and then again on day 3. The housekeeping supervisor checked in with us to make sure our room had been done up, which it had been however, on Friday we went out at 8:15 am and returned at 2 p.m. and our room had not been made up.
A fridge was also dropped off in our room at my request so that we could keep our food and drinks chilled, that was a vast improvement.
The hotel has recently been purchased and in order to remain a Crown Plaza, lots of updates will need to be done to the hotel and the garage. The basics are here, with the necessary updates, this could be a great property. The staff tries to make things right, everyone we met was lovely.
Having said that, I would not stay here again until things change or the rates are rock bottom cheap.
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