Sonesta Columbus Downtown — Hotel in Columbus

Where do I begin…….. in town for a concert and my boyfriends birthday. Wanted to stay at a really nice hotel and Sonesta was perfect. Location and fancy. We CALLED the morning of just to make sure everything was set in stone and confirmed. Got it all confirmed. We arrive at 1:30pm on Saturday 8/5 and lobby is quiet and hardly any people and there is one gentleman at the desk who said our room is not ready for an early check in like we were hoping for (I understand that is not always accommodated) we had a dinner reservation at 4pm so we actually had to cancel that and we decided to sit and wait at the bar. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. Now I do need to note that EVERY SINGLE PERSON that waited on us at the bar was TOP NOTCH. Kind and accommodating and just killed it the whole night. So we’re sitting at the bar for about 2 1/2 hours and we start seeing people coming in the hotel, arriving for check in. Then more people and then more people. And finally it was gross and stuffy in there from all the people and definitely a volition of fire codes. We decided to go ahead and hop in line to check in because we honestly weren’t sure what was going on. Wait in line for an hour and a half and some guy (Valet manager maybe?) starts handing out bottled waters to people and JOKES about it, that we all could really use some water……. Also there were so many bar and wine glasses stacked up in the lobby that someone eventually knocks them down and glass goes everywhere. The hotel staff finally comes over and we think he’s going to clean it up, he HANDS THE BROOM to a hotel guest to clean it up. We finally get up to the front. We are being checked in by Sonji and she tells us that they do not have a room for us. You mean the room that I booked months ago? I told her that’s unacceptable. I’m not a person just walking in asking for a room for night. I have a reservation. She then does a little side bar conversion with her coworker and I hear her say “can we offer anything to them? Any kind of room? I guess could start pulling from the airline associates that are staying there for the night” I couldn’t believe my ears. I don’t want to take someone’s room. Turns out that was going to work anyway because the other coworker said “no, we can’t do that, we have nothing available.” Sonji says “let me see what I can do” and goes in the employee lounge and comes back and gave us 2 free drink vouchers for up to $14 😂 and says “here’s your room number written on here, when it comes available, I will give you a call.” We already missed our dinner reservation and now we were about to miss our show we were in town for. I asked for an ETA and she said she can’t give that to me. So we go sit down, get our drinks and wait about 45 minutes and just watch the madness unfold in the lobby and I notice something odd… I see 10 people that are handed room keys and immediately go up to their rooms. So I head back up to the desk and wait there for about 10 minutes. I’m not going to cut in front of someone or intrude in the middle of their conversation so I wait at the side of the desk. I speak to someone else up there and say “I have been waiting for 4 hours for my room. This woman over there (Sonji) told me that I would have the next room available which is this room number when it is clean, I’ve seen 10 people receive room keys and walk up to their rooms, what the hell is going on?” He then tells me that he’s sorry, looks like the room is available and gave me the room keys. I then hear someone come back down the hallway and they said “someone is in our room that we booked.” Overall, this was a terrible stay and the only nice thing I can say is bar and food were the best. Hotel staff was not prepared and did not handle any of the situation correctly. General manager never showed his face even though the GM: Norma Coronel was there somewhere in the building. I am never coming back and will be telling everyone I know to NEVER stay here. I’ve never had a hotel experience like I’ve had at...

I am not the type of guy who usually stays at a place this nice. The Crowne Plaza Columbus Downtown is a sweet hotel. Valet parking was quick and efficient. Check in was a breeze. There is a really nice hotel bar in the lobby which I didn’t visit but seemed really inviting. I almost wish I had been in the mood for a couple drinks because it seemed like a cool place to hang out. The bed was very comfortable which is always the most important thing to me. My neighbors were a bit rowdy, but hey, what do you expect from a Saturday night? It’s located right next door to a Max and Erma’s restaurant and they even deliver to the rooms. But if you aren’t interested in that the hotel is walking distance to a bunch of other restaurants and clubs. Quite honestly, it was extremely reasonably priced as well. I have paid twice as much for half the hotel in the past. Simply put, it was pretty much everything you could want in a hotel, and nothing that you don’t. Next time I am in Columbus, this is the place I will seek out first. A new favorite hotel for my list!

