Nearly ruined our dinner night
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 8/7/11
My wife and I decided to treat ourselves to an end of the week getaway at the Geneva Inn so we drove up from our home in North-suburban Chicago. We ordered room service and had wanted to watch the sunset from our hotel at the Geneva Inn which had a fantastic view. We didn't see a wine list in our room so I decided to walk over to the Grandview and procure one.
This was where our experience turned south. There was an older lady (who I later determined was the manager) at the reception who was so snooty, she actually tried to ignore me and service the folks waiting behind me. This is after I had been standing in line a good three minutes while she pretended to ignore me. There was a younger lady beside her who noticed me and asked me what I needed. I asked for a wine list and the younger lady gave it to me. I asked whether it was alright to take it with me and the younger lady started to say sure. As she did, the manager interrupted both of us with a textbook curt and haughty "Yes."
Unfortunately for her, this is not the first fine dining experience for me. My wife and I routinely frequent fine dining restaurants and have been to Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago, California and Las Vegas. The manager must not have realized that the fancier the restaurant, the greater the expectations are on the courtesy of the staff. At a Michelin-starred restaurant, the staff waits on you hand and foot.
In any case, we decided this establishment was definitely not for us. So we canceled room service and booked a dinner later in the evening at Kirsch's at the French Country Inn, who knew a thing or two about the fine dining experience. The rest of the evening went great, thanks to Kirsch's.
Will we ever go back to the Geneva Inn? Absolutely Not. Though the Geneva Inn itself is a great place to stay (I can tell they make the effort to please), none of that matters when you are greeted with crass, classless service. In this day and age if you have an uncouth manager who doesn't understand that the hotel and restaurant industries are service industries, you are in BIG TROUBLE. This place needs a new manager - FAST.