Mercii Williams
So far not so good. We have yet to stay but the pre-stay customer service has been incredibly lacking. I was passed between hotels.com and the hotel staff back and forth for a while as to who was responsible for requesting upgrades / perks (including late checkout), and communicating allergies. Neither wanted to take responsibility and just kept saying it was the other’s problem. They also advertise their cinema room showings and wellness events / classes but there’s little to no information about what this is or how to book it / prices without contacting customer services after booking. After pressing continuously and wasting my time trying to get any help, I called the front desk at our hotel and they essentially told me there aren’t any upgrades or perks available at Mason & Fifth and that what you book is what you get. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed with a low-end hotel that doesn’t try to accommodate upgrades / perks (especially for special occasions), let alone a hotel that appears to come off mid-range and costs a fair amount to stay with. The telephone representative for the hotel did agree a late checkout of 2pm however. Since then though, I have seen the late checkout isn’t mentioned on my booking info and when I queried this I got a very blunt “late checkout can only be considered at check in, best, rianna”. The emails are very short and unfriendly and completely contradict the service given over the phone. This is very disappointing and I already have a sour taste before we stay. We were told to download the app to help with our stay which seems pretty useless and very slow and doesn’t even contain our booking details or anything. We were told we would get a check in email a week before our stay and it’s now 2 days prior and it’s only just come through. The email requests we check in in advance but when I tried to click the link via the email it just went to an error page and I can’t check in anywhere despite trying multiple avenues to do so. We have also asked repeatedly for more information on the cinema room as I really wanted a cute little date in there for me and my partner but they’ve not been able to help repeatedly and then when I finally got a schedule the films are all o credibly questionable. I was told over the phone that could use the cinema room for a private screening for my own choice of film and to email to arrange. Upon doing this I’ve been told we can bring our own dvd (fine but who even owns dvds anymore or able to get one being told this just 2 days before staying), or I can choose from their wide selection (but no list was given of the choices and based on the set screenings they already have , I can’t imagine they’d be suitable for most people especially over valentine’s weekend!) I’ve also been told we can’t pre-arrange a time to use the cinema privately and that it’s “first come first serve” which is ridiculous. I want to guarantee a simple time slot for this nice simple activity for us during our stay. Imagine turning up and somebody is already in there and then having to wait in line for hours while their film finishes to use the screen. Also the fact that we do actually have an itinerary already for external activities while we stay (who doesn’t), and we need to ensure we can fit it around that. The only polite and helpful response I’ve gotten from anyone involved in the running of the hotel by email is the grounding (wellness/spa) team but that’s still all tbc. I’m not sure the last time I was so disappointed with the pre-stay customer service for any hotel. We all have severe allergies and I’m really terrified nobody has made note of those properly given how the telephone representative didn’t secure the late check out the promised and the rest of the (email) team won’t honour it!