Two days before arriving at the hotel, we were notified that renovations would be taking place. No mention of any renovations was provided when the reservation was booked 4 weeks earlier. Upon arrival, there was a high level of noise from power saws and tools, so the you could not hear a word that the hotel employee behind the desk was saying. She was abrupt and surly and informed us that $200.00 would be kept in escrow for “extras”. I have never encountered that in any high end hotel before. It doesn’t seem necessary as they have your credit card information anyway. At breakfast, we ordered orange juice and water, which never arrived. When we asked if there was cream cheese for a bagel, the server informed us that they were out of cream cheese. The toaster was also out of order. After my wife had eaten the untoasted bagel, the staff brought out a supply of cream cheese. Amazing.
At check out time, we texted the valet 20 min prior to preparing to leave, as instructed, to bring up the car. We got an automatic text reply stating “we have no valets at present, try again later.” After 30 min, the front desk attendant (same surly person as on arrival), said she would get the car. 30 then 60 minutes passed, and the same desk person stated that they have nothing to do with the valet, as it is a separate company. Finally, after 1 hour and 45 min., the car arrived.
At the Sofitel, you will hear a lot of “bonjours”, to which I definitively and forever reply, “au revoir.”