Hello from Atlanta. I’m on day two of my five day stay at the W Atlanta Midtown. Things are going fine so far. A couple of minor annoyances that I’ll write about later, but certainly nothing to complain about.
Check in took a bit longer than usual on Monday. I seemed to arrive in the middle of rush hour as there were five guests waiting to check in when I joined the line, and a few more that quickly followed me. I’ve never had to wait for front desk assistance at this hotel, however I did note that the lobby seemed to be more crowded than usual with the bar really hopping with people. Once I reached the front of the line I was met by a friendly agent who completed my check in swiftly and pleasantly. Gee-whiz note: she asked me if I’d ever been to the hotel before? I really thought check-in staff had access to this kind of information automatically. At Hilton, if I’m visiting a hotel for a repeat stay, I’m almost always greeted with a “thank you for returning.” I’d think Starwood and W could manage the same thing. That’s a “nit-noid” issue if there ever were one, but still something I wonder about as a frequent conoisseur of various elements of customer service.
In any event, I was off to my 17th floor “Wonderful Room” in short order. The room is typical W with trendy furnishings, lots of connectivity options, a really comfortable bed and in the case of this particular W, a nice view of downtown Atlanta. However, it was a tad smaller than the “Spectacular Room” I received during my last stay at this hotel.
A couple of observations so far. I returned to my room this afternoon to find a pillow case ensconced among the clothing which I had left in my rolling suitcase. No biggie, but I certainly might’ve left the hotel with a new pillow case had I not been unpacking all of my belongings today. And one minor annoyance: the ice bucket was not emptied from last night. Not earth-shattering but this is something I expect to find at your average interstate motel, not at a W.
All in all, so far so good. If a forgotten pillow case and an unemptied ice bucket are the two worst things that happen this week, I think I can safely say I’ve had a successful week of work.