Mark DeResta

Review of Omni Biltmore Hotel

I ve been a professional driver for 15 years. Star...

I ve been a professional driver for 15 years. Started after being in the Marine Corp. I then worked for a Private Military Company that specializes in Armed escorts over seas for all sorts of foreign diplomats and pretty much anyone who had the money to hire us. After retiring from that type of work I worked for a Limousine company based out of Providence. Then when Uber started I contracted with them and I was hooked! Meeting new people and working on my own time and making GOOD money doing it. Been driving since Uber came to RI in the Summer of 2014. Now you obviously meet a lot of valet drivers at hotels, restaurants and some high end apartment. There s an unspoken agreement between Valet and ride share and Taxi drivers. And it s pretty obvious and simple, that s if you have common sense. We bring there paying customers to them, correct? So why on Earth would a Valet driver tell myself and multiple other RideShare drivers that we aren t allowed to pull into the driveway to drop the Hotels Paying Customer(s) off where it is safe and where they would expect to be dropped off!? I mean I would expect to be dropped off in the driveway out front the door if I had already paid to attend an event or reserved a room at the Graduate! If I m staying there I definitely have luggage, I m probably tired and just want to get checked in and get into my room. I m sure the not very well versed in human interaction Valet would expect that too. Or there manager and Especially the owner at any upscale hotel anywhere like The Graduate or at any hotel in general!
Now, Let s use the Omni hotel as an example. They have a very busy driveway and they know when one of us pull in we are picking up one of there Customers or dropping them off, never have I ever once been told that I cannot pull into there driveway to drop off one of there Paying customers off at there main entrance! And there driveway is non-stop! And In the 5 years that I ve been driving for Uber this hasn t happened at any hotel in Rhode Island. Or in Mass, Conn or NYC. I guess I should remind your staff especially the Valet who a paying customer can be...
- Adults with small children
- Pregnant woman
- Anyone in a wheel chair or someone who uses a walker, like a lot of our elders do.
- People with any type of disabilities or handicaps.
And I ll leave a photo reminder as to the difference between disabled and handicap. Even if it s not any of the listed above every. single. customer, of Your Hotel should get a red carpet service as soon as there cars is put on hold. A nice Welcoming Email, maybe a check-in reminder. Valet should be looking for Us to open a door to let there Hotel Guests in the car or out of the car and with there luggage. We as drivers aren t even required to do that and depending on the rider i do that!
If hotels started refusing Uber, Lyft and Taxis to pull into the driveways of there hotels then there customers and luggage get dropped off in the main road. I m not a CEO or an Owner of a Hotel but anyone with common sense would see that that s bad business for the Hotel. Reviews from Customers and driver like this one would start, plus it just makes that hotel look as tho there customers aren t a priority like they would be at The Omni, Courtyard by Marriott, Renaissance, Hampton Inn Providence, Hotel Providence, The Hilton...I think we get the point, right?
The first persons face that your guest sees is your Valet! That s the start of there experience at The Graduate. And the 2 people that night I dropped off had a first hand experience as to what an arrogant Valet guy acts like. His response to us when asked why I can t drop them off at the door was, because we don t have to let you. Right in front of your guest lol. I ve heard of similar experiences from other drivers as well. I sent a Hotel Inquiries email 2 days ago asking why we aren t allowed to drop guests off at the door anymore. No response so far...can t say I m surprised at this point!