BlogHer - The W Hotel: Form over Function? - Comments

I wasn't at BlogHer but I stayed at the "W" in June . . .

laterain — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:19:25 -0500

on my birthmom's dime, not my own. I'm more of a Days Inn girl when it's coming out of my pocket . . .

and here's my picture of the shutters, among other things . . .
http://laterain.wordpress.com/2007/06/03/check-out-my-slide-show/

I felt like such a cheap, midwestern trashy girl for being so impressed with it . . .

oh--and I didn't spend the night--I had to be back in hades, oops, I mean Grand Rapids, MI, the next morning. I wouldn't have missed sleeping on that fabulous bed for anything, but duty called . . .

Rain

Re: To be perfectly honest...

bobafifi — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:29:16 -0500

Unless I'm mistaken, this was a public post by Elana for the whole world to see - not private - or in some way, 'just for those of us who stayed at The W', right? As such, I replied and in so doing, wondered out loud if anybody had contacted The W about this thread. A few minutes later, I called them. Big deal.

For the record, I did not contact The W as some kind of advocate for the women of BlogHer that had recently stayed there - nor did I say or imply in any of my posts in this thread that I was acting in such a capacity. No. I contacted The W for my own reasons. Period.

-Bob
http://www.bobafifi.com
http://www.blogher.com/user/bobafifi/track

The location couldn't have been better

toledolefty — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:43:26 -0500

Just wanted to chime in that I appreciate the work the conference organizers did to choose good hotels -- it was nice that there were multiple options.

I wish I had taken the CD of the W music they put in the rooms -- it would have made a funny momento. "Supersonic, magnifique, tres, tres cool et tres, tres chic!"

----
Jen
http://yawwblog.blogspot.com
http://angryfatgirlz.blogspot.com
http://toledolefty.blogspot.com

To be perfectly honest...

sassymonkey — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:39:46 -0500

I kind of wondered about why you felt so compelled to go so far as to communicate with the W to the level that you have when you were not involved in the situation. I was also not in attendance and certainly followed this thread with interest because when I thought I would be able to attend I considered the W. As I wasn't there I would never consider contacting the W to inform them about this discussion because I know these women are fully capable of doing so themselves if they feel it is necessary.

While I believe that your intentions are good I do understand why they could be perceived as a man stepping in to take care of this situation for the women. Which, as I'm sure you remember from either attending or reading last year, can be a bit of a sticky issue at this conference.

Thank you for providing context to your actions Bob. I too had perceived them as TW had.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

I didn't think

TW — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 07:53:44 -0500

it was a requirement to find all your posts and read them before asking ...and actually I don't believe you said so in this thread. If you were curious about customer service, why didn't you wait and see if they showed up or if these women who had discussed things with the manager got a call or chased them down themselves. The only other thing I can imagine is that you work for them/with them in some capacity and want to save the brand. But based on the other posts I have seen on Blogher of yours I am back to my thought that it is fix things for women.

~TW
Retro-Food

Re: I didn't think

bobafifi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:27:26 -0500

> and actually I don't believe you said so in this thread.
I gave you this link earlier, but whatever - here it is again:
http://www.blogher.com/w-hotel-form-over-function#comment-24927

> fix things for women compulsion of yours.

Think what you want TW.

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

Re: Then...

bobafifi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:40:33 -0500

With all due respect TW, had you actually read my posts, you would have known that I wasn't there, right? Perhaps my interest lies in how The W handles (or doesn't handle) their customers, perhaps it's something else.

Regards.

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

Then...

TW — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:14:30 -0500

Do explain what it does have to do with then...what made you jump in when you weren't involved and clearly no one was in danger?~TW

Re: Control

bobafifi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:01:35 -0500

> these are all capable women with the power to make their voices heard without a man's help.

Give me a break, please - gender has zilch to do with this.

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

Control

TW — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:56:43 -0500

It just made me wonder why as a non-guest at the hotel, you seem to be taking control of notifying the hotel of these women's concerns, comments and complaints. I can't figure out why you would jump in like that...these are all capable women with the power to make their voices heard without a man's help.

~TW

Re: Why?

bobafifi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:59:23 -0500

> Just curious since I didn't think I saw you there? ~TW

I wasn't there, so what?
http://www.blogher.com/w-hotel-form-over-function#comment-24927

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

Why?

TW — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:37:17 -0500

Just curious since I didn't think I saw you there? ~TW

Participant wants and needs

zchamu — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:44:43 -0500

First on the list of wants and needs for participants at a conference:

1. Close.
2. Clean.
3. Cheap as possible.

The W delivered on those. I think the organizers fulfilled their duty to the attendees. If they had sent us to Roach Motel, then I'd have a beef. But sending us somewhere painfully cool with odd decorating, well, I won't fault the organizers for that. The hotel had clean rooms, with comfy beds and lots of hot water. Worked for me.

ThreeSeven... attention deficits at work.

BlogHer Reserved Room Blocks At Other Hotels

jes — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:25:21 -0500

Actually, BlogHer reserved room blocks at two hotels (W Lakeshore and Chicago City Centre) as well as a hostel. Conference attendees were given their choice of hotel, which means that those of us who stayed at the W chose to stay there.

jes

Re: The W Hotel: Form over Function?

bobafifi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:43:22 -0500

Yesterday, I invited Heather Steenge to make a post of her own here. She wrote back, "We actually have a Starwood employee in our corporate offices who I am trying to get to assist us in responding on your site as well."

