Hotel Deco — Hotel in Omaha

DON'T STAY HERE! I wish I wouldn't have believed the good reviews. This was one of my worst stays ever. It began at check-in around 8:30pm. My husband and I arrived to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and after researching the hotel and reading a large number of good reviews about it we were excited to try it out. Upon arriving we valeted the truck and went inside to check-in. We waited behind a couple who had arrived moments before us to check-in while 2 other employees hung around. I think one might have been a concierge and the other was possibly training the one who was checking people in. She presented as if she was high as a kite and it took a long time to check-in. She said she had bad news, the room type we booked was all full and they were going to have to put us in a different room. I was hoping for a free upgrade to a nicer king room and that is what we got for a couple of extra dollars a night however she made it sound like we were going to be put in a queen room instead or have to pay a lot more to stay there. Luckily it seemed to work out in our favor.

After finally getting up to the room we found it to be dirty. Either it hadn't been cleaned from the previous guest or someone was still staying in that room. We didn't stick around long enough to find out and then went down to the front desk to ask for a different room. We were given a different room and two free drink vouchers to use at the hotel bar for the inconvenience. We went to our new room, settled in and our wine and fruit package arrived. We enjoyed that, watched TV and then went to bed. The night was pretty rough. There was a lot of outside noise and it didn't help that we backed up to a parking lot that was in between two tall brick buildings. we made it though the first night, went about our business the next day and then returned to the hotel to unwind and go to bad after a long day.

That night was horrible. There were a couple of cars parked in the parking lot blaring their music on full blast with the windows down, yelling at each other and singing along. After an hour of not sleeping and hoping they would leave we called the front desk and asked if they could move the people causing a racket or move us to a different room. After explaining that it wasn't the disco club across the street and that I could see the people below my room (on the second floor) causing the problem they took care of it. We went to sleep and go up the next morning to go to the Zoo. I had requested the tickets through their site, but that apparently didn't work. they gave us tickets anyways and we went to the Zoo. We couldn't find a place to park and decided to abandon the plan until later in the day. As we drove back to the hotel I glanced at the tickets and they were expired. This lead to a conversation with the manager saying that we never booked them and that our rate should have been higher had we booked the Family Zoo package. We hadn't booked the package, just the add-on for two tickets, but it didn't matter. We just left it alone and went about our day. When we came back to the hotel later that night to get ready for dinner we found that out room keys had been deactivated. We went back down to the front desk got them reactivated and got ready.

The only positive things that I have to say about this hotel are these. 1. Their shower panels are amazing. 2. Their valets are really nice. And 3. The rooms are modern. Other than that, the staff, windows, and overall customer service needs a...

Meh. It's a historical building, which is cool. The interior is all black and brassy gold - to help emphasize the 1920's art deco.

First, just to start, this hotel was nothing like I had expected. When booking this place online, I only had the photos to make my judgement from. It seemed like a swanky joint and great place for the first night of our honeymoon..something from the era of The Great Gatsby.

However, what I found was an adequately sized hotel room being disguised as and charged a "suite". The suite part comprised of two extremely uncomfortable polyester/nylon (incorrect for the period) Art Deco inspired knock off chairs, very easily from IKEA with an even smaller cheaply made (IKEA) round side table about 14" in diameter.

The bathroom was nice - clean, and adequately stocked.

Front desk staff was tolerable but definitely not overly friendly. There were to be certain extra amenities in our room, such as 3 different kinds of chilled beverages, charcuterie board, chocolates, and a few other items.

Obviously communication between staff is not a strong suite. Only 2 of our requests were fulfilled.

We had one type of chilled beverage on ice and a charcuterie board. However, the charcuterie board had been sitting out for many hours - obviously made sometime on the morning or mid-mornimg hours and left sitting unwrapped and unrefrigerated on the tiny side table. The proscuicitto was leathery and chewy and the fruit was shriveled and dried. When I called the front desk to inquire about the other beverages and express my concern/disappointment with the charcuterie board (it was a health code violation!), I was told that the hotel offered $5 bottles of water and if didn't want to do that, I could go to the KwikShop. They apologized for the meat/cheese/fruit/cracker tray but offered nothing further. Bravo for service. 🙄 We were too exhausted at that point to fight them. But that charcuterie board cost somewhere between $75-100.

Thee beds were nice and we slept well.

Breakfast is not included and would have cost an additional $15-20/each. Another bad idea. Honeymoon guests should have been provided a packing inclusive of breakfast.

Unfortunately, the word "boutique" in the description means nothing more than an attempted marketing ploy. While the website does a great job with photography and storytelling, in reality, this hotel is probably a 3 star at best. The website will leave you to believe it is 4-5 stars and with impeccable service. This was not our experience at all - not even close.

Some may enjoy Hotel Deco, but this girl won't be back for another go round. Since leaving this review, NO ONE ever bothered to follow up with us - further proof that customers are not as important as they should be.

I've had better experiences in many other hotel brands - Marriott Renaissance, Hyatt, Sheraton and even Best Western.

What a disappointing first night of our honeymoon. That time in history can never been regained or recreated. It was spoiled by where I chose to spend it sight unseen.

Granted, it IS Omaha and there's not a lot to pick from. However, it would be nice if this hotel's website would not oversell itself, leaving customers disappointed and disollusioned.

Never again.

UPDATE: It's now been 1 year since my original review was posted. Still no contact or communication from the hotel.

Buyer beware. What you see online is often much more spectacular than reality. Such as the case...

Pros: -Size of the room(stayed in a double deluxe- 2 queens) -Shower nozzles -AC worked great -Located in downtown -Only encountered 2 other guests in the hallway during our entire stay.

Cons: -No safe -No coffee maker -No ice machines(the ice that was brought by housemen was in a dirty bucket, when the ice melted we saw hair and debris...super gross) -Iron was was missing the nob that controls the temp. -Sheets on one of the beds had questionable dark red stains. When we took off those sheets we found hair and debris on top of the mattress cover...super gross. -Furniture was in bad shape (stained, ripped, broken drawers, missing handles, vanity light did not work, saggy cushions) -Toilet bowl stains inside the bowl were visible as you were walking in the bathroom. -Had to walk our daughter through strong weed smell in lobby and elevator every time we left and came back. -Laminate flooring was stained and separating is some areas. -Found what appeared to be a pink cleaning rag left in the room by housekeeping -Walls had gouges in the drywall (told the front desk and she replied, "Its OK, we know it was probably not from you guys.") The TV was small considering how far away it was from the beds.

Overall this property has not been properly maintained and falling apart.This is not an upscale luxury hotel as advertised and is not designed for stays longer than overnight. We will not be staying here if we ever visit Omaha again. We stayed here for 3 nights and would have changed hotels but decided to spend most of our visit away from the hotel as possible. Although on the Expedia website it states that the property is smoke free, everyday there was a strong smell of weed smoke in the elevator and lobby. This is in downtown so we expected some noise but even being on the seventh floor we could hear people talking/ arguing on the street below even with the window closed. Upon check in we were stared at but not greeted and the lady just asked us for my ID and license plate number and told me my room number. Seeing that there was no one else in the lobby it would have been a great opportunity for her to explain the layout of the hotel or amenities offered. There is a restaurant associated with Hotel Deco but seeing the hotel room and quality of service we were not comfortable eating the food there. We instead went to Sullivan's Steakhouse (highly recommend). If you are looking for a party room for your friends to just hangout in before you go out then this is the place for you- they have full size bottles of liquor...