Raphael Hotel Review

Gorgeous decor, historic hotel, luxurious rooms, and welcoming staff. Our stay was a dream come true.

Wonderful hotel with very friendly and curteous employees. We were greeted with a smile and hello everytime. The suite was magnificent, I would love to visit again.

Nice fancy rooms, with a fun old school feel. Shower was a bit weak is the only complaint.

Good: historic feeling, pleasant atmosphere with a great view and location in the plaza. I feel as though the staff genuinely wanted our experience to be good. Thank you to William who tried his best to fix the issues we faced, which are noted below...

Bad: our room had some else's dirty clothes in the drawer. On top of that, mini bar was not (even a little bit) cold. We alerted the front desk and the moved us rooms.


This would be a fantastic hotel if it weren't for the lack of attention to detail, and my bad luck of getting what I suspect are the 2 bad rooms in the hotel. Sad, because I would have come back had the details been attended too.

Lovely hotel in the heart of the Plaza. Excellent location. Nice amenities and easy to access parking. I loved the fitness center, and the Keurig coffee pot in our room! The hotel was quiet and I loved the historic decor inside. Gorgeous exterior. Free juice in lobby in the evening and free coffee in the morning. Free apples and oranges throughout hotel and bottled water and granola bars in the fitness center. I loved the fact that we actually had a real bath mat as most hotels only offer a towel mat. The only downside of our stay were a couple of rude comments from two of the workers. We encountered a different employee who was very sweet and had worked there for almost 28 yrs.

Nice place with a great jazz bar in an awesome setting.

Classy...Elegant...Friendly... The Raphael and the staff at Chaz made our stay very memorable as my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. If you don't stay here, you are missing out on a special experience. Thanks to All.

Amazing hotel and they pampered us so well on our wedding night!!

Very fancy lobby. Rooms are decent but don't match the impression given downstairs. Parking isn't very convenient either unless you valet.

We stayed in the Presidential Suite, and it was so beautiful! The staff were all absolutely wonderful and the food was amazing. We will definitely go back!

Nice place. Infrastructure was beautiful. Staff were nice and provided the great services. Interior was beautiful. Room was beautiful and great view with perfect lighting.

I was so impressed with this hotel! We were allowed a super early check in, upgraded to a room with a separate living room which is so nice for us because my guy likes to stay up a little later than me. The customer service is amazing, Karla made us feel right at home and was beyond sweet. The hotel is centrally located and we spent the whole day walking around the Plaza seeing all the sights and exploring. My guy spent hours researching before we came, and he did a great job finding the best hotel. You will not be disappointed!!

This is always our first choice for hotels when we stay in Kansas City. It doesn't matter if we are there for a special occasion, they make every stay feel like a special occasion. Couldn't be happier with the staff and hotel!

We came for a staycation. Great deal for a room and dinner credit

Outstanding service, great prices, extremely clean and comfortable rooms, excellent food. I was very impressed. Thanks for helping to make our wedding special.

I would like to give this hotel 4 stars based on my stay experience this year which was nice, but my suite had a leaking ceiling every time someone turned their bath on upstairs and my own bath s jets were broken.

However, I recently purchased chocolate strawberries to be delivered to my BIL and SIL who were visiting from SF. They stayed here for a night to celebrate expecting their second baby. The strawberries never were delivered to them, so I emailed my customer service contact to see what happened. No reply. Two months later I called the hotel to resolve the issue. Unfortunately the customer service person I spoke to was rude, condescending and dismissive of the issue. She informed me that I was wrong, that her records showed the strawberries came and delivered. I tried to politely explain that no, they did not. She continued to speak over me and said there was nothing she could do anyway because her accounting person was gone. Then she said there was nothing she could do because it s an outside company they use for the strawberries. She twice asked during the convo (in an obviously passive aggressive way) is there anything else I can help you with today? I left the phone call asking if someone could please call me back to resolve the issue through a refund. I followed the convo with another email to the original customer service person asking to please respond so we could resolve the issue. Finally I noticed a refund charge on my credit card. No call. No email. No apology.

We are lucky enough to have travelled well and stayed in many amazing hotels. I have to say that this such a silly, easily fixable issue with good customer service was an incredible disappointment for a four-star hotel. The way I was treated was poorly enough for me to write my first-ever negative review and a guarantee I ll never stay at this hotel again.

Beautiful place. Great location, Jazz downstairs is great, staff is top notch.

