I stayed at the Renaissance Stanford Court in San Francisco the night before and of the Techcrunch Crunchies awards show. I have always had really good experiences at the Renaissances and figured this one would follow in line with the Marriott’s premier chain.
I arrived very early and was able to get early check in (at 10am). The front desk person told me their was no ice machine available in the hotel and I had to call room service if I wanted ice. She said it was a free service. (ok… i guess). I told her I defenetely needed ice so just have someone bring some up right away. I also asked if I could have a refridgerator and she said it would be no problem and they would have one brought up right away. Cool sounds good so far.
I entered my room and was pretty surprised how small the rooms are. I would estimate the bedroom/main room to be about 10′ by 8′. No wonder only a single queen bed was the option…. Not that big of deal though just kind of surprising. I unpack and hang up my nicer clothes and spend about 15 minutes looking for a plugin in the bathroom to charge up my electric razor. Get this… there is ZERO electric plug ins in the bathroom… not one… I even called down to the front desk to double check. So in order to charge my electric razor I had to unplug my lamp and plug in the razor. Really not that big of deal… So im waiting for some ice so I can tank some Gatorade I brought with me… waiting waiting… 2 hours later still not in my room. I called down 2 times and asked if I could just get it somewhere and they kept telling me room service would be up with it.
I was so dehydrated I had not had anything to drink since leaving Nebraska at 5am that morning. My room was like so hard to navigate through. I had so many things plugged in.. my cell phone, my laptop, razor, ipod and with how small the room was it was like it was booby trapped with tripwires.
I decided just to go down to the restaurant in the hotel and grab something to eat/drink. The restaurant was really awesome. Incredible hamburgers. I think I ate like 4 burgers the whole stay there. After eating I went for a run down California street. It was a short run but the hills on California street are no joke. After a 1 mile stint (down to Vanesse Ave and back) I was toast. Went up to my room ready to tank some Gatorade and still no ice WTF IS THE DEAL WITH THE STUPID ICE. Geeze forget it. I went down to the restaurant and asked for 2 glasses of ice and they gave it to me. Went up finally got some gatoraide. I surfed the net for a bit and got caught up on email/phone calls/ voice mail met up with a friend for some drinks then passed out in my room (still no ice).
The next day I woke up at like 11AM (lol no kids/wife I just enjoyed laying in peace) and called down again and asked for ice. They said it would be right up. I also ordered a burger. I got the burger (which the order was screwed up but I am not that picky) but no ice. I dunno what the hell the deal is with ice at this joint but its super annoying. I called down to the front desk and asked for the manager. I was put on hold then this young lady who kept giggling (I think they did the old ice joke on me or something) was like sir im sorry we will (covered laugh) bring some right up. Well I got ice alright a giant stainless steel bucket like seriously 4 gallons of ice. HAHA THATS FUNNY. Whats not funny was they also have me a nice glass which had a huge crack in it and chips missing out of it… wtf?
ANYWAY. After the Crunchies I came back to iced down hotel room (it was early in the AM) and tried to call down for a 5AM wakeup call but the phone system was dead. I went down to the front desk and they told me I must have left the phone off the hook (keep in mind its like 2AM and time is ticking away). So the guy comes up to my room and is like Ohh looks like your room is out (ya thanks jackass I just told you that). So he is like well sorry man it might be working in 2 hours when you need to get up (there was no alarm clock in the room). I said look dude. I have to make this flight so you need to get someone banging on my door if my phone wont ring and he said ok.
The next morning nobody came to my room and the phone did not ring. It was a fluke that I got up. I understand stuff happens but this could have been a dire situation and I am just glad I woke up on my own.
When I left the doorman asked me how my stay was. I said it sucked ass (I know that was uncalled for but I was tiered and grouchy). I also said you know I write a somewhat popular blog (I am kind of a big deal (lol) ) and I am going to write about how shitty your service is here. He was like OHHH MAN you should have told them you were a reporter or a blogger they would have sent a car for you at the airport and given you a free VIP suite. I just responded and said “dude why don’t you just treat everyone good”.
I probably sound like a whiny pants above… ya.. Its just when you pay like $300 a night for a hotel…. I think you expect a certain level of class… i dunno maybe the fact I was up again until the wee AM and had to get up at 8am this morning (thats right 8 hours sleep in the last 2 nights) makes me still a bit pissy.
I have stayed there as well with similar experiences. When i was there me and my friends were on a road trip and wanted to stay somewhere nice, and these guys had decent rates. The room was nice (we had a suite) but the service was terrible. I felt like I was a low priority on their service list because we were 18-19 years old. We waited for at least an hour for their courtesy towncar service (which wont drive more than 3 miles from the hotel) and then they told us that the guy took lunch (translation= get your own ride) We didnt get respect that i would expect from full paying customers. Im certainly with you that i am not going there again.
why are hotel rooms in the US so expensive these days
No Ice makes Shoemoney go something something….
Go Crazy…?
Don’t Mind if I do! [goes crazy]
[…] shralp! | Free snowboard and surf videos | Podcast wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt I stayed at the Renaissance Stanford Court in San Francisco the night before and of the Techcrunch Crunchies awards show. I have always had really good experiences at the Renaissances and figured this one would follow in line with the Marriott’s premier chain. I arrived very early and was able to get early check in (at 10am). The front desk person told me their was no ice machine available in the hotel and I had to call room service if I wanted ice. She said it was a free service. (ok… i guess […]
One thing I truly do not understand about the hotel industry during this blogging world is that their reputation could be ruined in a keystroke yet they could care less about the ‘average’ traveler. Honestly, how many times before you find a hotel (you’ve never been to before) do you look at the reviews on blogs and the ratings?
