The Guild Downtown | Elm St. — Hotel in Dallas

Currently staying here, not sure where to begin. It's been less then 24 hours, and already nightmarish. My wife and I checked in last night for a 3 night stay. When pulling into the garage to park, my keycard on the Virdee app didn't open the gate. I called "support", and without actually speaking to anyone, the gate raised. Upon finding the correct parking, and going up the lobby to the elevator, needless to say, the keycard didn't work on the elevators either. I spoke to a very helpful security guard in the lobby. I had no service since I wasn't connected to the wifi. The security obtained the wifi information from Parterre, the lobby restaurant. After gaining access to wifi, the keycard still wouldn't work. The security proceeded to guide up the elevator to to the 48th floor where you can access the elevator to take you up to the 50th, where our room was. Since I had texted the customer service for the Guild who had originally reached out to me the morning of our stay, they advised that I did not need wifi to access my keycard. They then qsaid that they had an alternative method for me to access a key, but didn't send me information on it. We got to our room, and the security let us enter. She then had me test my key on the door, which of course, still didn't work. I opened the door to our room without needing a key. Yes, the door didn't lock. At this point, the security guard and I parted ways, and I called the number I had been texting about the keycard. I told them that I didn't have a working keycard, but that I didn't need k E anyway, because the door wouldn't lock. After placing me on hold, they found another room to place us on temporarily while they get the lock issue remedied. The temporary room is not up to oar with why I booked. Not only is it half the size, but the thermostat doesn't work. I been working remotely all day, freezing, wearing a hoodie, trying to stay warm. I've tried shutting off the thermostat, raising the temperature, and still no luck with it. I haven't been concerned with mentioning the thermostat problem with our temporary room, because maintenance hasn't even corrected the door issue on our original room (which we so badly need to get back to). The customer service people on the phone are attentive, and polite, but that all goes out the door when our experience has been dramatically horrible since we tried pulling into the garage. I've mentioned that I expect to be refunded for any night that we didn't stay in the original room that was booked, but have heard nothing back in regard to this. The concept is cool, checking into a hotel virtually, no on site people to speak to /deal with, but it doesn't work well when every process along the way is a failure. Think twice before you book. Also, feel free to ask any question related to my stay thus far. I'm an avid traveler, stay many hotel, and have never come across...

I booked a room here directly through the hotel website for a wedding I was attending, the wedding also fell on the same weekend as OU/TX and several other events, making the city very busy. After booking I received email confirmation of my room and didn't think of it again. When I arrived at the hotel I was unable to retrieve my reservation and use the app to access a key. This is where things went downhill quickly. Without a key I was stranded on the 48th floor speaking on the phone to someone to try and remedy the situation. They apparently had no staff on site "after hours" (it was 6pm) and they informed me my reservation had been canceled. When I asked why they said they didn't have a credit card on file to confirm the reservation and so they refunded my credit card. Reread that last sentence. I didn't receive any communication regarding the cancelation so was stranded on one of the busiest weekends in Dallas. I asked to speak with a manager who informed me they had sent a text message stating that if I didn't add my credit card details to a link the booking would be canceled in 48 hours. This was the last form of communication I apparently received from the hotel and they felt this was sufficient notice to a guest traveling out of state. I'm all for automation and technology but this is perhaps the least hospitable service I have ever received. Like many other people I receive lots of marketing text messages and I don't open them, I certainly don't click on any links that request payment details when I've already completed a booking directly on a suppliers website and have a copy of confirmation. Eventually, as compensation they offered me a room for one night that hadn't been cleaned at a 20% discount. Yes, they wanted me to pay to stay in a dirty room after canceling a 4-night stay. Needless to say, I asked for a supervisor to call me the following day, I'm still waiting on that call. What I suspect happened is the hotel was oversold given the busy weekend and rather than offering to put me up in their other location or as hotels are required "walk me" to another location, they simply stopped communicating altogether. I can't speak to the quality of rooms at this hotel, as I didn't get that far, but as to the quality of service, this is among the worst I've...

I want to give The Guild five stars, but a couple of things hold me back.

First, the good stuff: the location is excellent and convenient to downtown restaurants and shops. Total win there. The room is spacious and the view fantastic. The kitchen seemed well equipped, though I did not use it. The bedroom is in the center, so it is pretty dark, which I love. Overall, the room was super comfortable. There is a common area/workspace in the center of the floor. It feels like a luxury college dorm. I think that several of the people in my large group made use of that space for socializing, which is a big plus for a group.

Second, the negative stuff: check-in is confusing. There is no human being anywhere staffing a desk. You have to text, and response time varies. The number does not work for calls. If you arrive early, there is no concierge to stow your luggage. The building security guy, who does not work for the hotel, was kind enough to put my suitcase in a closet. Otherwise, I would have been hauling the thing down the street to wait in a restaurant. You get a text notice when your room is ready, and then you have to use the app to open the door. This did not work for several of us, even though we got on the wifi and removed phones from cases as suggested. Luckily, a staff person was on the floor and let me in. There are hard keys in the room and elevator, which I used for the rest of the stay.

All the lights in the room are on motion sensors/timers. I love the idea of this for saving power. However, the ceiling fans are on motion sensors, too. So when you go to sleep, so does the ceiling fan. ARGH.

The check-in/key and fan issues were annoyances. I would still stay here again! The bed was extremely comfortable (pillows, not so much, so bring your own), the room was very clean, the staff, when you found one, were friendly and professional, and the location is great. The gym in the basement is OUTSTANDING. If not for the key and fan, I would give...