Country Club Plaza — Attraction in Kansas City

We just stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel on Wornall Rd. just south of the Plaza in KC the first week of July 2025. The number of things that were wrong or not provided were surprisingly high. Some of these things taken separately would be a minor inconvenience but taken to together is alarming and possible reason enough not to stay there. The parking lot was torn up the whole time we were at the hotel which has very little space to begin with.

The first room we stayed in had no towel bars for wet towels. The first room was missing both tables next to the couch and a lamp. The room also was missing a chair. The phone had two flashing lights indicating a message when we arrived and we couldn't get it to stop, even with the assistance of the hotel staff, so both lights flashed all night, right next to the bed.

The shower drain worked so slowly I was standing in ankle-high water for the last few minutes of my shower.

After experiencing all this inconvenience we decided to switch rooms. The second room had all the missing furniture and lamps and no flashing phone and the shower drain worked fine. Still no towel bars and the door to the bathroom squeaked so much that we woke each other up during the night when entering and leaving the bathroom. We reported this to the hotel staff, but no action was taken.

Finally, when we received our bill we were charged $30 per night parking after having been quoted $26 per night. Neither of these amounts would be considered to be a good deal but being quoted a lower amount and then being charged a higher amount after all we had been through, was kind of insulting.

Wait, it gets better. I contacted the hotel's billing department and after she got my last name, dates I stayed and the last four numbers of my VISA card, she asked me where I got the $26 rate, who sent it to me? I answered the hotel which confused her. She apparently was unable to identify the communication to me by the hotel. She asked me to forward the email which proved it and I attempted to do so twice but either her email box was full or she provided the wrong address. Either way it came back twice.

Suffice it to say, after not receiving the $4 dollar per night credit, I was left feeling like customer service is not a strong suit with this hotel. This information would be readily available to anyone who cared to find out what happened without benefit of my forwarding the hotel's communication with us, with very little effort.

Other possible things to list included a parking gate that only worked part of the time and inconsiderate staff at the front desk who ignored me, actually walked away as I approached when there were no other staff present. I'm not going to mention she was chewing gum!

Anyway, if you're still reading you probably won't be...

I do not get it. It is like an outlet mall, but it's not because you have to cross streets and there are no attractions setup outside stores. It's supposed to be like an urban center for shopping but it reeks of being inorganically developed. For example, it's a conglomeration of name brand stores and chain restaurants. However, it loses its luster here when many of the restaurants have such bad reviews and there is no energy or business to the area. I went, was underwhelmed, ended up buying nothing and eating nothing, so I would give it the least amount of stars. However, I get the idea, so I give it more. I give it only two stars because as I described it looks like someone decided against an outlet mall, decided for an urban shopping district, but in the most inorganic and disorderly way packed it with stores and restaurants which all have better alternatives elsewhere. There is nothing interesting about this place. There is no particular reason to go!

Edit: I suppose I agree with the owners reply too. It's worth going to see. The are nice statues, it's pretty, and there is tradition to it. It's a nice place to walk around. I more meant if you want to go to shop or eat and your goal isn't to just go to here for the environment, then there are better places to go. So I went, I ended up checking out a few places and was ultimately disappointed in those places. Then I realized, yes, I get the environment (I didn't know it's based on stuff in Spain though) but the stores are big box stores. It would be awesome if they were local or more interesting. It would be awesome if there was more food choices, especially less expensive ones. Then it would match what the feelings I got from the environment and beauty of it all. But again, things just didn't seem to...

I actually grew up in Kansas City but have not lived there for many years. As a teen and in my early 20's, I spent time on The Plaza, mostly just hanging out.

It is a beautiful place year round but especially in the summer and at Christmas time. It is a shopping area, not in the downtown area, like today's outdoor mall areas. It opened in 1923 so there are many older, historic buildings but is very beautiful. There is lots of shopping and dining experiences to be had. At one time, there was a movie theater but apparently the last movie theater closed in 2019.

On a summer evening, it is nice to stroll around after dining at one of the many restaurants. Shopping is also one of the 'afternoon sports' of The Plaza. One very nice thing in this day and age, there is plenty of free parking, that way you can spend your money on shopping and the restaurants. It can be a nice place to take someone special.

Christmas time is a big deal because of the Christmas lights. There is a lighting ceremony on Thanksgiving evening that tends to draw crowds. This has been going on for over 90 years though this year was my first time going to the actual lighting ceremony. I decided to rent some hotel rooms and invite my family to Thanksgiving dinner on The Plaza, followed by a stroll to the lighting ceremony. Even if one does not go to the lighting ceremony, it is worth it to go down to see the lights some time between Thanksgiving night and the first week of January.

There are several hotels on and around The Plaza area also. It is definitely one of those places that I recommend seeing if you are ever in the Kansas City area...