Hello,
I stayed at the Sheraton in Nassau from March 19 - 22, 2010. I am writing in order to inform you that the service at this particular location is atrocious. I have stayed at the Sheraton in Markham, Ontario, in New Delhi and in Niagara Falls on numerous occasions.
The staff at the Nassau property at the front desk are anything but helpful. When I arrived, having made my reservation through my bank's point system, I found that the Sheraton in Nassau did not have my reservation. I presented my voucher and other documents, but the manager at the hotel (Cypriana) did not recognize the voucher. I gave her my copy of the voucher as she assured me that she would call the Sheraton's reservation department in order to clear up the mix-up. Over the next three days, I talked to at least 6 different people at the front desk in person and over the phone.
I finally used the internet to get the number of the RBC Travel Assist line, I called the assist line. At this point, I was asked to use the phone in my room to make the call. I declined and used the phone at the front desk so as not to incur any long distance charges of my own. The RBC travel assist rep. was extremely helpful and took care of my bill and, amazingly and in contrast to the Sheraton staff, told me to not to worry and enjoy the rest of my vacation and that she (the RBC Travel Assist rep.) would figure out the details of the reservation and payment for me with the hotel manager.
This experience of the many days spent talking to the front desk and the single phone call to the RBC Rep., more than anything, brought home to me just how terribly inattentive and uncaring the staff at this hotel are. There are other minor incidents which occurred, from minor lapses of courtesy with other guests (such as not even saying something like, "thank you for staying at the Sheraton" to staff simply shrugging their shoulders when they were corrected about extra amounts billed to guests bills.) Which, by the way, happened to me as well. I was over-charged about $60 on my final bill for buffet breakfasts which were included in my package!
I have gone on at length only to bring home the point that what is happening at the Sheraton in Nassau is not just the lack of a quality customer care experience (which I have come to associate with the Sheraton name) but the degradation, in my mind, of the Sheraton brand. You have a beautiful property in Nassau, but your brand is taking a beating for no particular reason except that it has become acceptable at this location to view the guests as burdensome or as annoyances.
Thanks for listening,
Zahir Paryani
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Nassau: First Full Day
Had a large breakfast. Lay on the beach till 1 p.m. and then rented a scooter. Unfortunately, my friend, Chris, was not comfortable riding on the scooter and we soon rented the bike and took the local transit into town.
Downtown Nassau is full of tourist trap type of shops and supposedly high-end jewellery stores. Everything is overpriced but it was nice to walk through town anyways.
Pictures of our time on the beach are trapped on my iphone, but below are pictures of our day out.
Close up of beach bags for sale at the straw market in Nassau.
This cute old graciously allowed me to take her picture and called me boo-boo, darling and baby, which was very sweet of her. She looked the part of the doting grand-mother and who doesn't love doting grand-mothers.
Sign with Chris' finger for a comment.
One of many mega-ships which come to harbour in Nassau, releasing tourists to drink in the streets, buy over-priced crap in the stores and generally act like they own the town. Or they just looked frightened and wonder if they'll ever make it back on the ship for another game of shuffle board.
Downtown Nassau is full of tourist trap type of shops and supposedly high-end jewellery stores. Everything is overpriced but it was nice to walk through town anyways.
Pictures of our time on the beach are trapped on my iphone, but below are pictures of our day out.
Close up of beach bags for sale at the straw market in Nassau.
This cute old graciously allowed me to take her picture and called me boo-boo, darling and baby, which was very sweet of her. She looked the part of the doting grand-mother and who doesn't love doting grand-mothers.
Sign with Chris' finger for a comment.
One of many mega-ships which come to harbour in Nassau, releasing tourists to drink in the streets, buy over-priced crap in the stores and generally act like they own the town. Or they just looked frightened and wonder if they'll ever make it back on the ship for another game of shuffle board.
The Enigma of Arrival
Flight was eventless...Will definately fly WestJet again instead of Air Canada.
Getting out to the airport in Nassau was a nightmare. We waited in line for 1 hour. There were only 4 booths\officers taking their sweet time with clearing the backlog of 3-4 flights arrival at about the same time. In order to remedy this situation, a live band came on the band stand reserved for just this situation. Which means it happens all the time! After an hour, I had move about 15 feet. Finally fed up with the waiting I went to the front of the line, to see if more booths couldn't be opened up. Or at least they could put the band to work clearing the backlog of tourists.
I asked to speak to a supervisor...such a North American thing to do! I was told to go into an inner office, where there were about 10 customs officers and one head honcho identified by a single star on his epaulet. Totally ignored and told to sit, I decided to stand with hands folded in front of my crotch. Defiance with a touch of subservience.
