Le Méridien Dallas, The Stoneleigh — Hotel in Dallas

Well, where do I begin? I'm in this hotel as I write. I checked in today, and I'm frankly astonished by my experience, so far.||||1. The bulk of this review will NOT be about pricing, but I was shocked to arrive at the hotel and to discover that valet parking is mandatory (there's no self-parking available), and the fee for valet parking is $48/night. I'm here for four nights, so that'll be nearly $200, just for parking. Of course this surprise fee isn't mentioned when you book the hotel.||||2. After dropping off my car with the valet, I was unsure where the door to the hotel was. The valet had driven off with my car, so there was no one I could ask. As it turns out, the entrance is at the end of a stark, undecorated corridor that has chipped tile. Beyond the corridor, one must turn to the right to see the door—but the door is NOT visible from the valet stand. And there are NO signs! The corridor looks unfinished and does NOT look like the path to an entrance. Yet, that's where it is. Would it be so difficult to have a sign that says "Entrance" with an arrow pointing the way?||||3. When I arrived in my room, I was greeted by a loud, "humming" sound—sort of like the sound that a generator makes. It was coming from somewhere above the ceiling in the walk-in closet. Even with the door closed, the sound was loud. So, I immediately returned to the front desk to ask to be transferred to another room. My new room (on a different floor) was quieter, so I was content—at first. But about 10 minutes after settling in, that same sound started up again in the new room. The sound comes and goes, so I suspect it's the air conditioning or something. Whatever it is, it's far too loud to be in use in a hotel, and it should be removed and replaced.||||4. After settling in, I immediately attempted to connect to WiFi with my phone, but after submitting my room number and last name, I was directed to a page that said the charge for WiFi is $14.95/night. Dumbfounded, I took out my Mac to see if I got the same page, and indeed I did. At this point, I was so frustrated with the various experiences that I was ready to start looking for another hotel. But I called the front desk and asked, "Are hotel guests really expected to pay for WiFi?" The attendendant said, "No. The charges will be removed from your bill." I asked for clarification, and she said I should tick the box, as if I'm agreeing to the $14.95/night for WiFi—but that all WiFi charges will be removed from my bill.||||What an incredibly stupid system. Furthermore, if this has to be the system, why isn't this explained to EVERY customer at check-in? I'm sure 90% of guests are going to want WiFi. So, if you have an unorthodox system for providing WiFi, why isn't this explained when we check in?! I got a whole spiel about the restaurants and such, but not a peep about the fact that if I wanted WiFi, I'd need to "pretend" to pay $14.99, but then those charges will be removed from my bill. Why on earth would you wait for guests to call the front desk in frustration—and only THEN explain how the WiFi works?||||5. I then spent 3 minutes trying to get my television to turn on. At one point, it came on and showed a page that said "no signal," but after pressing the power button again, that display went away, and the TV would not come on again at all. So, I called the front desk, and they sent a maintenance guy to my room. ||||He brought a new remote and said my original remote probably had dead batteries. Then, once again, we got to the page that said "no signal." He then explained that from this page, I have to press "3" in order to get to the channel menu. But once we're viewing the menu, there's no way to navigate through the menu with the arrow buttons. The menu is a continuous, slow scroll that shows every channel and what's playing. Then, instead of navigating to the channel you want and hitting enter to select it, you have to enter the numerals to select the channel. Yes, most hotels have a clunky system for TV, but this one is beyond clunky. It's antiquated. And the management clearly doesn't check or change the remotes' batteries often enough.||||6. The bathroom offers a bar of soap—but there's no soap dish. So where are we supposed to put the wet soap? On the counter, where it will stick and will be difficult to pick up? (Yes, this is a minor issue, but it's an omission. I don't recall ever having this problem in any hotel before.)||||OK. Let's exclude that last issue; I just put the soap on a washcloth. But that aside, I haven't even spent a night here, yet the previous five issues have already made my stay a major disappointment.||||I'm supposed to spend four nights here, but I don't want to stay here. So, I intend to cut my reservation short and change hotels tomorrow. In more ways than a few, Le Méridien Dallas, The Stoneleigh...

