Rip Off Central!
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 9/12/07
I booked the Jr. Presidential Suite at Embassy Suites for my honeymoon in September 2007 thinking that I'd treat by husband. Upon arriving we discovered that there was a mandatory $20 per day valet service that was not revealed when booking. But don't think your little economy car is going to be parked onsite. Nooo, that's for the Jags and Mercedes. Your little economy car is being dumped down the street in a lot and when they bring it back expect the radio to be blaring and the seat back to be in the waaaaay back position. Trying to make your way through the lobby is a joke. There are hardly any carts for your luggage because the staff does not retrieve them from the floors above. People are jammed around the entrance and in the lobby and waiting for the elevator will age you. There are only 5 elevators that go all the way up (we were on the 32nd floor). Now, you really can't give props to Embassy Suites for the view, they didn't create the Falls. They just got lucky acquiring this location. Our view was awesome, we were able to see both sets of falls as well as the fireworks on Friday night. However, since I suffer from arachnophobia, I didn't enjoy the many spiders hanging from my windows. On our first afternoon there we tried to take a nap after our long drive but were awoken by very loud drilling. When we called down to the lobby we were told they were hanging a sign on the side of the building. No apologies. There is nothing special about the Jr. Presidential suite. No mints on the pillows, no robes, not even extra tiny bottles of shampoo. Yeah, there was a jacuzzi tub and fireplace but other hotels have that for a lot less. Heck, I was paying $1,200 for this room! The second day there housekeeping didn't even bother coming to our room. We called and were told they can clean all the way up until 4 PM. You have to pay for short blocks of Internet service while other hotels offer free wireless. You have to pay for use of the Playstation (and not even the new one). You have to pay almost $15 for a movie and don't even get HBO, which other hotels offer for free. M&Ms are $5 a bag and the soda machine only takes tokens, which are $3.75 each.
The staff act like just because they work at Embassy Suites that they are entitled to tips. Everyone has their hand out. There are tip jars at the front desk. There are tip jars at the made-to-order omlette bar. You're expected to tip housekeeping and the valet staff as well. When I asked for a feminine product at the front desk I was told they were out and I could buy one in the bathroom. After I wasted $1.00 in coins I discovered that the machine was out as well. I had to purchase a box in the gift shop for almost $8.00! When we informed the desk we were expecting a small cake to be delivered they pulled an attitude that we hadn't ordered one from them. Thank God we hadn't, because my cake was one of the bright points on my wedding day (besides the wedding, of course!). I can only imagine what Embassy Suites would have passed off as a wedding cake.
The only tears you should shed on your wedding day should be tears of joy. Thanks to Embassy Suites I cried my eyes out over the disappointment of their establishment and how the whole experience was a blight on my special event. We ended up leaving at 1 A.M. on the morning we were to check out and fled with the feeling we were escaping Sodom and Gomorrah. I will never stay at an Embassy Suites again.