Safe environment for everyone staff was friendly and I definitely will be back. There are so many things that you can do in the hotel and in the area and great location downtown right by everything you will need

Love this hotel every time great location beautiful place

Very nice, close to everything, terrific restaurant down stairs, recommend getting room away from restaurant patio castniron chairs a bit noisy at night.

Awesome, luxurious room! Great location and service

Beautiful room. Customer service is amazing! Great location.

Beautiful hotel in a beautiful location. When they found out it was our 16th anniversary, they sent up a bottle of sparkling cider (we don't drink alcohol) and some chocolates. All the staff was very friendly and accommodating.

Great Hotel, we booked a couples massage through the Hotel and it was by far the best experience we have had. Very professional, high quality and well trained message staff. Fantastic experience for our anniversary. Highly recommend the message package with your stay. Make sure it is Kevinsmassage and his associates

This was the 1st time staying at the Raphael. Its just off the Plaza, the rooms are by far the best on tjis curent trip. I would compare these hotel rooms to the Mayfair in DC. A must stay for all travelers. I reserved 2 rooms, I just expected standard rooms but ended up with a small apartment per room (see pics).

I've stayed in hundreds of hotels through the nature of my work, and this one stands out by far.

The hotel staff goes out of their way to make your stay exceptional. When checking in, the front desk was very friendly and helpful in answering all the questions I had. The breakfast delivered each morning to my room was phenomenal. The service around the hotel was fantastic. Good morning and have a pleasant evening every time I came in and left.

Doors were always opened for me when leaving the hotel, and the staff was very friendly. Excellent location just steps away from the plaza which is the most happening area for shopping in Kansas City. Would definitely not hesitate at all to recommend to a friend or stay here myself again.

Room was beautiful. Service was excellent. Location was perfect.

The Raphael was very nice. The staff was attentive, the room was clean and in excellent condition. The furnishings were very nice. And, it's just fun to stay in a building that's been around almost 100 years. The room was fairly small, but it suited my needs. The water pressure, even on the 8th floor, was excellent. I didn't have an opportunity to try the restaurant or room service, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the parking and Wi-Fi were free. I'd stay there again, over any other place on the Plaza.

Awesome experience. Room got bumped to suite at no extra cost. Plus the complementary wifi was fast and not slow like some other hotels so I was able to FaceTime with family while away with no issues. Would definitely recommend

Service was excellent. Was greeted and treated very kindly. Establishment felt clean and accentuated the historical significance of the building. My room was pretty standard but it took an incredibly long time to get hot water. Would have liked to explore the building more.

Excellent accommodation and perfect service
Very impressed

The hotel is very lacking for the price, 270 dollars a night for a place to sleep and shower. For 150 you can go across the street and get free food and alcohol with your stay and in my opinion the rooms are nicer there. The loud noises that sounded like construction in the room next to us didnt make it better either when my wife was trying to sleep after her plane ride. The only thing good was the free valet and friendly bell hops and valet drivers.

Amazing hotel with top notch facilities. Professional staff and friendly atmosphere. Excellent location and quiet rooms. And this...

This hotel was amazing. Had awesome staff nice and all friendly. Great location. Must stay again.

Great service! This is one the best hotels in Kansas City. Great benefits for Platinum members. Rooms are clean. An added benefit is the Chaz restruant which has live music and is attached to the hotel.

Beautiful, vintage, boutique hotel. All the service we used were outstanding and our room was clean and quite.

Wonderful historic hotel. Second time staying here. The gentleman who was our bellman last time and this time shared wonderful stories of the hotel's history with us.

Great atmosphere!! Staff was very helpful and friendly.Also, delicious food and fun drinks in the restaurant. Absolutely beautiful hotel!!

Had a stayedcation for a weekend there. Was told it was a great hotel. Me and my wife wasnt happy very rude to us. Our bed wasnt clean or tub
dont no if the staff's wasnt having a good day. Had ppl knocking on our door . told us our bar was free in our room got charged for it. Supervisor was suppose contact me for a free night stay. still no call back

Not the best location, but the best service and accommodations I have ever experienced.

Not a good experience during restaurant week. Went during lunch at 11AM. Before rush our lunch. They we're out of the swordfish already, and teplaced it with overcooked salmon. My husbands cauliflower was cold, and potato is lukewarm. The over charged us 3.00 per glass of wine. Service was ok, But not worth going back for bad quality

Nice-ish hotel though not worth the money. Location on the plaza was ideal, but nothing really to write home about.

