Renaissance Saint Elm Dallas Downtown Hotel — Hotel in Dallas

I have stayed here several times and largely enjoyed it. Rooms are comfortable and food is good. Gym is tiny and if there are 5 people in there it starts to feel cramped. My most recent experience has me reconsidering where I stay when in Dallas. I end up in Dallas a handful times a year and had been staying at the Adolphus which is an excellent property but over the past year changed to the St. Elm as my home base even eventhough I have only had positive experiences at the Adolphus. I could say that about the St. Elm up until this past trip. Given the price of this stay and my experience I will have to consider shifting back to the Adolphus. || It all started with check-in. The lady who checked me in was curt and not welcoming at all. It took a while for her to surface for check-in and when she did it was as if I was inconveniencing her. She forgot to offer me waters which isn't a big deal but when I returned to the front desk to collect some (after dropping my luggage in my room) I received a stern warning that you only get 2 (small ones) and that's it. You pay for the rest. It was so odd and off putting. Paying for waters with the room costing close to $500/night is bizarre (and not the issue) but it was her tone and demeanor that got me.||The restaurant and cafe hours have always left me scratching my head. Both the restaurant and cafe open at 7 am (ish). I say “ish” because it is not uncommon to see neither open at 7. For business travelers opening at 7 is late to begin with. On the last morning of my stay I came down at 7 am to find a hord of people queuing up just to get breakfast (restaurant/cafe wasn't open). The staff was clearly outmanned. To such a degree that it was uncomfortable to eat there watching the two staff members run around frantically. All that does is frustrate the staff, end up in poor service and long wait times. It took over 20 minutes just to get an espresso and about 35 to get eggs and bacon. I saw 1 person get up and leave and one waiting for her toast that took so long she had to get it to go (still hadn't gotten it when I left). In these situations, one would expect a manager to come down and help but that didn't happen. I would think at a minimum either the café or restaurant would open at least by 6:30 AM to allow for a better experience. || After I ate I wanted to grab an espresso from the cafe (right next to the front desk) but it was closed (apparently the cafe person was a no show) and I asked the front desk lady if she could make one (literally press 1 button) and she curtly told me "no" and go ask the restaurant. Ironically, it was the same lady who checked me in. (I could be wrong but she may be a manager.) Given what I just experienced at breakfast that was a non-starter. Nevertheless, I did walk back down the restaurant to see if I could order one but no staff was in sight and I didn't have another 20 minutes to wait. I returned to the front desk and was curtly told once again "no". Mind you, nobody was checking in nor was there a line. She was my first and last interactions with hotel staff during my stay and I felt that I was inconveniencing her during all 3 of my interactions. Her behavior was so off putting it was surprising. This is disappointing for any facility but especially one of this caliber. When paying close to $500/night it is hard to get your head around how this could happen. But it did and now I am reconsidering where I stay during my...

Room was great, very comfy bed, hotel was clean, bar staff on Sunday 09/02 was very friendly and personable, location was really good. Reception associates are among the rudest I have ever met. When we checked in we stood and were not even acknowledged by the THREE staff members behind the reception for a good minute or so. The next day, we decided to sleep in and so did not vacate our room until after 11. We went out all afternoon and returned around 7. When we returned we found our room had not been serviced. I inquired with the reception staff, who seemed to not really care about the problem, and was told they did not clean the room because the do not disturb sign was up. I stated that was removed when we left at 11 and the housekeeping staff were still on our floor, and was given some fairy-tail answer how the rooms are only serviced in the morning, which then changed to they are serviced all day, but if they go past the room and the 'dnd' sign was up they do not go back to it. I then asked verbatim 'So if i leave my room after 11am, it will not be cleaned?', the reception associate responded 'Basically, yes'.

The next day upon leaving our room, I went to reception and said we were leaving our room after 11am, but I was specifically requesting the room be cleaned as it was not the day before. The reception associate was different from the night before, but she said of course it would be cleaned, and there was no need for a special request. When I said what her colleague had stated the previous evening she basically told me that was incorrect and they were short staffed the day before. I insisted she take note of my room number and pass it to housekeeping, which she did. We returned later and found the room had been serviced, but with some noticeable discrepancies. The glasses we had taken up from the bar from the previous night were not removed, there was only 1 water glass placed on the shelves, and it was not clean, covered in fingerprints (probably ours so they simply restocked a dirty glass), and none of the coffee supplies were replaced.

Finally, when we came back from being out for dinner that night, it was 10:55pm, we stopped at the bar to take a drink to our room, but there was nobody there. We walked to reception to find the two unhelpful associates from the previous night and asked if we could be served to take drinks up to our room, and were told the bar was closed, which according to your advertised times is 11pm.

When checking out the next day, there was not even the custom ‘how was your stay’ question from the reception associate or even a thankyou for our stay. Just did I want a print out of the bill or email. This hotel is advertised as a 4 star, and the way it looks backs this up, but you may want to educate your staff on what is expected from a 4 star service, as I have found better service in 3 star locations than I did from the staff here.

Side note, it was a shock to have to pay for automated machine brewed coffee that we prepared ourselves in the lobby. Most establishments offer this as a standard, as well as leave bottled water in the room, which this establishment...

Just ok. Upon arriving we had to circle the block several times to attempt to find parking. When my husband and I finally gave up, we called to ask if there was a parking lot or garage that we could be directed to, and was informed that they only had Valet service, but that it was unlimited in and out service for $31. Then we get to our room which was directly next to the elevator, which has never been an issue for us at previous hotels, but at this particular hotel the chime for the elevator must be set at the highest level... as it woke us up periodically throughout the night.

When I went to iron my dress and get ready for the evening, the ironing board was clearly the cheapest option when they purchased it, it wobbles and the ironing board cover wasn’t secure... if you’ve never ironed a dress, let me just tell you, while this was comedic for my husband, it was quite frustrating for myself. Every time I adjusted the fabric to be able to press it without wrinkles, I would the subsequently have to readjust the cover. I ended up giving up on this after a solid 10 minutes and ironing on the floor.

Next, yes next, we found that the door stopper for the barn style sliding door for the bathroom, was incorrectly installed. Sounds simple right? So to put it bluntly, when my husband had to use the restroom... there was no closing the door. Thankfully we’ve been married for five years so this added some comedy to our morning, but I don’t think I would have been laughing with the same intensity if it were me sitting on the porcelain thrown, offering courtesy flushes.

Then promptly at 9:30AM, while trying to get ready for my nephews birthday party, some device plugged into the wall kept going off. Thinking this was a doorbell, we went to open the door, but found no one there. After the third time it went off, and the third time checking if anyone was at the the door my husband unplugged the darn thing.

Finally, the valet service I mentioned earlier, was far from convenient. We waited for 30 minutes I’m the hot sun to retrieve our vehicle. We watched the poor valet team run blocks to fetch cars one at a time. And when we finally got in our vehicle, the arm rest and seat covered in sweat and then I found that one of the buttons that controls the navigation menu was missing. So yeah, 2 stars...