edit: This was my second time staying at the Crowne Plaza Columbus Downtown. I had the unfortunate set of circumstances to be there both when they were going through construction (a couple of their floors were closed and so was their restaurant) and when there was a hockey game a block or so away (lots of rowdy away team fans making a ruckus in the lobby when I checked in). Despite these setbacks, it was a good experience. Getting my car in and out of valet was a breeze and although there was a minor snafu at check in, it was all handled efficiently. Their bar was open until midnight, so I was able to get a nightcap after my concert which was great and conveniently, there is an amazing pizza place super close that delivers until 4 (!!!) am. I believe I got my pizza in 15 minutes? Which is incredible. My room was perfect, the bed was soft and comfortable, and my entire floor was quiet which was surprising, I thought there would be hockey partiers up all night. But to my surprise, I slept like a baby. This is a great hotel and an even better staff. Reasonable rates. You should give it a shot.

If you are staying in downtown Columbus. Ohio you owe it to yourself to stay at the Crown Plaza. This is a really cool hotel with a lot of character. I have stayed there three times now and I plan to stay there again and again. It’s conveniently located for all downtown events and it’s easy on and off the highway. They are currently under construction but they are timing it so that it is of very little inconvenience to guests, which I appreciate. I would have never even known except that they shut the water off at 9:30 in the morning but you don’t hear them working on anything and you don’t see the usual signs of construction. They serve food right to the lobby bar and they have a little convenience center if you need a quick snack, a drink or some medical aid. They have a valet service which is nice, or if you prefer there is a parking garage right behind them. The staff is polite and professional, helpful with questions and always available. The room is over all fantastic and has both a modern and classic feel, which is tough to pull off. It’s just what you want from a hotel stay and I can’t wait to see what the hotel has to offer once all the upgrades...

I was let down by our stay the night of March 2. I know it was a busy weekend and I know things go wrong, but the number of issues we encountered seemed to be excessive.The experience would be something I would have tolerated in a one or 2 star hotel. We stay at IHG hotels a lot and had booked this room on points so it is disappointing enough that we used up 30,000 points on this stay, but if we had paid full cash value for this room, I would have asked for money back. There is valet with in and out accessibility which makes parking a breeze. The hotel is right on top of many restaurants and nightlife. It is also connected to the Greater Columbus Convention Center so attending events there does not involve going outside. When we arrived, they notified my husband that we had been upgraded to a suite in their sister hotel "The Lofts." They said that this was a good thing. Then we tried validating our valet slip. The gentlemen at the front desk said "I don't know how to do that." Then just stood there and didn't ask someone for help or tell us where to go. Luckily, a friendly woman at the counter walked up and completed the task. When we booked at the Crowne, we had requested a room away from the elevators. I know requests are not guaranteed, but our room was about 6ft from the elevator. The room we received was very large. It had the look of a downtown loft with brick walls, exposed beams on the ceiling, and sleek modern looking furnishings. The carpet was loose and created about a 1 inch tall ripple when walking into the bedroom. The fridge didn't work and was in a cabinet that looked like a DIY project. The pillows on the bed were like décor pillows (like barely over 1ft wide) which I guess added to the look, but were essentially travel pillows and awkward to sleep on. The tub was DISGUSTING. Not like questionable wipe down gross, but like someone attempted to unclog the drain and left everything that came up in the tub. We tried rinsing it out but it was all dried to the tub. It had been there a while. It took 3 calls to front desk/housekeeping before we got a hold of someone. The person who answered was very understanding and got someone to our room in about 5 minutes. The person who came to clean the tub was sort of awkward. He had no cleaning supplies and didn't have a key to access our room so required us to stay in our room until he was done. He left and came back for supplies a few times before he did a 2 min cleaning of the tub. Then he just left, no "bye" or "I'm done." Later, when we attempted to shower, the tub drained very poorly and all that stuff started to flow back up from the drain. The elevators in the building were very small and randomly stopped working during the night. We would hit the down button, but it would become unlit and the elevator would just ding at our floor, the door wouldn't open. We waited there for like 10 min before us and another guest took the stairs which are very steep (besides the obvious accessibility issue of no working elevator, they would have been a real challenge for someone with limited mobility to get down) and exited into Max and Erma's (maybe we took a wrong turn? No signs). FYI Max and Erma's (right below our room) starts playing music loudly when they open (7am on weekends, 6:30am on weekdays...). Just things to consider if you want...