The Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park — Hotel in El Paso

DO NOT BOOK HERE. It’s such a shame that such a beautiful, historic hotel is so poorly managed.

I booked one night for the Landmark Supreme Suite for 8 guests to celebrate my birthday, well ahead of time. The email confirmation I received stated that check in would be at 3pm. I was not notified ahead of time that there would be any delays checking in. When I arrived at the hotel to attempt to check in at 4pm, I was told that our room was not ready. My friends began arriving and we had to wait in the lobby until 5:30pm for a room. At that time, we were given one set of keys for room 1610. When we finally saw our suite and accommodations, and quickly saw we did not have enough number of beds, we assumed it was in an effort to get us into the first available suite due to the time we had already been waiting. The rest of the night, though lovely, was greatly affected by the delay. We had to push our reservations for dinner and drinks at Ámbar and La Perla, which are located within the hotel. This wasn’t that great of an issue, however we had had our evening carefully planned out and the delay in timing made it impossible to end the night with the entirety of our group.

The night itself was uncomfortable as half of our party had to sleep on couches, and two of our party ended up leaving since there was only one bed in the suite. During check out, I expressed my concern that the suite we were given was not suitable for 6-8 guests and it should not be marketed as such online. The front desk then proceeded to tell me that in fact our reservation was supposed to include two other suites to complete the Landmark Supreme Suite (we were in a regular Landmark Suite) but no one made our party aware, despite our never leaving the property. In fact, they admitted they had forgotten to give us keys to the other rooms and a refund for the other two rooms would be issued. However, I was told only a manager could issue a refund for the difference in cost because I had prepaid for my reservation (Landmark Suite $400 vs. Landmark Supreme Suite $900). At this point, 11:30am, I was told a manager wasn’t on site but that one would be coming in at 12:30pm. I decided to stay and wait to ensure the issue would be resolved, but at 12:25pm I was notified by the front desk staff that the manager wouldn’t be in at all that day and to expect a call the following day.

I received a call the following day around 1pm but I could not hear anyone on the other end. They did not attempt to call back or leave a message so I showed up to the hotel after work around 5:15pm. The same front desk staff told me the manager had left for the day. Noticing my frustration, the staff called the manager so they could contact me right away. When she called she stated that the staff escorted us to the floor, showed us all the rooms, and explained to us that we had access to those rooms. I further explained this was not the case and requested the refund that I had already been promised the day before for the difference in rooms. Instead, I was told that their accountant who handles these issues was also out for the day and wouldn’t be back until the next day.

At this point, it’s hard to believe that this issue will be rectified in a timely manner or at all. Our party did have a large bill at the restaurant and at La Perla. We were as patient and understanding as we could be during our stay but we strongly feel these issues could have been resolved and or prevented. We did our best to make the best of the situation, but we really should not have had to be so...

Stayed two nights for the Coldplay concert. Staff is excellent - very nice, courteous, friendly.. etc Rooms - Not so nice, maybe just the one we had. It was a little dusty, looked nice but once we settled in noticed the little things that made it loose some of its charm. To start:

Charging stations for electronics were updated. One located under the center drawer of the table. A Odd design but clever, until you plug in the charger. The wall plugs were updated to a European style square style. But the problem with this is that it would not take two charging cable adapters. There were USB ports available but charged very slow ( not quick chargers)

-Bathroom door- I knew there was a problem when i heard a blunt sound and one of my kids crying because the door handle itself is used as the stopper to stop the door. It is designed as a barn door style but does not close all the way giving someone privacy. Considering the room is designed for 2 or 4 that can get a little annoying.(( Sitting on the commode you can see out to the room through that small crack like in the public bathrooms where the walls don't touch and are connected by the brace.)) I looked over the door and let my other kiddo and wife know about the design failure, but they and I also got our fingers pinched between the handle and the door jam thought the stay :( . There was actually a small dent where someone prior to us got a good hit. Keeping in mind not to hold the door handle when closing is not what someone expects.

-Shower updated and looks nice but when you have to have instructions on how to use the knobs, that's a little too much. The hooks for the towels were on the side not reachable by sticking arm out of shower and the shower towel holder was on the outside of the door. looks nice but you have to open the door. step out and reach to other side of the door to get your towel.

-Towels --- hard and rough... try using some softener.

Room cleaning - Well this is up in the air. We have stayed in hotels before pre and prior C19 but-- We did see a cleaning person around 2pm in the hallway. I asked if they had cleaned our room and said.. short staffing and if they did not clean it by 4:30 to call and let front check in know. The cleaning person mentioned that priority was to rooms that were being turned over to new check in. Also that we were not allowed to be in the room while they were cleaning. Considering we had just returned from being out and wanted to rest a hour before leaving.. that was not going to happen so.. We just got some extra towels for showers later.

We did not eat in the restaurant / bar decided to eat out and...

They'll scam you for your money, horrible customer service, they also lied to expedia to not give back my $240 charge for 1 night I couldn't stay. I wouldn't recommend this hotel, be careful, they will steal your money. I booked the hotel off of expedia, they're just as bad on honest justifiable refunds, along with their General Insurance offer. My family and I ended up staying the night in El Paso on a day trip this past weekend. I booked the 2 Queen bed suite around 5 pm, I was not aware there was a concert in the park across the street and the City blocked off the access on all 4 ways with road closed barricades when I got to the barricades at 530 pm, so I called the hotel to say there is no access, they said sorry. So I asked if I could cancel it, he said "no problems, I'll note it on your account so Expedia can see you can't access the hotel because of the concert event, you should have no problem getting a refund". Trusting what the front desk at Pioneer told me, I filed the claim on General, I was happy too and proud because I paid for the extra insurance. General then denied the claim because it is not covered for the no access due to a event. Expedia said they can't refund me, they called the hotel and the manager said they tried calling me to say their is no access. which is a 100% lie, I called the front desk, he understood the issue. So now expedia will not refund because the hotel won't authorize the refund, and general ins. will do everything not to pay you back. Why offer a cancelation insurance if you cannot cancel or get a refund. Why sell the room online if there is no access to the hotel, or make them call the hotel to book and let the customer decide if they are willing to park 2 blocks away, or offer free parking through valet, the front desk didn't offer that. Why deny refunding the customer if you know there in the right... Be careful of staying here, bad management can ruin a good business. On a positive note, Hotel Paseo Del Norte was not blocked off, only 1 block away, they are the best hotel downtown, prices identical, they give 5 star service and took care of us better than the Pioneer. The Pioneer offered a free night stay, common, you should have refunded right away because of the circumstances. I wish i was writing how wonderful my stay was, not how they took advantage of us, and stole our money. It's the principle, not the money here. And reputation...