Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel — Hotel in Providence

From the outside this place looks magnificent. Unfortunately it stops there with horrible valet service. These guys are literally running up and down the street and it can take upwards of 20minutes to get your car. Not the valets fault this is the hotels fault. Inside the entry and check it I would describe it as average. Nothing catches your eye it's just blah. Of course an elevator was down during my stay. The room was nice and had a good layout. Can't say I had a good view. The room I stayed in was one of the first few right off the elevator next to a maintenance room. There is a sharp corner of the building where the rooms just look out right into the other side of the building roughly 20ft away. So I got the enjoy looking at that. If I pressed my face against the windows I was able to see the massive parking garage for the mall next block down. The mattress was nice but the sheets were terrible. The duvet cover is extra loose and doesn't close so after a few turns in your sleep the comforter is out of the duvet and your covered in a big mess of sheets. Pillows were quite nice I really liked them. Bathroom had nice sink with plenty of room for everything you would use at home. The mirror had an anti fogging feature and it worked great after taking a hot shower. The shower however was the worst shower I can remember using in a hotel. The curtain was on an arc screwed into the walls. The screws were lose causing this arc to droop down from the weight of this heavy shower curtain or someone pulling to hard. Now the curtain won't stay up on either side of the rod because it's falling into the center of this arc. Not to mention pressure to the shower was non existent. This was a total bummer because my last hotel I stayed at in DC had an amazing shower. Other thing to add is that the hallways are loud during the day. The housekeepers are yelling in Spanish up and down the halls. Doesn't really bother me but it might bother you. Last night there I went the hotel bar restaurant called Public. It was far better than expected. Wish I went 2 days earlier I would have spent more money. The bartender was fantastic I would recommend the Gin Fresco. It was amazing! Dinner was also great I had a braised lamb with red sauce. Appetizers were calamari and spicy noodles. The apps were dynamite and seafood was cooked perfect. I also have to add this was on a Sunday night around 9pm. Place was like a dead zone. The waiter was very nice and knowlegable. I have to recommend this place to everyone. Even if you don't stay at the hotel check out Public. They only have 2 televisions at the bar I really wish they had 2 more. That's the only complaint I have about the place it was a very pleasant surprise. Overall the Renaissance in my opinion is 2.5 stars. But I'm giving 3 instead of 2 because the restaurant was so so good and the location of the hotel is...

I've stayed at the hotel many times before and travel fairly regularly to Providence and had always chose the Renaissance over other local hotels for its more 'boutique' feel. This time though it was a disaster... When I checked in for a 4 night booking (supposedly in a club room) I was given a room that directly faced a wall. For one night this might be fine but for 4 I'd like to see some light so I asked to move and was given a tiny room with a bed right on top of a empty but running and noisy fridge so I had to call maintenance who came up and confirmed they could not unplug the fridge so I had to move again... (reception offered this) and I was offered a very dark and dingy room on the 2nd floor 'the best they had available' but when I asked to perhaps stay in the room I had overnight and change in the morning I was suddenly offered a room on the 9th floor (this was a club room, I've stayed in one before) but then maintenance arrived to check something and advised me there was a broken boiler on the floor above and the above and they couldn't switch it off, it was making a loud wirring noise) so could they move me to another room.... so I was offered another room on the 2nd floor which was for disabled - it was fine but not cosy and the long corridor into it quite unnerved me but since this was the 4th or 5th offering of a room I stuck with it. The stay did not improve i) there was no room service menu, apparently this was being phased out and there were none in the hotel (which I knew to be untrue as I'd seen one in the room on the 9th floor) so they gave me a photo copy of the Public (downstairs restaurant) menu, no wine list, no breakfast choices, no idea what was for the evening or all day dining. When I asked for a wine list I eventually got a hard backed copy of the restaurant one which was fine except on ordering a Pinot Noir a Pinot Grigo arrived (according to the room service guy its the same thing... err....!!!) so when I explained Pinot Noir was red they arrived with a glass of Shiraz... and pretty filthy it was too. On my first night in the disabled room I'd had a door hanger to order breakfast so I did - all fine, the second night there was no new one in the room (and don't forget no actual room service menu either) so called the front desk and they delivered one... on the third night I had to do the same thing it was quite exhausting, on my 4th night I gave up and didn't bother. House Keeping was patchy at best, layers...

Kimberly Greene, General Manager Renaissance Hotel, Providence, RI Review of our stay in Room 626 the night of May 6th

Dear Ms. Greene,

While it’s my custom to write Tripadvisor & Google reviews, I rarely write a letter like this……….the last time was a decade ago when I wrote to the manager of the Mandarin San Francisco at his request.

I am a season ticketholder for the New England Patriots living in New York and use the train to Providence a few times each year. There are times when I stay the night…………..in other words, I’m likely to be back………….therefore this note.

Not knowing the hotel, I phoned and spoke with someone at your front desk before making my reservation. I booked a suite facing the Capital. Our trip to Providence was occasioned by our grandson’s graduation from and we thought it would make sense to drive here, then meet at Davio’s in Foxboro for dinner………and that we did.

Our drive up I-95 in the rain was horrible and we arrived at the hotel near 6:15pm after five and a half hours. Stressed out, and concerned about being late for dinner, I called the front desk and explained our situation. They were terrific and told us that our room would be held for us. Dale thought it would be a good idea for us to use the bathrooms (she to freshen up for dinner) and although the front was very busy, Nick greeted us with a smile, told me to relax and assured me that he’d hold the car right in front. When we returned to the car a few minutes later, Nick told me how to get back to I-95 and said he’d still be on duty when we got back after dinner. He is a terrific face of your hotel.

We returned from dinner at about 10:30pm, checked in and went to room 626. We are interested in design and are art collectors. We love your choice of carpet and the quiet sense of good taste of the hallways leading to our room.

Room 626 is a gracious sized suite, furnished with wonderfully chosen furniture and……….most important…………possessed of a very comfortable bed. That said, there were some odd design choices. The centerpiece of the room is the view of the Capital………..captured perfectly in the bedroom. That said, the living room just doesn’t work…………maybe the furniture should be flipped so the sofa is on the wall presently occupied by the television so you can see the Capital while sitting there. As is, the furniture is likely not placed by Housekeeping where it was planned by the...