Hotel David Whitney, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Detroit

This is a copy/paste of my Trip Advisor review:

The Greater Detroit Area suffered a power outage from Wednesday February 22 to the following Tuesday the 28th. My house was without power for five days until Sunday night. Anyway, I booked a hotel through Expedia and when I got there, I was told that the hotel was overbooked by third parties and even though I had paid, there was no room waiting for me. So I'm stuck downtown with a very cold fiance looking for a place. The next hotel we checked was also completely full.

So I thought to myself, what's the fanciest, nicest hotel downtown that I can think of since we were already down there and all the hotels I checked in the suburbs earlier that day were also sold out. That's when The David Whitney came to mind. I had never been there though and went on a recommendation.

We get there and I ask the concierge, David, if they have any rooms and explained the situation. He said they have a pending cancellation and if I'd like to stay and wait in the hotel bar, he would see what he could do. Well, let me tell you did he make it happen. My fiance and I got comped drinks and after about 20 minutes, our room was ready. The price for the night was 396 which included valet parking. Pricey but the building and room were fantastic.

The David Whitney Building was built over a hundred years ago as a mixed office building. It got renovated about a decade ago into the 5 star hotel it is today. Our room was spacious and had a lovely view overlooking Woodward Ave. The room was divided in three sections, the sitting area with a couch and two chairs, table and TV. Next was the bathroom with an enclosed glass door shower that rose about 7 feet in the 8 foot shower. There was also a mini-fridge, coffee maker and glasses. Lastly was the sleeping area and it featured a King size bed as well as a desk and chair, a bench, TV and two night end tables.

When we woke up the next morning, we were able to call the concierge from our room and book another night! Desmond helped us with that and did a wonderful job. He even told me that Aloft Hotels were a Marriot chain and I could use my Marriot Rewards! The price for the next night, which once again included valet parking, was 436. Access to the building is available 24/7 so you're not locked out if you stay our late on the town like we did Friday night.

Aloft Detroit also has a hotel bar called WXYZ and the bartender, Kevin, explained that all Alofts have a bar called WXYZ, no relation to the TV channel haha. Drinks there are affordable and strong. I love this hotel and can't wait to stay there again, hopefully under better circumstances. I'd like to thank the entire staff at Aloft Detroit, especially David, Desmond, and Kevin for their service and...

April 2024 Once again things have changed. We were given an 8th floor inside room with no view. The 2 nights we stayed we were woken up by VERY LOUD drilling and pounding…some kind of construction work AT 7:00 AM! Even with the TV on volume 50 we still couldn’t hear it above the noise. UNBELIEVABLE!! We were on the 8th floor and construction was on the 9th floor. The grate was open (couldn’t close) on the air filter and it was disgusting. The light in the bathroom did not work. They have also removed all of the safes from the rooms. This will be our last time we will stay here. We are elite members of Marriott and this place is a disgrace. Spending almost $400 a night on a room right below a construction sight should be illegal! Even after checkout the workers at entrance/exit made it dangerous to leave! What a terrible way to start your day!

May 2023 review We stayed for 3 nights and were treated to an upgraded room. A corner king on the 9th floor. The lighting is still weirdly setup in this room too but the view was wonderful. Front desk staff was friendly and helpful AND we were advised at checkin about maid service. I have adjusted my rating from 2 to 4 stars. Get a coffee shop and a good restaurant in those empty areas in lobby and I’ll give 5 stars 😊

2018- We spent 2 nights in 2018 in this beautiful old building and were pleasantly surprised at all of the modern updates in our room. The valet parking was appreciated after our long drive and the staff was pleasant and welcoming. We were able to walk to Comerica Park within 5 minutes. It is quite expensive but we were happy to be staying within walking distance of everywhere we wanted to go.

Sept 2022 Review This was our 3rd stay here and things have changed! Our room was horrible - on the inside with only a view of the building - couldn’t even see the sky! The lighting is confusing and haphazard - the bathroom light switch is by the front door and the bedroom area has no overhead lights and very dim light over bed. We had no housekeeping service AT ALL over the three nights we stayed and when we checked out and complained they told us we needed to request it - which we were NEVER told! There is no restaurant or even a Starbucks there anymore; only a bar. The “free” water in our room had already been opened and so had the body lotion. There were 5 tissues shoved in the tissue box of varying colors. The front desk staff varied from very friendly to kinda rude. We are Marriott Elite members and are so dissatisfied and disappointed with how bad the room they gave us was. Probably will NOT...

Upon our arrival we first felt profiled, Kaleela (who we later found out was the manager) was extremely rude and not welcoming what so ever. I came to Detroit to drop my brothers dog off so the dog didn’t even go past the lobby and Kaleela said “ he barely made the cut because we don’t accept dogs over 40lbs) but she was very friendly to another dog who was in the lobby. We had our children with us and it was snowing pretty bad so I stayed in the car with the kids and my husband went in to check us in and she refused to allow him to check us in as well as she made a very big deal about needing a military ID because we got military rates for our stay. I’ve stayed in plenty Alofts from Dallas to Florida even in Colorado and never has my experience been this bad! Both my husband and I are is army veterans and no one has ever given us an issue about our military ids we would never lie about our status. I come in present my military id and kaleela was still very rude. My children were getting on the elevator and she shouted across the lobby “hurry up and get on your holding up the elevator” I felt humiliated and disrespected. Normally we are greeted with the best service but this time was different. To make matters even worse we get to our room and there was blood on the bed, the room was dirty. They didn’t switch us rooms until the next day and the only thing offered was to remove parking for one day. The other young lady janasia made the stay better as she was very pleasant and wanted to try and fix the problem. Kaleela was there the remaining time and never spoke to us once as if she was absolutely disgusted. Kenyette the valet supervisor was the best person there as she always made conversation with us and spoke to us and the children. And as if the stay couldn’t have gotten worse as we are checking out I’m holding the door for the maintenance man as he’s pulling an extension cord and he looked at me and threw his hands up and said “Goooo” My husband was very upset and mentioned to him that is not how you treat a lady and then another employee said he didn’t mean it like that and then I got rude with us. This stay was miserable! I am extremely disappointed and I feel so humiliated. The hotel itself was in a great location and the hotel was very charming. It’s so disappointing that the staff are so crappy! This was a complete waste of money and moving forward you all should learn to treat veterans and...