Alex B.
1/5
Checked in to this hotel on 4/3/25. We had booked through Expedia and when the person checking us in confirmed our phone number, which was nothing like our actual number, we were told, 'Expedia seems to just assign numbers to bookings' - I mention this as it will be important later in the review. Our stay was fine, the room was clean, although the blinds on the round windows did not keep out much light so it was difficult to sleep with so much light in the room. Prior to that, I was pleased to see they have a 'pillow menu' so I called to request a lavender one. After about 20 minutes, someone brought the pillow, but after they had gone, I realized there was no smell of lavender at all on the pillow - absolutely nothing - just a regular pillow. I called again and was asked 'do you want another pillow?' Well, clearly I had wanted a lavender one in the first place, so she said she would 'look into it'. Half an hour went by with no pillow, so we headed out for dinner. Someone from the hotel had messaged us to check all was good with the room, so we mentioned about the pillow and a replacement lavender pillow was provided at some time during the evening. Fast forward to check out time, a little before noon on 4/4/25. We had prepaid through Expedia and on check in had been informed that the only charge to be paid on check out would be for the self-parking, which we expected. As we checked out, the employee suddenly mentioned that a 'resort fee' would also be added. We had not been told of this at check in. A manager came over when he heard our conversation and quickly pinned the blame on us. First he said that Expedia doesn't let you know about the resort fee. We pointed out that the check in person knew full well that we had booked through Expedia, given the issue with the phone number. Then he said that we should have read all the fine print when we signed at check in. There is a LOT of print and I feel that the check in person, while informing us of the parking fee and the hold on our card for incidentals should have also made us aware of that (given they know that Expedia don't inform customers). We asked what is covered in the resort fee and were shown a list which includes wifi (listed as 'free' on the hotel's own website under amenities. 'Pandemic preparedness response' is also listed as something we get for our resort fee (really!). Two bottles of water. We would have brought our own water, rather than pay over $10 per bottle. Car service and airport shuttle were other things listed. Basically we did not use anything on this list - we hadn't even drunk the waters. We politely requested the fee be waived since we had not known about it in advance and hadn't used anything available. We were told very firmly 'no'. The manager said he had no authority to remove any charges. We had already told them we had enjoyed our stay and had not only planned to return when next in Madison but had started to recommend the hotel to friends and family. What would have been a 4 star review has ended up being a 1 star - what would have been definite repeat custom has turned into us never returning - all this could have been handled so differently, all for $24.16 resort fee. Even if they had offered to remove half of the charge, they would have had repeat customers, but it was clear the manager was not willing to make any adjustments, even to have us return in future. One staff member changed our entire experience from great to terrible by their non-customer-friendly attitude. For others planning to stay here, be aware of this resort fee charge - it is exceptionally difficult to find on the hotel's website - you have to go through the entire booking process and you can easily hit 'reserve' without scrolling down to see this charge. We would not return in future, since if there was another issue with the room or anything else, we would not feel confident in the management's willingness to try to resolve it.