When a woman, amply stacked, looked at my passport, she wondered why I was in the office. I told her I was going to be late for a meeting at the Sheraton and told this to the guy at the booth and then he sent me in. Note: Playing dumb is good, making up lies can be helpful. She asked me which guy sent you here....I said I couldn't remember which guy, but it was a guy...not a girl.
She said, come with me. We went to an unoccupied booth. She stamped my passport and immigration document and voila! Out the door to greet my friend and enjoy the weather!
I love the third world.
Getting out to the airport in Nassau was a nightmare. We waited in line for 1 hour. There were only 4 booths\officers taking their sweet time with clearing the backlog of 3-4 flights arrival at about the same time. In order to remedy this situation, a live band came on the band stand reserved for just this situation. Which means it happens all the time! After an hour, I had move about 15 feet. Finally fed up with the waiting I went to the front of the line, to see if more booths couldn't be opened up. Or at least they could put the band to work clearing the backlog of tourists.
I asked to speak to a supervisor...such a North American thing to do! I was told to go into an inner office, where there were about 10 customs officers and one head honcho identified by a single star on his epaulet. Totally ignored and told to sit, I decided to stand with hands folded in front of my crotch. Defiance with a touch of subservience.
When a woman, amply stacked, looked at my passport, she wondered why I was in the office. I told her I was going to be late for a meeting at the Sheraton and told this to the guy at the booth and then he sent me in. Note: Playing dumb is good, making up lies can be helpful. She asked me which guy sent you here....I said I couldn't remember which guy, but it was a guy...not a girl.
She said, come with me. We went to an unoccupied booth. She stamped my passport and immigration document and voila! Out the door to greet my friend and enjoy the weather!
I love the third world.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Review: Crowne Plaza, Niagara Falls, Ontario
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Niagara Falls for 2 nights beginning on March 15, 2010.
We had a package which included one buffet breakfast, one-and-a-half day access to the water park and some coupons for dinner at the Sheraton or the Crowne Plaza (the Crowne).
We were checked into a tiny room with two double beds. There was hardly any room to put our luggage down, not to speak of the fact that we were travelling with two active kids. The air in the room was hot and stuffy. I played with the thermostat and found that there was no air vent in the room, and there was no air conditioning unit on the windows. The bathroom also had no vent. After going down to the front desk, I was offered a fan to help circulate the air in the room. The offer of the fan was done very matter of factly...like this was an everyday occurrence. What I really wanted was to get some fresh air into the room and then cool the air off....you know, like an air conditioner would? I was told I could open the window...unfortunately the window, which I had already tried to open, only opened about 4 - 5 inches!
We were then shown another room, which the front desk told me was an upgrade -- it turned out to be exactly the same size as the last room. Back down I went with the bell-man in tow. This time I was given the keys to a suite...a double room. So with some grumbling from my wife and kids, who were already getting settled into the first room, we moved.
The first night in the suite was cold. I had the thermostat turned all the way up. Unfortunately, the heaters were not working. The next day, after spending a great day at the water park, we returned to take showers in our room. As I tried to adjust the shower head, the pipe going into the wall simply bent right off the inside-the-wall pipe. Nice! I turned all the water off and called the front desk. I mentioned that I had (big strong guy that I am) had simply broken (not bent, but broken) off the pipe attached to the shower head. Without missing a beat, the lady on the line said, "Okay, I'll send up an engineer right away!" Which made me think that this type of occurrence wasn't entirely novel to this hotel.
After having lived and settled-in to this room...the maintenance guy informed us that we would have to move to yet another room as the repairs would take a long time.
Fine. So we moved, conveniently, across the hall to the same type of suite as we had just vacated. As soon as I entered the room, I could smell the distinct odour of fumigation chemicals. I said as much to my wife...but I also knew that the kids were in no mood to move yet again and neither was the wife. After showering and just as we were getting ready to head out, my keen-eyed daughter spots an ant, then another, then another, then another. I crush them all and assure her that there are no more ants in the room. Before leaving I opened the "one" window in the two rooms 5 inches wide (as far as it would go)to air the room out. We spent 3 hours out and returned to find our room freezing cold. No big deal, I thought, I will just shut the window and turn on the heat.
The heaters did not work, the single pane window, which was on rusted hinges, would not shut. I tried to slam the window shut with no luck. I looked for a knife in the room to "jimmy" the window with no luck. Finally, I took the belt off my pants, looped it around the small window handle, pulled hard and pushed the frame of the window upwards to finally close the window shut for good. Unfortunately, the room was still very cold owing to the the single pane, circa 1929, windows. By this time, I was well onto the hotel. I called down and, without explanation, asked for a portable heater to be brought up to our room. The operator's response, again, was non-chalant and a portable heater was promptly brought up, no questions asked.
