A mixed bag of feelings here. I thought I was feeling lucky when they told me at check-in that I was getting a complimentary upgrade (to Deluxe) Unfortunately I was plagued with a number of recurrent issues. The room itself is very nice (311), best thing about it was the bed and the views into the city by the window. With that said, it did have a number of issues, so it was not the finished article in my mind (the safe locked without instructions, the wooden ***** on the floor coming off making me trip, the kettle malfunctioning, not hot water on the basin, so had to use the kettle to shave daily) When I arrived, it had not been fully cleaned (see pictures) All of these were actually minor issues vs. other stuff I experienced, I didn't make much of it as I was getting an upgrade. The problems came a few days later when it started raining, and suddenly I was getting sore throats in the room with the temp marking almost 25c and the air con off. I had to take mucolytics and anti-flu tablets cause I was getting a bad cold there. I was wondering if the air conduct were releasing bad spores into the air because it was so tatty (pictures attached)
So with no heating, I got cold there with 27c outside, I find this very very strange.
But the much bigger problem was a few days later when I was hearing massive thumps, bangs and wall stomping from the room right above me, they had placed a family with 4 kids on top of me and it went on at all times in the evening. It got so bad that I requested a change of room, and surprise, they gave me a really REALLY bad downgrade to the 17th floor in a much smaller room, on a really grotty floor that looked like a 2 star highway motel. I thought maybe they were penalising me. The staff at reception told me the next day the people checked out, but the same noises continued another 2 days, so they lied to me or they placed another family with noisy children. The floor on top is super thin. You can hear anyone walking as if they re stomping on it.It will drive you crazy. I also heard people next door hammering something at 1 am in the morning for two nights straight. This hotel has big structural problems. I don't pay $520 to get tortured, it felt like it at some point.
On a separate note, the breakfast service was more like a brunch, very varied and many choices (except for meat and fish that was very underwhelming) They had a temp control management problem, there were mornings when I touched the trays and they were at room temp. Also the plates for the hot section are not heated, so that with the powerful air con overhead translated into your hot food going lukewarm almost immediately, which makes it taste disgusting.
It was only the last 2 or 3 days when I started placing my plates on the griddle for a few mins with the staff's permission, when I could finally start eating hot food. Due to this, I was getting "stomach runs" every single day after breakfast, except for two days. This is a breach of H&S
So there are several issues that affected my health here.
The restaurant and cafe in the evening had some good meals. The Mexican had some Western tucker that I enjoyed, my last meal (Mexican enchiladas) was underwhelming, felt like cantine food that was microwaved and badly, because I had to send it back for being lukewarm.
Overall I cannot recommend this hotel due to numerous health problems I suffered. I also discovered that if it weren't for the upgrade, I would have been given a horrible room like the one I saw quite possibly.(the room I received cost almost $1000 for two weeks, still very overpriced) This wasn't cheap, and I feel it was so expensive for what it was. Definitely not a 4 star, a 3 star is more befitting.
The staff was mostly corteous, And premises are up to standard only in places. The gym was very nice. The pool area nice with some views, if only a little tiny..
