Ok, let's get the bad out of the way, since my overall experience there was not just good but great:
- Good God, the parking cost. I did valet this year, but I think I may be done with that.
- The hotel bar closed at midnight! C'mon!
- Breakfast was not included.
- Toilet had a small crack. Didn't leak, strictly cosmetic, but it did look bad.
- Why does the bathroom have no ventilation fan?
- TV system was slow and has one of the slowest, least informative channel guides I've ever dealt with (but this is tiny; the most TV I watched was during unpacking and packing bags, and the one night I was hammered and couldn't sleep).
- The view was of the neighboring building's rooftops.
- Closet? What closet? That little clothes-hanging niche (no door) feels about as big as one of my kitchen cabinets. A week's worth of my clothes on hangers actually stuffed it full.
- The keycard activated elevator could be frustrating.
- The stairs were strictly security/evacuation stairwells that opened to the outside instead of the lobbies.
But the good made me want to do that hotel again without hesitation:
- GREAT staff. Hold bags before check-in, no problem. Advice on parking when their parts of the garage were full, very forthcoming. All other things, quick and friendly. Loved all the valet's attitudes and service ethic. Even given the amount I spent on parking, I at least got awesome service out of it. And the cleaning staff playing around pretending to "shoot" at us with the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner one day was fun because when even the custodial staff has good morale and huge, genuine smiles, the place is being run well.
- SO CLOSE! Being able to run up to my room between events was just a Godsend. Made all the difference in my exhaustion levels.
- Bed was so, sooooo good. I love having that many pillows.
- Breakfast may not have been free - in fact, it was damn expensive - but for a buffet, it was actually a damn good buffet! Fresh, hot... not as good as Le Peep or Patachou, but still damn good.
- Clean. This is important. They kept even the public area bathrooms clean during heavy use. I don't recall seeing a trash can overflowing. Or trash laying around tables or the floor. They were on it cleaning-wise.
- Free fridge! Not an empty minibar, the fridge was just there, without asking.
- Space: Some hotel rooms feel cramped. Not this one. Not as big as the King Special I had out in Seattle for a work conference (that room actually had a couch), but still, bigger than my own bedroom at home!
- No BS on the bill. Straightforward, no confusion, no delay in getting it handled and printed out on check-out, no surprises. This is a big deal.