My wife and I live in Chicago, and frequently take mini vacations around the midwest, usually to do some bike riding and enjoy the local offerings. We pick smaller cities that have 3 star hotels, so we can pamper ourselves. We generally get a suite if we can, so if we feel like crashing in front of a TV after a 6 hour bike ride, it's more comfortable than laying on a bed, and are used to paying for 350-500 per night for a room. We do business class when we have to, but they tend to be on the outskirts of cities, have no sidewalks, and the local fare ends up being chipotle and olive garden. We go out of our way to find hotels like yours, right in the middle of downtown so we can walk to a restaurant, bar, park, etc. We're not pretentious people, but we do have a level of expectations, and are more than willing to pay for them.
Upon arrival of our stay, we were greeted by an employee that was on her way out the door. She greeted us, smiled, noticed we looked a little lost, and walked over to the desk to pick up the courtesy phone to call someone to come to the desk and check us in, and left. The employee that came to the desk a minute later was another story. My wife and I were both convinced she was furious at someone, just hoped it wasn't us. She was efficient enough, asked for a credit card and ID, gave me a paper to sign and initial with no explanation, gave us our keys, and told us the elevator was down the hall, all without smiling once. She probably said "Thank You", but if she did, that was the only nicety extended to us. The impression that my wife and I were left with was "blunt bordering on hostile". Maybe I was reading the body language too much? I'm not looking for someone to kiss my ass and stroke my ego, but I would hope for a rundown of the establishment of some kind. Stuff I've heard in other establishments "The WiFi password is with your keys", "Breakfast starts at 7:00AM", "Pool closes at 10", "If you need anything, call the main desk by dialing 0". If the person checking us in doesn't appear busy, I'll sometimes ask for recommendations for food or things to do. After the off-putting check-in, I decided to check my phone instead.
We stayed two days, and went in and out of the building quite a few times, and noted that every time we did, we never saw anyone at the main counter. When we checked out at the end of our stay, again, no one at the counter. I picked up the phone, let it ring 8 times, and hung up when my wife found the plastic box that apparently is used for checkout. The instructions stated we needed the card holder we were provided when we checked in, which we didn't realize would be required, and didn't have with us when we were leaving. There was a pad of paper in front of this plastic box, where someone had written down a room number, and we supposed that was for checkout purposes, added our room number, dropped out keys in the box, and left. No "Thanks for staying".
I'm not a frequent business class traveler, and unsure if that's generally the clientele the service is designed for and I was just out of my element? I was unsure if we should be acting differently, and unsure if our experience should be considered normal? I was unsure if hotels in general are tying to navigate towards a more self-service environment? Overall just unsure if my expectations were out of whack to what we experienced. I would have felt a lot more comfortable during our stay if we had a better understanding of the level of service we could expect from your establishment.
All that being said, my only real complaint is the lack of a walkway from the hotel's entrance to the riverwalk just beyond. Gorgeous amenity, but the only way to access it is a short walk down a manicured lawn (which you're probably not supposed to walk on) , on a slightly steep and possibly slippery hill, or a long walk all the way around the entire building.
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