My wife and I came here for our honeymoon, because she had always wanted to stay here since she was a little girl.

For this review, I will be detailing the Premier Suite with whirlpool. It has a living room/dining room, a three-section bathroom, with a separate bedroom and a chaise lounge.

We arrived on Friday, May 17th at around 9pm. After a busy day with our wedding, plus a long trip, we were tired and wanted to retire for the night. Upon parking in the front, we were met by Phil Martin, a most excellent valet. Rick, the Bellman, gathered our luggage for bringing to our room. My wife and I are asthmatic, so as we were just getting through the doors we encountered some cigar smoke (a smoker's patio area is the ONLY smoking area) and had light trouble. The desk clerk, Curtis, immediately perceived our trouble and had bottled water waiting for us at the counter. He didn't even ask, he just had it waiting. Very astute! He quickly had us checked in and we quickly made our way to our room, which was very close to the front, so not much walking was needed.

Upon entering our room, Rick, the Bellman, began to give us a history of the hotel. It was most illuminating, as was his service. He explained the breakfast card to us so we could have a tasty meal the next morning.

After refreshing ourselves, we decided on a quick bite at Chaz on the Plaza. Upon arrival, we met the most amazing waiter, Tiago. My review is posted for Chaz, so more can be read there.

Upon retiring for the evening, we relaxed with the whirlpool and then a cozy bed waiting for us.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast. I had steak and eggs with OJ, where my wife had the Raphael omelette with some tomato juice. It was wonderfully yummy!

There were thunderstorms most of the day, so we decided to spend it indoors relaxing since the barometric pressure change affects us negatively.

That night, after we returned from dinner and some city driving, we decided some dessert was in order. So delicious I would would have had three bowls if I could.

While the stay was, in many ways, perfect, we did experience some unfortunate glitches. But Craig, the General Manager, was gracious and generous in responding to our concerns and ensuring we departed happy guests.

We had another yummy breakfast Monday the 20th and then proceeded to return to our home city of Omaha.

Such a magical experience, one that I will never forget.

My wife and I just spent four nights and were very impressed. First rate service and accommodations. Live music, excellent restaurant and bar and the most courteous staff. It's the perfect place for visiting Kansas City. We're looking forward to our next stay!

Disappointing December 2017 Holiday Dinner & Hotel Stay
My company booked two nights, 7 guest suites for board and a few staff. The guest suites were very nice and large. View of the Plaza from the rooms were great especially during the holidays as you can view the Plaza Christmas lights.
Service was surprisingly weak all around. The front desk was similar to what I get from the Holiday Inn Express, but less friendly. Not what I expect from an Autograph Collection Hotel.

Meeting Room - the meeting room was a few floors up. Basically they took what used to be hotel rooms, knocked out the walls and turned it into their meeting room. Even though we told them the size of group and our requirements, they ensured us there would be plenty of room. There wasn't. Cramped to say the least. The food catered for the meetings was pretty good - pricey, but good. The built-in large-screen TV did not work - we had hotel AV staff working on it for 30 minutes delaying our meeting and finally told them to forget it and we'll just survive without. Unacceptable.

Banquet/Holiday Dinner - This was the biggest disappointment of all. They crammed us into that same small room for our party/dinner. My assistant called the hotel meeting coordinator ahead of time worried about the space and she responded that she knew her job and there was plenty of room.
Food for the dinner was brought up to this room from Chaz on the Plaza - I've had great food there and while I know it can be on the expensive side, I know it will be good. Unfortunately for this dinner, the salmon was cold. And embarassingly, the bread that was brought to one of the tables was badly moldy - completely inexcusable.

Service during the event was very poor. Example, food took forever to come out. We sat there for over 30 minutes in between courses just waiting. Wine service was so bad I had board members getting up from their chair and pouring the wine for others because they had waited so long.

Overall: If you want to stay near the Plaza and are just needing a nice, large room with a decent view - stay here. If you want decent food or to use this place for a business meeting or banquet or even cocktail party - avoid like the plague of molding bread. If I were the manager of this hotel, I would be completely embarrassed.

Update: I received a follow-up from Hotel management with a sincere apology and did feel they understood my concerns. They also offered to try to make it right after the fact which I do appreciate.