It'll be interesting to see if they actually do.

-Bob
bobafifi.com
usedviolins.com
fluteplayer.net

The W Hotel: Form over Function?

Elana Centor — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 06:07:10 -0500

The majority of business travelers don't spend most of their evenings in four star hotels.So when Blogher arranged for its attendees to get a really fabulous rate at the uber chic W Hotel on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, many of us jumped. What normally would be an out-of -reach expense suddenly began a stretch purchase.

Like so many things in life, the anticipation of The W was cooler than staying at The W.
When the promise of the experience doesn't match the reality, you have a brand problem. That is exactly what happened in Chicago.

The W has worked hard to create its brand personality. It even has its own corporate patois. As they say, " why use the ordinary to describe the extraordinary."

No lobby in this hotel. It's the living room. Why call it a garage when wheels will do? Want to work out? Don't ask for the fitness center--just ask for sweat.
There's more. At The W you have a :munchie box, in room dining, WC,Lift, and of course the whatever/whenever.

When you position yourself as extraordinary then you better well deliver extraordinary. There is no room for error. However, this weekend The W was very error prone. Just ask anyone who reviewed their bill at checkout.
Munchie box charges for items that were never purchased, incorrect fees for the internet and on and on and on.

When asked, the manager on duty dismissed the problems saying, "we were having computer problems this weekend and that's beyond your or my control."

Even without this billing snafu, The W does not meet my standards of excellence. Now to rate a hotel you need to have a standard methodology. Factors you consider every time you stay at a hotel.
What are your minimums? What are your delights?

At minimum,I need a hotel that provides:

WiFi - preferably free
A bathrobe or at minimum lovely towels
A coffee maker with multiple pouches of coffee
Replenishing the toiletries on a daily basis
A comfortable bed and great pillows
Room Service
Fitness Center with the equipment I use
Cable with the stations I watch

Note: I didn't include clean on this list because that goes without saying.

On my rating system The W gets two and three-quarters stars.

The bathrobe was luxurious but then having a bathrobe at a four star hotel is the price of doing business. It was a really nice bathrobe. In fact it was one of the nicest I have had in a hotel.

I like a hotel that replenishes their stuff every day. Replenishing is a major factor in my grading system. Even when it was obvious I had plenty of soap left and had taken the previous days allotment and stowed them in my suitcase, the entire line of BLISS samples--from the body butter to the fresh foaming shower gel and the foaming face wash reappeared en masse on the bathroom shelf every day. They are finding a home in my guest room.

Great Bed. comfy cozy. lovely duvet. pillows. It was a joy.

But,when you wake up a 4:00 A.M. to do work and discover that coffee pots are not part of the package, suddenly the replenishing, bathrobes and bed don't seem quite as important.

When I mentioned this to the manager, she told me that the hotel wants to be more personal and so they like to deliver coffee to guests rooms. Then she said that she realized some guests don't like having hotel personnel coming to their room early in the morning when they are not dressed.

She did say that The W does have in-room coffee pots that they use during some months.Whatever.

However, how can you even consider yourself chic if you don't have WiFi in the room? On top of that,the regular charge for internet service is $14.95 . That is not the room charge. It's $14.95 per computer per day. It didn't help that on Friday, when I got up at 4:00 a.m. to do work before the conference,(without coffee) the internet connection was erratic making it impossible to proceed.

On Friday evening I wanted to order some room service. The first time I called the whatever/whenever line I let it ring 20 times. I waited 10 minutes and called the whatever/whenever line again and let it ring another 20 times. Then I went to the sushi bar up the street.

But more than these annoyances,the brand is so strong that I felt unwelcomed. As PunditMom wrote, "I'm Too Old For the W."

"Nothing says "Welcome to Chicago" like the body-thumping music and tres chic employees of those trendy W Hotels....Of course, I forgot I'm getting to be an un-hipster and the W chain is all about hip."

From Red Stapler, I Am Kind Of A Big Deal,

"For BlogHer 07, I stayed at the W Hotel, where I instantly felt Not At Home.

The chic design, the beautiful people cavorting in the lobby and the extremely loud music everywhere all combined to tell me "you don't belong here." Those feelings were compounded by the $8 water in the rooms, the shuttered opening between the bathroom and bedroom (hello! I'm POOPING in here! Can you hear me?? GOOD! I LOVE THAT!) and the tiny type on their incomprehensible menu of services (housekeeping is called "styling" and the gym is called "sweat").

I'm not saying it wasn't nice. Quite the opposite. It was way too nice for a white trash girl like me."

It is for this very reason that I give The W two and three -quarters stars. How can a business in the hospitality industry succeed when they make people feel out-of-place? Unwelcome? Unhip? To succeed The W must make every guest feel like they belong. That they are welcome. Success is making the uphip feel hip for a day.

In their effort to create a brand experience that is extraordinary they focused on the stuff. The words. The toilet paper stored in a bag. The Shower with a half door. The bathroom with a shutter window. A closet without doors and drawers that unless you know what you are looking for, you cannot find.

Instead of delighting, it became a frustration. Instead of enhancing, the stuff hindered the experience. In its totality The W with all its stuff, pulsating music, and special language ended up being nothing more than a cartoon caricature of the brand image its trying to extol.

If you were rating The W would you give it 5-4-3-2 or One Star?