This easily would’ve been a 5 star stay/review if not for the lady who worked the valet the evening of June 21st, 2022. Her first question was “did we have a parking pass”, and when we explained that the other valet lady named Ms. Happy talked to hotel management and told us to park in the garage complimentary due to there being a leak in our room earlier that day that they needed to fix, and that if anyone gave us any issue to tell them “Ms. Happy said it’s comped” her response was very accusatory saying that we had already parked in the garage the two previous nights (which we DEFINITELY did not). So even after all of the back and forth, her final response was “I’ll talk to the manager and see if we can give you a discount”. Umm what? Anyways, imagine the frustration when we wake up at 3:30am to catch a flight and there’s a $42 charge for parking on our checkout email, which leaves no time to square it away before we leave. If we would’ve known this other valet lady was going to be spiteful regardless of how we explained the situation, we would’ve just parked on the street 2 blocks down where we NEVER had an issue finding a spot, just like we did the numerous times we came and left during our stay, including the two previous nights that she accused us of parking in the garage. Our stay otherwise was very memorable regardless of the fact that there was a leak that was dripping down into the room below us that had to be addressed, which was an inconvenience to us since the tub needed to be caulked. We had a great room, bed was extremely comfortable, great location, so even with that inconvenience, I was still planning on leaving a 5 star review, even if Ms. Happy hadn’t offered for us to park in the garage for free our last night. She explained in detail where exactly to park to not get charged, and even took a picture of our license plate. We called the hotel when we arrived home around noon to try and resolve the issue, and spoke with someone at the desk named Kaylen who sounded extremely disinterested and wasn’t much help, and said she would pass the info along to the manager, but we never heard back. We called again the next day, spoke to Kaylen AGAIN and she had absolutely ZERO clue what we were talking about, so it’s probably safe to say she never relayed the information. She finally came back and begrudgingly said “I’ll remove the charge, but Ms. Happy didn’t have the authority to comp it, just so you know for next time” as though she was doing us a favor. It’s a shame how one employees actions can set off a chain of events that ruin an entire stay at the very last minute, and the other employees can’t seem to figure a way to communicate amongst each other. Sure, $42 is pretty obnoxious for parking, but even if it had been $10 it’s the principle of the matter, because it’s definitely not about the money. You should never accuse guests of lying. If anything, the valet lady Ms. Happy was the nicest employee we interacted with by far. Now that I read through others reviews and I’m seeing numerous other complaints about the valet lady, it’s mind boggling that they don’t address her behavior towards guests. It seems like her interactions with guests has been an ongoing, reoccurring problem. She is the first person guests interact with upon their arrival, you’d think they would care enough to hire someone who represents the Marriott brand well, which she does not. We stay at numerous Marriott hotels all over the country every year, and the customer service here is definitely by far some of the worst and is lacking and very unfriendly. I would expect this kind of customer service from a budget hotel. Next time we’re in Dallas we definitely won’t be...

We have visited this property before it was renovated a few years ago. Upon walking into the lobby we knew it was a full renovation and it looked gorgeous. The lobby was transformed to become very modern and chic, while still maintaining the historic elegance of the hotel.

Upon entering the elevator, we noticed there was a 1 foot square patch of duct tape on the floor to cover a drain or hole. The tape was obvious given the clean appearance of the renovated elevator. After exiting, we were immediately engulfed in the smell of cigarette smoke as we walked to the end of the hall to our room. We noticed also that the hall was lined with dinner trays, glassware, and bellhop carts that needed to be picked up. Upon the next morning all of the items were still in the hallway and were there still at our departure - over 18 hours.

Our room was very spacious and comforting. The bathroom appeared nice upon entering but soon discovered that the vanity mirror was loose and would fall off if you attempted to turn it on, let alone extend it from the wall. The water temperature was warm at best; not cold but it just would not get hot. The weather froze the night before and the morning shower was still barely able to produce steam as the water temperature just would not get hot enough.

Dinner was surprisingly excellent. We both were pleased with the different sea salt offerings. Steak was very good. I ordered stuffed "jumbo" shrimp. This was misleading as I received only 4 standard sized shrimp. The shrimp was cut in half to accommodate the stuffing but still not considered a "jumbo" shrimp. Our waiter was very entertaining but also mentioned a few times that the restaurant and bar was understaffed and had been that way for a few months.

Amenities are limited as there is no pool. This is under construction and an eyesore in the morning. Also, be aware of the misleading advertisements and signage: THERE IS NO SPA. This closed down after the renovation process. However, there are still elevator signs that lead you toward the "spa" and guest room cards that offer the services.

When trying to order room service, your guides tell you to press "service" on your phone; ours did not work and was sent to an incorrect extension. When I called the Operator, I waited for a full minute to be connected to the correct extension.

What left the most distaste in my mouth was valet parking garage. The valet staff was cordial and what you would expect from a valet staff. They even were able to retrieve my work laptop the next morning that I had left in my vehicle overnight. However, when we were departing the hotel, I noticed I could not see out my passenger window due to a dried liquid. I get out to investigate and the dried liquid was all over the side of my vehicle. I then draw attention to a valet staff member who mentioned that it was a refrigerant from the construction in the valet garage. He began to clean the window with a cleaner and a razor blade. He left the liquid on my paint as he did not want to scratch my paint, I insistently agreed.

Overall, the stay was pleasant when left alone in the room. However the construction noise in the morning was unpleasant and we were glad to be leaving. With such a nice face and appearance from the outside, the little details of what you'd expect from a 4.5 star hotel were not there and we left satisfied but wanting more. This was our first wedding anniversary and had it not been for that occasion, we may...