Van & I went away for a mini-vacation to cold and windy Dartmouth, NS the past couple of days.
I have to preface this post by saying it's a good thing we had our first impressions when we did!
We stayed at the newest hotel in the area, the Hampton Inn & Suites at Dartmouth Crossing. It is 7 floors and was opened approximately 10 months ago. My biggest concern was finding it - not a real difficulty once I got there and saw things. Plus 1 for the hotel!
The parking lot is rather small and there are several spots that are marked for special parking that made getting a parking spot a bit difficult (i.e. 1 spot listed 3rd from the door for "Hybrid Vehicle Parking Only"...WTF?! & Employee of the month parking on top of the standard wheelchair parking spaces). Also, it was poorly plowed. Majority of the end spaces were not fully plowed and most of the lines sectioning off the parking lot were not visible due to the poor plow job. The spaces were a bit on the small side considering people would probably want room to open the car doors fully to extract luggage, etc. and there wasn't really the room for that. There were alternate parking spaces around back, which was great when we were staying in a room facing that way. Overall parking though was Minus 1 for the hotel.
Upon arrival, we were impressed with the hotel lobby's atmosphere and friendliness of the staff. Everytime we went through the lobby (which was surprisingly, a LOT) we were always greeted politely and there was always someone cleaning & mopping the floors due to the salt and sand being tracked in.
The check in was seamless and quick and the elevators extremely fast (+1 for the hotel)! The hallways were immaculate (as they should be for a new hotel) and we commented on how spongy/slippery the carpets were in the hallways because they were still so new and clean!
The also have a 24h tea, coffee & hotchocolate bar set up across from the guest services desk and a 24h suite treats rooms behind the check in desk where you can purchase missing toiletries, snacks, pop and even microwavable dinners! (+1 for the free Tazo tea & hotchocolate bar)!
The room was an interesting layout, but they are built for long-term tenants with a kitchenette and living area beside the standard amenities (+1 for the kitchenette, including the microwavable popcorn, Tazo Tea & coffee maker).
What was odd for us, was the bathroom set up...the sink, hairdryer, etc. was outside the bathroom. I am simply not a fan of using the toilet, then having to open a door/touch things before I even have the ability to wash my hands (-1 for the hotel).
While I unloaded a few things in the kitchenette area, Van scoped out the bathroom and said to me that it looked strangely familiar, but I didn't really pay any attention. As I sat on the toilet shortly thereafter though, I understood what he was referencing. I realized that it was a stand up shower stall only...no tub. I live without a tub in my home and had not realized how much I had been looking forward to taking a bath until I nearly started to cry upon realizing there was no tub in the room! (-1 for the hotel)
We went about our business the rest of the afternoon and early evening and decided to ask upon arrival back at the hotel whether they had rooms with tubs in them. We were informed by an awesome desk clerk named Jessica that the only rooms that didn't have tubs was the type of room we had - the King rooms. The Queen room all had tubs in them. That was odd to me that the more expensive rooms didn't have a tub! Anyway, she was awesome enough to offer to exchange our King room for a Queen room and we did protest at first, then I decided that no, I would really love a hot soak! So, she said no problem as she had a room available on the 3rd floor and offered to send a bell boy up to assist us in moving rooms. We went up to our King room, which was overlooking the highway on the 2nd floor and packed up our stuff, waiting for the clerk to send him up with our new room keys. (+1 for being willing to transfer us to a different room)
The boy arrived with a cart and card keys to assist us in the move. He gave me the key cards and attached to the cards was a lovely note from Jessica "Mr & Mrs Russell, I have moved you to room 702 instead as there are teams on every floor tonight except this one and this way you can experience a more relaxing bubble bath and night." I LOVE JESSICA!!! (+ a thousand for the thoughtfulness of this employee)
The Bell Boy asked us why we were moving rooms - was there a problem and we told him not really, except that there wasn't a bathtub. He stopped and turned to us and said, "We have room without bathtubs?!" LOL!! Classic! Of course, poor little bugger had only been working there 2 weeks! heheh (+1 for the bell boy who did his job well and made me laugh out loud)
So, up we went...The room was on the complete other end of the hotel and on the other side of the hotel, overlooking the entire Dartmouth Crossing. I have to say it was very beautiful looking out over all the lights from up so high!
We got moved and I went down to move the car from back to front and stopped to thank Jessica personally and offered her a tip for her good job. She refused it and when I insisted, she asked that I put it in the Haiti jug as they were raising money to donate to haiti. (+1 for the employee refusing to take the cash and putting it toward the fundraiser)
The next morning, breakfast was included and it included a hot breakfast component. That morning it was eggs and ham slices. There was also bread & bagels available to be toasted, apple, orange and cranberry juice to drink as well as tea, coffee & water. Muffins, croissants, yogurt, fruit and cereal were also available to eat. It was a lovely set up and the dinig area was one long communal table in the middle with smaller table off to each side. It was quiet and the staff overseeing the breakfast was on her toes! (+1 for the hot items, +1 for the overall selection and +1 for the dining area and alert staff)
Our second night's experience was not as good however. That being said, we can't really blame the hotel for the issues that I had as a whole. When we got back to the hotel the 2nd night, we wanted to get a hot chocolate to take up to the room because it was freezing cold and we weren't feeling so great, but upon entering the lobby we were inundated by kids...more specifically 10 - 16 year old girls and some adults who were not doing much to keep them under control. The pool with 180' water slide is at the back end of the lobby, so the kids were running in and out of the pool area and the parents/guardians were mostly on the outside of the glass windows talking and not watching much. They were ill dressed for a hotel lobby and when we went to the tea bar, they were down to a precious few cups and lids and were completely out of hot chocolate (wonder why? Well, I dont' because that's the only thing the kids would drink from there!) (-1 for the hotel running out of hot chocolate and -1 for the hotel not to make the kids stay in the pool area or make the parents pay more attention to said kids)
The hotel was hosting the participants of a ringuette tournament. Crap.
Then, there was the running races in the hallway until after midnight. Then, this morning when we went down for breakfast, the place was completely packed. Not one empty seat to sit in PLUS there was a line up to even get near the food. The hotel had run out of the hot breakfast items (which were pancakes and sausage patties) (-1 for hotel running out of hot food, but not really their fault) and they were doign their best to keep the food coming. By the time they had refilled the hot food, the line had disintegrated into vultures swooping in on their kill. It was scary and sad all at the same time.
The place was absolutely trashed. The jars of cereal were impossible for the staff to keep up with and the cereal had run low due to what appeared to be mass amounts of it being strewn around the area. They had run out of cups for the juice and by the time I realized that there was no milk to put in the cereal I had chosen, I had had it with the insanity and chucked my bowl in the garbage and left. I think the employee running the breakfast felt the same way. She looked like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. I got pissed and headed up to the room. I feel that the hotel probably could have thought a bit better in planning for this morning's breakfast since they knew there were teams there for the night and really, they should have had an extra person or two manning the breakfast area this morning. (-1 for hotel's lack of advance planning)
Overall, I would recommend the hotel...on convenience and cleanliness alone with 2 caveats...I probably won't stay there again on a Friday or Saturday night and book a Queen room! LOL!!
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