The Fontaine — Hotel in Kansas City

This was a fine enough experience. At the end of the day, I recommend staying at The Fontaine only if The Raphael is full. The location of the hotel is excellent, but so is The Raphael's.

There were several small disappointments, but nothing that was a deal-breaker. My room wasn't as clean or nice as I was expecting. The floors and counters were dirty, my bed didn't have a fitted sheet, and my curtains were ripped. Although the website promises "all suites include ... [a] premium bathrobe" along with a "fully-stocked mini bar," my suite didn't have either. I found the mini fridge, but it was completely empty. Other than those minor faults, the room was as-described. They only begin to offer room service on the third day of your stay, so that was another disappointment from the (self-described) "luxury" hotel.

If you have a question about a reservation and sit through the automated menu to select the reservations, but then find out you need to speak to the front desk (because some reservations are handled only by the front desk, I guess?), you'll have to hang up, call back, and sit through the automated menu again. I think it's bizarre that their reservations department can't transfer guests to the front desk. It's 2025-- that feels like a basic service they should be able to provide. Furthermore, I looked multiple times on the website to find check-in and check-out times and couldn't find them. I ended up having to call the hotel the day before my reservation to find out when I could check-in. After checking in, I received a text that had a ton of helpful information...including my check-in time. It would've been more helpful to receive that message before checking in or to have that information accessible online. I actually tried emailing about the time using their online contact submission and received an email back saying that my submission bounced! If you need to contact the hotel, calling is absolutely the best option.

Every single person I spoke to that worked at the hotel was exceptionally kind and polite. I ended up checking out one day early at around 12:15 pm (check-out is 11) fully expecting to pay for the last night that I booked. Without my asking, the man that helped me at the front desk offered to cancel my reservation for that night even though I was leaving early and after that day's check-out. I appreciate him going out of his way to help me. The bartenders at the lounge upstairs and the barista at the coffee shop were very nice, too.

At booking, I was given a quote of $643.10 for three nights. After the $1,000 hold cleared and my final charge was complete, I ended up paying $691.46 for two nights. My room for two nights was $503.60, and after self-parking and some snacks from the lobby, my net amount for the room and voluntary additional charges came to $586.22 for two nights. After all of the fees and taxes that weren't identified in any of my confirmation emails or communications with the hotel staff, my final total was $691.46 for two nights. I don't feel like that's a good value or deal and I'd recommend steering clear of the hotel during any kind of special event (like New Year's Eve).

I bought two tickets for the hotel's NYE party for a little over $100 a piece, and I feel like the tickets were mostly a good value. There were free drinks in the first two hours of the event, but around 10:30 the included amenities seem to disappear. The bar that was pouring complimentary cocktails was literally folded up and taken away, the bourbon and beer vendor that was doing tastings started packing up, and the portrait artist stopped taking people in line. After this, you had to go to the main bar and pay for drinks (minus the sparkling wine passed out at midnight) but it took no less than 15 minutes per drink given they only had one bar operating for all the guests.

With some minor tweaks, this hotel could be a really delightful experience. But given the hefty fees and prices they charge as a "luxury" hotel, they should do better at the basics: cleanliness, transparency, and...

AWFUL. Our experience at the Fontaine was the worst hotel experience we’ve had, and their management seems to have no desire to change the experience for others. Their star rating and online photos give the perception of a high-end hotel but The Fontaine doesn’t live up to expectations. Additionally, after posting that we had a negative experience, their marketing manager reached out. I took the time to write a detailed message and was told she “wanted to talk with operations and would reach out the next day.” It’s been two weeks and we never heard a word back. See below to understand some of the reasons why we wouldn’t recommend this hotel:

Their “rooftop pool” is very small, and yet they rent their cabanas and day passes to the public. The pool was at capacity for the majority of our stay and by the time we had a chance to enjoy it, it was totally trashed from the drunken cabana desks.

They claim to have electric vehicle charging but actually just have two Tesla home chargers in their parking lot; we called to confirm this amenity before booking and weren’t told it was Tesla only. We’ve never encountered anywhere using Tesla home chargers like this. This was one the reason we booked at this hotel versus others in the city.

The ceiling of our hotel room was covered in dirty hand prints. (Strange, I know.)

It took over 40 minutes for a waitress to even bring us waters at their restaurant. Their food was mediocre and overpriced ; similar quality to wedding food catered by a large hotel.

They also rent out part of their restaurant to private parties. A private party was happening during our stay was extremely loud during our dinner. We then went to bed and realized that our room was directly below the party room, so we couldn’t sleep until 1AM from the noise of the party and then furniture being drug across the floor.

We tried to leave multiple times and were told that the hotel wouldn’t cancel our stay because we booked through a 3rd party. Then after working with our credit card company, we were told we still couldn’t leave and get a refund of our points because “we had accepted vouchers from them for food.” At that point, we hadn’t actually received (let alone used) the vouchers.

The most infuriating part of our stay though was that management lied to us multiple times, including stating that they don’t rent their cabanas out on weekends (after originally telling us that they do and that’s why we couldn’t use the pool.) I could go online and book a cabana for the next day or the following weekend. Also, the pool guests kept leaving the lobby in their swim suits and getting into Ubers. (Strange behavior if they were guests...

We were really looking forward to our stay and had high hopes when we arrived. The woman who checked us in was very friendly and even said she particularly loved the room we were given, which got us excited. But that excitement quickly faded. The room had no great view and was located right next to the stairwell, so we heard the door slam—especially at night, which made it hard to sleep.

When we got in, we were hungry and decided to check out the restaurant and pool area on the 7th floor. It was happy hour, which we were excited about—until we noticed we were charged full price. When we brought it up, the staff just said, “Oh that’s odd,” and told us it would adjust back on the card. We never received a new receipt, a refund receipt, or even much reassurance. We let it go, but it didn’t leave a great impression.

We used the pool several times during our stay and were disappointed every time. The pool area itself was so dirty, which was incredibly surprising to me as someone who works in the service industry and has waited tables in the past. I can’t believe this was acceptable to the hotel, especially since it was never busy while we were there. Every time we went inside to get service—because the poolside service we were supposed to have was pretty much non-existent—the person who was supposed to be working the pool area was singing and chatting with fellow employees, and I saw groups of staff doing the same. Instead of standing around, they could have been team players by pre-bussing and cleaning tables, taking care of customers, and making sure the pool area was clean and welcoming.

Even when we did manage to order something, the service was extremely slow. We waited over 45 minutes just for fries, and barely saw our server—he came by maybe once every 20 minutes, despite the area not being busy.

Valet service was also underwhelming. Staff were mostly on their phones or chatting with each other, and didn’t seem very friendly or helpful. We also noticed our car, which is a manual, never moved—so we’re guessing no one knew how to drive it. Not a big deal, but definitely strange for a valet service.

For over $300 a night, this was not the experience we expected. As someone who works in the service industry myself, I always look for places to recommend to my clients—and I was excited to potentially add your hotel to that list. Unfortunately, this stay fell far short. It was meant to be a special celebration for both a birthday and our anniversary, and I had saved up to splurge on it—but it just didn’t live up to the hype. Sadly, we won’t be returning or recommending...