I wanted to enjoy my Sofitel experience in Wellington NZ. Unfortunately, there were too many inconsistencies. I contacted the hotel a few days before my arrival to arrange arrival transportation. I generally hope for a quality car with a safe and very experienced driver. This was not offered. They reserved a local taxi for my arrival, but no driver was waiting for me at my on-time arrival.
I was unable to connect to the hotel wifi during my stay. I have four apple devices, all standard. There was nothing exotic about my device configuration that should need a call to technical support. Another guest was referred to speak with technical support from the hotel lobby, which frustrated her and demonstrated a denial of the overall issue with the system in the hotel. Wifi is essential, so this alone made my trip unviable.
The laundry submission cut-off time is 8 am. I went downstairs at 8:15 and had to pay a 50% premium for same-day service. This seemed churlish. Instead of owning the situation, the front desk person blamed the hotel's laundry vendor. Making the hotel or their vendor's issue my issue is not responsible service.
The restaurant was terrific. The housekeeping team was attentive.
The hotel is on a steep hillside. The flat hotel driveway was full of unattended parked cars. Getting the suitcase out of the car on the slope was dangerous, to say the least.
Overall, this hotel does not seem to care about repeat business. The wifi issue alone is a never-again situation. However, the overall lack of attentiveness of the front-of-house staff left me cold.
I would finish by letting the hotel know I have over 100 nights this year at another chain at their highest status. You did absolutely nothing to encourage my loyalty to Sofitel or Accor. Disappointing.