Probably won't stay anywhere else in Kansas City from here on out. Staff was friendly even at the late hour we got in. Room service breakfast was exactly on time and delicious. Rooms are beautiful and extremely comfortable. Can't speak highly enough.

Absolutely loved our stay. Beautiful view. Nice staff. Great food.

Elegant renovation of an historic building done with class, attentive and charming staff, fun bar, comfortable rooms and excellent beds. Will come back.

My husband were luck enough to score an open room here on hotel tonight. The service was astounding! The rooms are beautiful and historic.

Amazing hotel! The rooms were impeccable and distinguished, the lounge and entertainment were, wonderful, and the staff was very polite and helpful.

The hotel is lovely and the staff at the hotel is superb. Love the room...very comfortable. The restaurant located at the hotel, Chaz, has a jazz bar. There is jazz playing nightly. We ate at the restaurant the first night of our stay and listened to a wonderful singer. Tonight, we wanted to go back to listen, but the tables in the bar area were all taken. When we asked to sit at an open table next to the bar, the hostess would not allow it because she said it was a table for dinner guests. The entire restaurant was empty except for the bar area. We asked if we could sit there to have drinks and listen to the band, but she denied us the table, saving it for potential dinner guests. We ended up going to a another establishment at the Plaza and spending our money there, and denying their jazz band a tip. When we came back to the hotel, the dinner table was still empty. Not cool...Chaz!!!! I love the hotel...would stay here again...but will not waste my money at the restaurant Chaz. A huge disappointment as we love to listen to jazz, but this place is too small and poorly managed if you aren't allowing people to come in and sit at your tables.

This place is always awesome. Always treats me right. I especially like the hotel bar and restaurant in the basement. Fantastic place for a drink with friends from out of town.

See comments below from Jared, which mirror my own feelings. For $330 one of the most expensive hotels in the area the attention to detail was lacking.

The clearest example would be their having hand lotion next to the shampoo in the shower instead of conditioner, which resulted in quite a mess when I used it without reading the tiny label on it first.

Some of my notes:

BAD: Incredibly tiny bathrooms with loudest toilet ever

Heat can t keep up with the cold

Tiny, warm sodas in unrefrigerated mini bar are $2, no vending machine, after the front desk girl snobbishly said they were the same price and that was the only option (not a big deal, but nonetheless annoying), had to call room service who charged $18 for 6 of same 8 oz sodas + automatic 25% gratuity

Very loud traffic noise in our corner suite

GOOD:

Very comfortable beds

Blazing fast WIFI (thanks Google)

Comfortable beds and great service. Complimentary valet. Good location near Country Club Plaza.

What wonderful service and treatment on my wifes birthday. We were so appreciative of our upgraded room and suprise wine and chocolate. Totally first class. Great hotel and restaurant. Staff is attentive and helpful. Sheets and bed are amazing.

Drinks can be pricey, but the live music is always on point.

Chaz was a delightful surprise! The food was delicious and the service was wonderful !

This is an absolutely charming hotel. The rooms are very nice and the in-house restaurant is fantastic!

Amazing service and experience! We stayed here for our wedding Anniversary and the wife loves this place. Comfortable and cozy rooms. Had a concern/issue we shared with the front desk and they assisted us immediately. Highly recommend the Romance Package!

I had the best time at The Raphael. As a Concierge Manager for Marriott in Omaha, I will recommend this hotel to all my guests, colleagues and friends here in the Omaha area. Shoutout to Amber, Xander, Adam, Richard Boyer, Michael Watt, all the gentlemen (Jeff and others) in Valet and Bell for making my experience meaningful and worthwhile. This is the epitome of how a Marriott property should be ran. -Sam Ashford

Omg that place was nice and clean the staff was very very friendly overall I will definatly be back.

Wonderful hotel. I would definitely go if you can make it work.

Finally, a chance to break out of this long sequester, and visit family in KC. We chose the Raphael because we knew it, and knew that they would make it as safe as a hotel could be. We were not disappointed.
The grand hotel is still as grand as ever, a comfortable delight with top notch service and a smile wherever you look. We appreciated having in room coffee to start the day, and all the little niceties that make for an outstandingly fine hotel.

Wonderful service, beautiful rooms, really beautiful hotel directly across the street from shopping and restaurants.

Love this place. Classic experience and service so rarely encountered these days. Treat yourself to "living large" in KC. You will be glad you did