I made a reservation using points and could not book a suite with two beds. Since there were 4 of us traveling I asked for 2 beds in "stay preference" as well as in the comments of the reservation. They not ony assigned me a 2-bed suite, but actually upgraded me (probably for being IHG Spire) to a 2-bedroom suite. I was very thankful for that and appreciated it a lot.
After a very lengthy drive we arrived at the property a bit early, I showed up at front desk a 2:40pm. Usually, being a Spire IHG member, checking-in even much earlier is never a problem. They do sometimes need to shift rooms or tell me I could not get the top floor, etc. Here Renee was behind front desk. She told me my room was not ready and then glanced at the clock (probably to figure out when her shift was ending, so she wouldn't have to deal with it) and told me the room would be ready in half an hour. She told me that we should "go out and come back". That's a welcoming and hospitable reception. After 700 miles driven we really didn't feel like driving around anymore, so I told Renee we would have coffee, read newspapers and wait by the fireplace in the Great Room.
And so we did. The time was 3:10, no sign from any news from front desk, when it was 3:20 I decided to check. It was now Nathen's shift, which must have started at 3pm. However Nathen had no clue there was a guest waiting for the room to be ready, since Renee was obviously only interested in leaving and did not properly transfer the shift. Even though Nathen's shift started 20 minutes ago, he wasn't even yet logged into the computer. So, after a lengthy wait for him to get into the system and checking with someone in the back office, he told me the room still needs to be inspected by the head housekeeper and that we should continue waiting. Even though it was not 3:30, so half an hour past their posted check-in time, he was not appologetic at all, he treated me rather as a nuisance.
At 3:40pm he finally brought the room keys to us, sitting in front of the fire place. He did apologize briefly, but then went on to explain that he was stressed out since this was the way his job day started - with a room not being ready and him having to deal with this problem right at shift start. I could not believe my ears.
First of all, not having a room ready for your top-tier guests at check-in time is poor inventory management. Secondly, if it happens (and yes, I know it does) that a room is not ready it should be no big deal for a front desk agent. They should either try to find a different one, maybe offer an alternative, but in any case welcome the guest to wait and stay on the property rather than sending the guest away. And finally, when a guest is unable to get the room at the promised time, it is professional to make it up, either with extra loyalty points or maybe something from the hotel shop or at least bring the guest a few bottles of water.
The 2-bedroom suite was fine, it was in decent shape and clean. The only real problem was the drawers in one of the bedrooms kept opening by themselves since the floor was obiously leaning.
Went to use the pool and found it clean, appealing, although the pool water was somewhat chilly.
They had the social that afternoon, although very crowded, it was fine.
This could have been just another great stay at the SS chain, if it hadn't been for the unwelcoming and extremely poor check-in.
