BEWARE!
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 09/11/06
I stayed at the Berkeley for the first time in late August, 2006. Our company had already booked a meeting there in October based upon a recommendation (more on that later..big mistake), so I decided to stay there on a trip to Richmond just to get a feel for the hotel. Room was adequate but by no means exceptional, as was the lobby (I didn't eat in the dining room). Staff seemed disinterested in actually helping you, and almost begrudgingly responded to any of your requests. I asked to see the room where we were to meet (which is on the basement level), and when the door was opened, the individual showing me the room and I both almost fell over from the awful smell (like mold or something rotten). The staff person's comment was something like "I guess we need to keep the doors open to air that out".
Well, I'm now seiously worried about the meeting scheduled for October, so I called and told the sales manager my concerns (based upon my personal visit) and asked if we could cancel our booking (which was more than six weeks out). Her answer, after talking to the general manager, was "a contract is a contract" and pay the cancellation penalty. Of course, we're not going to do that so we're stuck going to a hotel with only margianlly adequate rooms (expecially for the price), a unhelpful staff and a stinking meeting room (but in fairness, the sales manager did offer me the option of not having to meet in the stinking basement meeting room, which she said was due to a broken water pipe that had now been fixed).
So, BEWARE of dealing with the Berkely. Don't make the same mistake we did. Honestly, I can't see why anyone would stay there.
