I have stayed at this hotel a number of times and have thoroughly enjoyed all my previous stays but on my most recent stay I found that standards had severely declined in multiple respects. Upon arrival there were no staff at the driveway to assist to unload the luggage as there are usually. Upon entering the hotel lobby, I found all reception desks unattended. After waiting a few minutes, a staff eventually arrived. As an Accor platinum member, I have always been upgraded to a suite at this hotel on all my previous stays. I asked about the availability of a suite upgrade for this stay but was informed by the staff that there were none available. I accepted that because I understand that upgrades are subject to availability. However, when I checked the availability of suites for my stay dates immediately after check-in, I found that there were multiple suites available. So the staff had lied to me. I discussed the matter with Heath Varcoe, the Guest Experience Manager. Heath said that upgrades for Accor platinum members were only to the next room category and also dependent on factors other than availability, without elaborating on what those other factors were. I feel that as an Accor platinum member who has stayed at this hotel on numerous occasions, the hotel should do their best to offer a suite upgrade if possible, as they have on all my previous stays. I asked Heath if I could get the contact details of a staff in the reservations team so I could check with them when planning future stays regarding the likelihood of a suite upgrade being available. Heath said he would check and get back to me before I checked out, but I have never heard from him, despite asking the staff on check out to follow up with Heath. It has now been a few months. I was assigned to a small room which had an awkward ‘open plan’ design with a bathtub placed awkwardly in the middle of the room. The sliding door to the bathroom was difficult to open and close and did not actually afford much privacy as you could still hear everything going on in the bathroom when it was closed. Also, it seems the hotel has replaced the Dyson hairdryers with el-cheapo brand ones which look like they are from a $2 store. They do not fit with the image of Sofitel as a luxury hotel. There was also no portable speaker in the room as there usually is. At the breakfast buffet at Garçon Bleu I found that there were no chicken sausages as there had been on all my previous stays, only pork ones. Because I do not eat pork, I raised this with the staff and was informed that they had run out but they would have them the next day. But the next day when I went back there were still no chicken sausages. So I decided to visit Club Millesime for breakfast instead, and strangely found that they did actually have chicken sausages there. But they were not the full-size ones that were available previously, rather, they were small, cocktail-size ones. I hope they bring the full-size ones back, because
After a disastrous meal the night before my wife and I decided to eat in house at the Pullman Hotel restaurant, SALT. The table service was excellent and we were both well respected as customers. Food quality was magnificent. I had a Braised Beef Short Rib that was perfectly cooked and my wife had the prawns. The prawns were bursting with flavour and they were cooked perfectly. Well done to the crew at SALT.