Palm House — Hotel in Palm Beach

Stayed at this hotel for a wedding, its was right during Spring Break so I knew the price would be above average, but since it was a "wedding blocked" room I thought maybe there would be some type of discount. This was not the case, i think it was around $1800 for the night!!! Upon entry the hotel is very beautiful, the design is well done and I love the use of coral and shells to remind you the beach is just down the street. The hotel is at an amazing location, right off of Worth Ave and all of its shops and restaurants. Although the lobby is kind of cramped, immediately to your left is a single check in desk and on the right side is the check in for the restaurant. A large bar separates the "lobby" from the restaurant, making the flow of the space odd, the dining room on the other side of the bar was kind of dark as there was no overhead lighting on, almost making it look like the dining area was closed. Due to a scheduling error on my part we didn't get to check into the hotel until Saturday, the day of the wedding, check-in is for 4-PM but since we arrived early to the hotel, ~10:30-AM I was hoping my boyfriend and I would get the first room available that met our reservation. This was not the case. I was with the bride all morning getting ready until around 2-PM, during this time I didn't receive a single notification that my room was ready or going to be ready soon which was disappointing. My BF was left to his own devices as I was getting ready and decided to hang out by the pool after we checked in with the front desk. Still waiting for our room to be ready he knew he would have a few hours to kill and wanted to get to experience some of the amenities of the hotel. He sat out by the pool for no less than 10-minutes and an employee of the hotel asked if he was a guest at the hotel, he responded that he was waiting for the room to be ready, the person then rudely asked which room number he was in, to which he again responded that the room was not ready for us yet so we had not been assigned a room number yet. The man then walked away and stared at him sitting by the pool, making my BF so uncomfortable he decided to leave and walk around Worth Ave. When I went to check on the room status around 2-PM I was told that the room has just been cleaned and they were waiting for the "final walk through" to confirm ready status. I was told they couldn't guarantee this but it would probably be another 10-15 minute wait. He and I decided to sit at the bar while we waited. I went back up after 20 minutes and there was a new host at the stand, I let him know we were waiting for our room and if they could try and speed the process up because we needed to be ready to go to the wedding by 4-PM. Mind you the bride had a suite at this hotel and numerous other wedding party guests were staying at this hotel, so in this time many of them walked past us checking why we were hanging by the bar and not getting ready...The new host informed me that there was a mechanical issue in the room and it would just be a little longer. Not offering a drink or anything while we waited even though he saw us sitting at the bar. While waiting again I watched as the host checked in a family to no issues, gave them a key and they went on their way. Following this I went back to the host stand and told him I wouldn't be walking away until my room was ready, I also informed him that since we were quickly approaching 4-PM I needed a room, my BF needed to shower, I luckily had my hair and makeup done in the Bridal Suite, had I not, I would have needed to get ready in our car or the lobby restroom (which was very small). I stood at the front desk for about 20 more minutes pleading with the host to provide us with any room at this point. Throughout this entire process nothing was offered to us to make us more comfortable or appease...

I will start out by saying that I have worked as a bartender and in the service industry previously for years, and I was extremely disappointed by our experience at the bar. I live locally and was excited to see a new spot open up that was seemingly similar to others around town like the Colony, which I enjoy. A friend and I went with the intention to sit at the bar, have a few drinks, and some lunch. At first glance, the place is beautiful, but that’s where it ends. We sat at the unsteady, way too short barstools - you feel like a little kid that needs a booster seat. Someone really screwed up that design. There’s no ambiance of music or lighting. It took a while to be greeted by the woman bartending and she was not friendly at all. If anything, she was actually quite rude. There were only 2 other people sitting at the bar, so it was not busy at all. We asked for some water and ordered 2 martinis from their cocktail menu. We were served less than half full martinis which was odd and disappointing. Not to mention, they were very sweet and you couldn’t even taste the liquor. They didn’t give us a food menu and we had to fight for the bartenders attention to ask for one. We then ordered the tuna crispy rice - one of our favorite dishes that we order often at other places. It came out as a small portion, didn’t look very appetizing, and was flavorless. We saw truffle fries go by with a waiter, so we asked the bartender if we could order some. She acted as if it was such a hassle for her to do..… again very odd and off putting. We got our truffle fries and my friend asked for some honey mustard. The bartender said “they don’t have that” and turned away immediately instead of perhaps offering an alternative that they do have…? At this point we were not wanting to order anything else there, even though we very much wanted more cocktails and additional food. We decided to go elsewhere. We got our check that already had 20% gratuity added to it, and was $140. $140 for x2 less than half full martinis, flavorless tuna crispy rice, truffle fries, and a $12 charge for water!! I am not one to complain about prices, but if they want to charge prices like that, they need to improve every element of the experience. I would not recommend wasting your time or money at this establishment. We went down the road to the Colony where we were welcomed with warm attitudes and friendly service. We stayed all afternoon/into the evening and had a lovely time as we hoped to have at...

Let's start of with the good:

The property is stunning and the decor and cleanliness of the rooms were fantastic, we were thrilled with the physical property. We also have to mention how WONDERFUL Josh (Joshua) at the pool was every single day. His positive attitude and super energetic sprit was our absolute highlight of our stay. He is a gem.

The not so good:

With a few notable exceptions, the service at the hotel is a major downside - for five star prices, this hotel really falls short.

The hotel's proximity to the beach and the beach chair service was a huge draw for us to stay at the hotel. We were very disappointed with the experience: the chairs are in short supply and are on a first come first serve basis. We only saw 8 chairs total at a given time and when we asked for additional seating the staff at the beach (which we were told was a third party) were not accommodating whatsoever. Management did recognize the problem and we did not have a similar issue on all days we stayed (but we attribute our ability to get chairs mostly to our dedication to be the first on the beach in the morning, which was annoying when you just want to lounge during your holiday). The hotel advertises this service a great deal on their social media, but be aware that it is in very limited supply.

We also experienced one major and a couple of minor billing issues that were not quickly resolved. Management eventually did take care of the major billing issue (essentially, ensuring that our included breakfast was indeed included) but it took several go-arounds to make it right and there was no acknowledgement that the property was in the wrong - making us feel as if we were problematic guests, when in fact we were just trying to rectify an issue.

Overall:

We hate to say it, but based on our experience, the property has a lot to work out in terms of service. One very kind front desk manager (Natalie) was fantastic and checked in on us after we reported these experiences, but overall (aside from Joshua and Natalie) the service fell totally flat. We had higher expectations of this hotel and were sad to walk away...