The kicker was that another, as we found out later, very nice family had moved into our suite. Their story was similar....they were shown the cramped room, they complained, were upgraded to our previous room of the broken pipe. We exchanged some intelligence with them, they asked to take over our portable heater as "their" room was also freezing the night before.
The only thing good about this hotel were the staff, who seemed to have a, 'Yeah, we know...we're sorry, but what can you do, it's an old hotel' attitude about them. Nevertheless, they were all very pleasant and understanding and accommodating. Without the graciousness of the staff this whole experience would have been a total loss.
Bottom line: The Crowne Plaza in Niagara Falls is a very old hotel which has had cosmetic renovations but no structural renovations leaving many things to be desired. Save your money and go to the Sheraton Fallsview which is next door to the Crowne.
We had a package which included one buffet breakfast, one-and-a-half day access to the water park and some coupons for dinner at the Sheraton or the Crowne Plaza (the Crowne).
We were checked into a tiny room with two double beds. There was hardly any room to put our luggage down, not to speak of the fact that we were travelling with two active kids. The air in the room was hot and stuffy. I played with the thermostat and found that there was no air vent in the room, and there was no air conditioning unit on the windows. The bathroom also had no vent. After going down to the front desk, I was offered a fan to help circulate the air in the room. The offer of the fan was done very matter of factly...like this was an everyday occurrence. What I really wanted was to get some fresh air into the room and then cool the air off....you know, like an air conditioner would? I was told I could open the window...unfortunately the window, which I had already tried to open, only opened about 4 - 5 inches!
We were then shown another room, which the front desk told me was an upgrade -- it turned out to be exactly the same size as the last room. Back down I went with the bell-man in tow. This time I was given the keys to a suite...a double room. So with some grumbling from my wife and kids, who were already getting settled into the first room, we moved.
The first night in the suite was cold. I had the thermostat turned all the way up. Unfortunately, the heaters were not working. The next day, after spending a great day at the water park, we returned to take showers in our room. As I tried to adjust the shower head, the pipe going into the wall simply bent right off the inside-the-wall pipe. Nice! I turned all the water off and called the front desk. I mentioned that I had (big strong guy that I am) had simply broken (not bent, but broken) off the pipe attached to the shower head. Without missing a beat, the lady on the line said, "Okay, I'll send up an engineer right away!" Which made me think that this type of occurrence wasn't entirely novel to this hotel.
After having lived and settled-in to this room...the maintenance guy informed us that we would have to move to yet another room as the repairs would take a long time.
Fine. So we moved, conveniently, across the hall to the same type of suite as we had just vacated. As soon as I entered the room, I could smell the distinct odour of fumigation chemicals. I said as much to my wife...but I also knew that the kids were in no mood to move yet again and neither was the wife. After showering and just as we were getting ready to head out, my keen-eyed daughter spots an ant, then another, then another, then another. I crush them all and assure her that there are no more ants in the room. Before leaving I opened the "one" window in the two rooms 5 inches wide (as far as it would go)to air the room out. We spent 3 hours out and returned to find our room freezing cold. No big deal, I thought, I will just shut the window and turn on the heat.
The heaters did not work, the single pane window, which was on rusted hinges, would not shut. I tried to slam the window shut with no luck. I looked for a knife in the room to "jimmy" the window with no luck. Finally, I took the belt off my pants, looped it around the small window handle, pulled hard and pushed the frame of the window upwards to finally close the window shut for good. Unfortunately, the room was still very cold owing to the the single pane, circa 1929, windows. By this time, I was well onto the hotel. I called down and, without explanation, asked for a portable heater to be brought up to our room. The operator's response, again, was non-chalant and a portable heater was promptly brought up, no questions asked.
The kicker was that another, as we found out later, very nice family had moved into our suite. Their story was similar....they were shown the cramped room, they complained, were upgraded to our previous room of the broken pipe. We exchanged some intelligence with them, they asked to take over our portable heater as "their" room was also freezing the night before.
The only thing good about this hotel were the staff, who seemed to have a, 'Yeah, we know...we're sorry, but what can you do, it's an old hotel' attitude about them. Nevertheless, they were all very pleasant and understanding and accommodating. Without the graciousness of the staff this whole experience would have been a total loss.
Bottom line: The Crowne Plaza in Niagara Falls is a very old hotel which has had cosmetic renovations but no structural renovations leaving many things to be desired. Save your money and go to the Sheraton Fallsview which is next door to the Crowne.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
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