A Wren Says

In a different world, perhaps The Virgin Hotel New York would be my favorite hotel. Given how much others have raved about the hospitality of Virgin Airlines, I felt confident that this place would be exceptional. So, when I needed a place to stay on a trip to New York, I eagerly booked in. But then I entered.

And I will tell you this, the design of the room was stunning. I absolutely enjoyed the front entry his and her closets. It made for easy and neat luggage stowage. The mirror lighting made getting ready a dream. The bed was comfortable enough. If we were going by décor alone, I would likely book in again (though I would prefer a real bathroom instead of separated toilet shower set up it had). And maybe having just one bed might take away the design flaw of the lamp that hung so low that I repeatedly hit by head on it. But décor can only do so much when at its heart a hotel is a service. The little things added up.

It was the lack of greeting at check-in, save for the one employee hustling trying to handle everything as if trying to make up for his colleagues. It was the struggle my travel companion had to go through to get checked in. It was not receiving the wi-fi information at check-in and having to head back downstairs to get that sorted out. It was having to call for maintenance to fix and issue on arrival and then having to call back 45 minutes later when they hadn’t arrived. It was the other maintenance issue never getting resolved at all. It was the lack of cleanliness and the surprises we discovered.

Now, there will likely be a gut reaction to “get rid of” the employees that are the problem. But I will assure you that those lower on the totem pole are not the problem. All of those small issues add up to issues up the chain. Rather than asking a housekeeper why she didn’t do a more thorough job, I would ask the managers what systems they have in place to support them to do that. What culture do they have in place so that front desk attendees feel great and are eager to greet? What is the management team doing to make sure that their workers feel taken care of so that they can take care of their guests?

I want to hold out hope that this was a fluke experience, but I want this to be an admonition for them to do better. If the opportunity comes, I would give the brand another try, but I will do so with reservations.

If you’ve stayed here before, what was your experience? Would you recommend the property to someone else?