Larry Lawson

Review of The Fairmont Sonoma Mission In...

This was one of the worst experiences I've had yet...

This was one of the worst experiences I've had yet in 30 years of world-wide travel.

Facts: They didn't know if our room was ready at 5pm on our arrival
The phone didn't work - Maintenance was quick and friendly to fix it.
The shower didn't work. This is unacceptable. Maintenance wouldn't be able to fix it until 'later'.
If the parking lot is full, valet parking is $35. Unacceptable. Their parking lot is small. Super small for the number of rooms in this place.
Internet costs $15 a day. Seriously? Every other hotel has complimentary wi-fi. In this day and age, Internet better be included. It's like the phone in the room now - not a special convenience as in the 80's or 90's.
The manager was dealing with one guest that they screwed up their reservation when we arrived and another guest when we checked out that morning as I really do want a working shower for the price of their rooms.
The front desk did not take the 20% off our food tab as they were supposed to.
On hearing of all the problems we had, the manager did not comp anything from our bill.

Observations: This place is cheap. They over charge you for everything they possibly can and the front staff has absolutely no concept of customer service or return guest value.

Acknowledgements: The valet staff did park the car for free as the lot was full. This did take some conversation with the attendant to make it happen.

The phone guy was great - friendly, quick, helpful.

The bartender was great - friendly, quick, and helpful.

The manager did agree not to charge us for the remainder of the stay when we checked out early due to the conditions - although I'd deny the cc charges if they did.

The building is gorgeous and definitely styled in the early 1900's of SoCal missions with modern conveniences (when they work).

I would not recommend this place to anyone that isn't willing to drop money that they have in excess (i.e., money that they don't know what to do with).