Rick

Review of The Chelsea Hotel

Terrible concierge service. Sorry this will be lon...

Terrible concierge service. Sorry this will be long but I have to explain why the concierge service deserves an F.

It was late Saturday night when my wife discovered her laptop s touchpad wasn t working properly and she needed to borrow a mouse for first thing Sunday morning for just a few hours (she needed her laptop for a meeting which started before stores opened). She went down to see the concierge whose first response was that there was nothing she (the concierge) could do. My wife asked if perhaps there was a computer somewhere in the hotel that wouldn t be used by staff Sunday morning and she could possibly borrow that mouse and my wife would be so very grateful. Answer: No. My wife pointed to the bank of computers and mice for use by guests and asked: Does the hotel not have any backup mice so that when a mouse over there breaks you can replace it? Answer: Our IT department would know but they are closed until Monday. Is there nobody who you can call, like a manager, who has access to the IT department and can see if there is an extra mouse somewhere? Answer: No. My wife kept coming up with possibilities for where in the hotel there might be a mouse she could borrow for a few hours Sunday morning. My wife asked if the concierge had any suggestions. Answer: No. Did the concierge know of any store that was open late on a Saturday night that might sell mice? Answer: No. The only thing the Chelsea concierge did was to eventually call housekeeping to see if housekeeping had a mouse.

When my wife got back to her room she called a 24-hour Shoppers Drug Mart a few blocks away and the gentleman who answered the phone was very helpful and spent far more time, and put far more effort into, trying to help my wife than the concierge had.

I know a concierge here in Ottawa and when I told him about my wife s experience he was shocked, dismayed and had a lot of suggestions for what the concierge should have done and said that there was absolutely a mouse somewhere in that hotel that could have been lent to my wife (he went through several options of where the concierge could have found a mouse including many that my wife had suggested to the Chelsea s concierge). He also couldn t believe that a concierge was so unwilling to offer any help and had sent my wife off without having shown any concern about her predicament.

I know we re not in a movie where the concierge works miracles but to have a concierge who showed no interest in finding a solution to a guest s problem was astounding. This experience reminded us of some of the amazing staff we ve run into at other hotels and wondered why Chelsea would be okay with providing such deplorable concierge service.