La Fonda on the Plaza — Hotel in Santa Fe

I would like to note that our trip was during the COVID-19 situation. Our rating considers this as we understand that protocols out of La Fonda's control were in place. Our rating is based purely on our experience. We could not use any facilities and did not use that n our rating.

It's a beautiful place that is warm and inviting. We were both excited to come here on Memorial Day to be able to walk around without the crowds.

We arrived just before six pm on May 24 and we ended up staying in rom 206. I had requested a king bed for two people. When we checked in, it wasn't anything worthy of a four diamond experience. No smile, vague eye contact and monotone, like he'd rather not be there. He said our room was an upgrade and that it was on the third floor. What do you think about when you hear the word "upgrade"? I immediately think that the room will be better than the one I reserved. Maybe an extra room, or a free mini bar! A hot tub would be nice as well. This place...wait for it...a smaller bed but it gets better. There were two smaller beds instead of the king! We were elated because now we could push the beds together and make a king. No. That's silly, the upgrade must be the view. Nope, can't be that, it's not amazing, some roof top and the street, although Santa Fe isn't hard on the eyes.

We call down to the front desk without settling in. We stated that we reserved the king bed but he argued that the room we were in was bigger. Yeah, it was bigger and you know what was in that space? A queen bed we had no use for. We hung up the phone without conceding and then after a minute we talked and concluded that this was BS, not right, and now we were wondering, "Why is this guy trying to pass of this as an upgrade and why is he in essence, arguing with us?"

We called back and stated that we wanted the King as we had requested in the first place. He tried to sell that this was a better room but we held our ground and he said, "Alright, come down and get a new key." then hung up. We looked at each other. This isn't the service we expected. I don't do well with people like that and my GF is more of a diplomat than I am and after returning with the key, she wasn't so diplomatic. The clerk had just handed her the key without any aknowledgement. She took and and we went to the new room.

Guess what? This room was an upgrade compared to the other room. It was what we wanted. A room with a king bed and the view was much better. Right across the street was the Loretto Chapel, much better than a rooftop.

The room was nicely appointed, my only complaint was the tiny pillows, but that's trivial. We were unable to dine inside the hotel and with take-out only, we decided to venture out and were able to find somewhere to sit down for dinner.

Overall, the property is very nice, well appointed and taken care of. Our low rating comes from our first impression of staff which was: uncooperative behavior, misleading information (upgrade, really?), hanging up and dismissive attitude. Why was us changing the room to our original request such a hassle?

If there was a legitimate reason as to why he was not wanting to accommodate us, we are understanding, but the guy was not a good representation of a four diamond rated property.

Throughout our stay there we witnessed a valiant effort in keeping the property sanitized from public washrooms to the common areas. We were very comfortable there and were not worried about them maintaining standards. The place was very well taken care of. Some reviews say the place is dated, but it's the style. An old southwest building with the flair and style you would expect in Santa Fe. I saw no need for upgrades in the areas where we were. The art was appreciated, the painted glass tiles and architeceture was a great part of the experience.

We wrote this review in hopes that the clerk who took care of us could be trained in order to better his communication skills. This would have been a five star rating of not for his behavior. Again, that was room 206, May 24,...

There are things you assume a hotel will offer when you book it for business travel. You know that there will be a bed and a bathroom guaranteed, as well as the other usual amenities the guest relies on: towels, chairs, a table, hangers, an iron, and an ironing board (there are other things I don't care about, like TVs, minifridges, etc., but I understand other travelers might count on that too. My mistake was to take some of these things for granted in this case. I travel for business sometimes and I normally have a carefully crafted and tight schedule. I certainly do not include in my agenda items like "go buy a pillow" or "find a friend in town who has an ironing board." You assume that these things will be there, that the price you paid covers these basic things, and that if something is missing you will be promptly supported. Upon arriving at the hotel, I immediately proceeded to take my dress shirts and ties out of their bag and get ready to iron the wrinkles they acquired during travel. This is standard for me. When I started ironing, I noticed that the ironing board was so unstable that it didn't allow me to press the iron without the board falling over. I stopped and inspected the board to find that indeed one of its legs was bent to the point of making the board unusable. I still did what I could with the limited time I had because I needed at least the shirt for my first meeting, I left the others for later. I approached the desk the next morning and explained the problem to the person in charge. I don't hold it against personnel to make mistakes when you are overworked or during busy times, but it was clear to me that this interaction was probably not going to yield the expected results. The person behind the desk said that they could not immediately give me another ironing board but that they would send one "as soon as possible." I asked to at least make note of it so that I would not be charged for a broken ironing board. You can guess what eventually happened based on the number of stars I am giving. I didn't bother to mention the matter again, but I checked out two days later and I never saw the promised ironing board. I wasted precious time trying to problem solve and I had to get creative about how to get my shirts ironed. I do not expect nor want any "apologies" about this, but I hope that my review can help raise awareness about how things that may seem minor to management can really affect the guest and the work they came here to do. There are amenities some of us rely on more than others, and even though someone may find this frivolous, one minute wasted or a wrinkly shirt can make a difference to the work some of us do. But regardless, it doesn’t matter. If you promise a guest that you will fix an issue with their room, you should fulfill...

EDIT: they refunded me, probably because of my aggressive complaining, but I guess that is the result I was looking for considering I didn't even spend the night there.

I ended up driving 18 hours from Big Bend Texas back to the Denver area just so that I didn't have to stay here. And they still charged me. They said that the third party app was responsible for a refund and the third party app said that they are responsible for my refund so apparently nobody is responsible for a refund. But the rooms are definitely motel quality and not hotel quality. But it was one of the most expensive rooms I have ever paid for a single night. I think because there was an event or something in town but I wasn't there for that I was just driving through. I had come all the way from Big Bend in Texas and had been driving all day long and all I wanted was somewhere quiet and clean to sleep and take a shower but even at those prices I was unable to get that. The rooms were dirty and smelled bad. It was street access pretty much so I didn't feel safe in the room and it was very loud. It was also adjacent to the lobby so you would hear everyone coming and going from their rooms. The carpet was stained and the bed was uncomfortable. The shower didn't even close it was an open shower concept so you can be cold in the shower. And even the hand soap smelled bad and made my hands feel dry and tight. Nothing at all about the room was up to my standards. The furniture seemed shabby and not chic. It seems like second hand furniture that was picked up at a yard sale. I have been here before and ate at the restaurant. That's why I chose to come back and stay at the hotel because I thought it was nice based upon my experience at the restaurant. But here's a little tip you can go to the restaurant without staying at the hotel, which is exactly what I should have done. I have been to Santa Fe many times in my life. I used to have a travel job and I came down to New Mexico all the time. I have stayed in at least six other hotels in Santa Fe and every single one of them was much nicer. I would never recommend La Fonda on the Plaza to anyone. And it's outrageous that I had to drive 18 hours straight to be able to get home because the accommodations were not suitable and they still charged me for the room. I guess I have to reach out to my credit card company to request a refund. I would say they are shady and disreputable and they misrepresent their rooms as being nice when they are definitely not. If you like motels this is the place for you. Maybe they have nicer rooms but at the price I paid my room definitely should have been nice if they had a nice room I don't know why I couldn't be in it. It felt...