Thanks for the update though – I haven’t been to SF for 3-4 yrs and can’t wait to get back there to relax.
wow, I would have been really pissed. You should call up the hotel people and tell them to read this blog post and see what they say, demand a refund or something.
Your treo alarm doesn’t wake you up?
I couldnt find the alarm app on my phone and I looked lol.. … I think I deleted it =(
The “you should have told them you were a reporter or a blogger they would have sent a car for you at the airport and given you a free VIP suite” statement is just pathetic, they should really know better, it’s just like saying “if we knew you were important, we would have treated you better than the other losers who pay $300 a night”.
Shoe,
I have a friend who is a national sales manager for Renaissance. I’ll forward this post to him. Not that it will do much for you, but someone will hear about it.
I’m with you Jeremy. In the scheme of things $300 a night is maybe not that much, but damn, in those two nights you gave them $600 and what did you get in return? Almost nothing but a bed and a place to store your stuff.
The really shi**y part is the fact that everyone on duty decided to f*** with you with the ice. If they have any sense they will fire that entire crew. They are doing huge damage as they get high in the back room.
I’m really surprised that there wasn’t an outlet in the bathroom. Even the really cheap motels have outlets in there. Very strange…
$300 a night and survived the ice-nightmare. Come on Jeremy not that bad LoL, but what was the problem with the ice? Oh wait, no elevator so it was becoming water until they reached your room and then lazy to go get another ice for you…
Crap it sounds like the twilight zone with the ice…
I found this article very funny. I must say however, you handled it well. Some of relatives would have done the Russell Crowe bit by the end of the first night. That is some of the worst hotel service I have ever heard of. Seriously, it’s ice? What the hell? I hear what you are saying though… I am not one to front up and whine either. Must remember if I am ever there not to use that hotel!
Sorry to head that shoe, very surprised that they didn’t have an ice bucket in the roof or an plug in the bathroom. Then not bringing up ice is very rude especially when called down so many times.
$300 for THAT!!! Holy crapola, you should have written a worse blog than this! And directly advised anyone to avoid the damn place.
ice ice baby
i guess its econ 101 and the fact that some hotels don’t mind having half the hotel empty… also funny that the more you pay for a hotel the more you are expected to tip…
can’t you just put an appointment on the calendar with a reminder? not that it would really “wake you up” but it is better than nothing. but there is no excuse for not having an alarm clock in the room… I always set the alarm clock, my phone, get a wake up call, and see if the tv will turn on auto (also most airlines have a wake up service)
Wish I would have known you were staying that close. I live a couple of blocks away from where you ended your jog. I could have pointed you to a couple of good restaurants, even though you have no idea who I am, lol.
Oh man, fuck them. I would definitely let everyone know how bad they suck so they can lose as much business as possible.
What a nightmare! You definitely had the right to be upset with such lousey service and poor setup. It’s a good thing I wasn’t there, or I would have ripped them a new one which WOULD HAVE required ice. lol
I stayed in the room next to you and got ice my first time asking. They like my blog better than yours. 🙂
It’s too bad that traveler to cities like New York and San Francisco end up with shit like this. NY is the same thing at most places unless you drop say $500+ a night.
That sucks – so you can only get good service if they think you’re going to write about them. Glad you told them straight.
So basically, the hotel sucked because the restaurant was great and they gave you ice when you asked for it?
I wish I got to stay in hotels that bad.
Don’t know about the Treo Jeremy – but on the BB it keeps hiding the Alarm icon. I go to the main menu and show all icons to get it back. HTH
Maybe they got lost the 230948230493 times they tried to deliver ice? 🙂
“I said it sucked ass (I know that was uncalled for but I was tiered and grouchy).”
Hardly uncalled for. I could see myself saying the same thing. The no wakeup call would definitely have been the last straw.
It’ll be interesting to see what they say/do when they hear about what you wrote (they most likely will). Keep us posted.
Yeah that’s bogus. It just shows that they actually don’t care unless you are important. It’s one thing to have a fluke problem but to treat people poorly because they aren’t VIP is bogus.
I would be pissed too. However, the only thing, I would have at that point not depended on a wake up call, just based on the ice. With todays technologies you could have set your alarm on your phone, had someone from NE call you… Really. Other than that, your gripes are founded.
And given the fact that the average customers aren’t always celebrities, I don’t exactly see this as a sound business model 🙂
Exactly, let’s face it: bringing some ice is not exactly that much of an effort on their part and the fact that they have not done anything about it even after repeated requests shows their lack of common sense.
At least from now one readers who will still want to stay there will know that they have to mention the fact that they will review their services and maybe then they’ll get some attention 🙂
The fact remains that if you ask for a certain service (a wake up call, for example) and they fail to deliver, something is clearly wrong with their business model. In this case, Jeremy was lucky, but if he hadn’t woken up his plans would have been ruined.
I have the 600 and I don’t have an alarm app, I have to go into calendar and then make a new appointment for the time I want to get up, then I have to click “details” and then put a check next to alarm. Then go into sound pref > calendar > tone and check all that to make sure the sound plays several times. Really its not that easy to figure out.
I usually like the W , they even bring you toothbrush to your room at 4 am in the morning :), that is customer service.
Next time, try Westin Market Street – it’s a brand new hotel, opened last summer and is probably my favorite one at the moment. Another good one is Hyatt Regency San Francisco – has some of the biggest rooms in the city.
Do you mean to tell me that people look up to you if your a known blogger. That is funny
The Renaissance Park 55 was great, but no longer Marriott – went private. I tried the San Fran Marriott last time. Wasn’t great, but was acceptable and the location was perfect (especially for constantly checking out the Apple Steore. :-))