*In order to catch the craziness or amazingness as it happens, I’ve decided to relaunch this blog with on the spot reviews so readers can experience things as I do, when I do. Happy reading and thanks for your support!
My 2016 has started off kinda rocky – I lost two amazing people in my life to a violent tragedy and my job is uber stressful right now. I needed a break and my husband telling me he had a work trip (leaving me to my own wine-free devices with my 16 month old) was juuuuust enough to send me into staycation mode. And, not just any staycation – a New York City staycation at the Intercontinental Times Square.
To provide some context to this story, my husband and I are Ambassador members of the Intercontinental Hotel Group. What does this mean? It means you pay ahead to avoid paying later for things we all want – a dedicated check-in to make you feel special, free upgrades, free drinks, gifts, two hummingbirds and a par…never mind. Nevertheless, having the membership comes with privileges and ups my expectations of my experience exponentially.
So, when we arrived, there was no one at the special Ambassador counter, which was no big deal because there was no line. Check-in went relatively smoothly. When I arrived to my room (actually, this was the second room they placed me in but that’s not too important), there were crumbs on the window seat, hair in the shower, and stains on the duvet. To add insult to first-world-problem injury, there was no welcome amenity in the room, no fruit basket, no waters…nothing (these items are marketed as special privileges for membership – just check the link above).
Now, you may be thinking to yourself that I was expecting too much but I disagree – I just wanted what I paid for. It’s just like upgrading to first class on a long flight and getting the same food served on plastic in economy – sure, its edible but you paid for fine china and champagne. I called the Guest Relations Manager who was nice (much nicer than most of the other staff in the hotel), who informed me that they wait to put those items in the rooms after 5PM, but admitted that having them ahead of time would’ve been nice). Moreover, my expectations were set based on my experience at the Intercontinental Chicago, where they quite literally rolled out the red carpet when we joined, complete with upgrading us to the top floor suite with a private elevator. FYI, the fruit basket, water, and welcome amenity were already in the room when we arrived – just in case you were wondering…hehe.
So, here we are on the second day and I decided to splurge on room service for breakfast – I ordered the mushroom and spinach frittata, served with breakfast potatoes and a wheat toast. I kid you not…the frittata came but the potatoes did not AND they charged me for the wheat toast. *throws hands in the air* I ask the server where the rest of my order was and he was like “it don’t come with that.” He left and came back around 30 minutes alter after I’d already eaten with old potatoes. SON! LEAVE, JUST LEAVE!
It’s 12:30PM and I still have yet to see my welcome amenity (whatever it is) or my dang fruit basket. I want my fruit basket – Im gonna get my fruit basket. Stay tuned.
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