We’re staying at the Hotel Teatro in Denver, Colorado the first half of this week. It’s supposed to be a luxury boutique hotel. Boutique it is, but I wouldn’t describe the service level as luxurious.
When we arrived at the hotel on Saturday before check-in time, the desk clerk offered to call us when our room became ready. So, we checked our bags with the porter and walked to the 16th Ave Mall for a late lunch at the Rialto Cafe, which was recommended by the hotel concierge. The food was just OK and the service was barely passable. My partner ordered a chicken sandwich, but received a salad with chicken on top of it. My Cobb salad was uninspired, but edible. Asking for a lemon twist in my martini took extra time. Evidently, the bartender was inexperienced in cutting a lemon twist. After lunch, we walked up and down the 16th Street Mall, waiting for our call from the hotel desk clerk that never came. Finally, we decided to return to the hotel around 5 pm to see if we could check in. Of course, the original clerk we spoke to had been replaced by the evening shift staff. We received our room keys, which are rather difficult to operate. They sort of look like car keys and are very fiddly when trying to get the door to open. We asked if our bags had been placed in our room and were told yes. Of course, they were NOT in the room — bellboy wanted his tip, of course.
In the room, Aveda sample-size products are provided in the bath. By the way, the bathroom is not vented and has no a/c vent so it gets really stuffy in there. Also, there is a mini-refrigerator, but it is not stocked with anything. Evidently, the hotel wants to you tell them what to put in the mini-refrigerator (at a cost, of course) instead of just supplying a stocked mini-bar. Who wants to have to figure that out? I don’t want to have to make a “grocery list” when I’m traveling. They should just stock it like every other “luxury” hotel we’ve ever stayed in.
Our room is on the 2nd floor and it is very noisy at night! Every street noise is heard in the room very clearly: people laughing and talking, motorcyles, loud cars, honking, etc. I think the street noise finally quieted down around 2 or 3 am.
Our room wasn’t cleaned up today (Sunday) until sometime in the afternoon and the housekeeper left our door unlocked. At least noone came in and took our laptops and iPod while we were out. I accidentally broke one of the water glasses in the bathroom this morning and the housekeeper didn’t even replace it when the room was serviced. We brought a bottle of champagne, so we needed some glass-ware. My partner called guest services to ask for wine glasses, but they brought up “pint” glasses. We had to ask for ice — nothing was thoughtfully provided by the staff. At these rates, they should be anticipating our needs and wants.
More tomorrow …