Wentworth by the Sea……Where’s the WOW?

My husband and I decided to take some much-needed time off for some R&R.  My travel schedule had been so busy, then the crazy holidays, the timing for the 2^nd week in January was perfect for us.  I had hoped that by booking a couple weeks after the holidays and mid-week that the hotel would not be busy.  I used my Marriott points (90,000 of them) to book a 3 night stay because I had heard some amazing things about this hotel.  It is within a 3 hour drive from my home and had all the amenities I was looking for:  ocean view, quaint Portsmouth nearby, indoor pool, spa facilities, rooms with fireplaces, concierge lounge, highly acclaimed restaurant, and last but not least:  slippers.  We left the dogs with a sitter (we usually take them with us, but this time it was just us humans) and headed to our seacoast destination on Sunday afternoon.

On our arrival, we were impressed with the majestic building on the hill overlooking the ocean.  The upscale neighborhood that houses this hotel is full of extravagant homes on the water.   Driving up to the hotel I was looking at the house on the right saying WOW, then up further at the house on the left saying WOW…..it was like a WOW-FEST in the car.  When we pulled in the hotel driveway I could see some of the hotel rooms are actually right on the water overlooking the hotel’s marina.  How many hotels do you know that have their own marina?  Pretty impressive indeed!

We warmly welcomed by the bell staff and directed to the front desk.  Upon check-in I was told that they were able to honor my upgrade request to a suite with a fireplace (which made me ecstatic) and the bellman brought us to our room. 

Let me just pause to clarify Marriott’s policies here.  When you are a platinum member in Marriott Rewards, hotels are supposed to offer you the “best available room” regardless of the type of room booked.  I booked a regular room using my points.  I could have paid an additional $150/night on top of the points to guarantee the upgrade.  The price seemed in line with the differences in room rates shown on the website, but to spend that much money in addition to points seemed outrageous to me.  I hoped that by going in the off-peak that I could save $450 and still get a suite.

Back to the story….

So when we arrive at our room, the bellman pointed us in the direction of our bedroom, which was nicely decorated but a bit cramped.  The entry door opened into a small sitting room which had the fireplace, and the bathroom was off to the left.  The first thing I did was look out the window for the view, then my heart sank.  Our room had the bottom windows frosted to obscure the HVAC equipment that was on the roof right outside the window.  If you look way in the distance, you could see around the vent pipes and machinery to the bay, but it was all ugly for the first 20 feet out the window.

Now I was conflicted.  I was happy to have the complementary upgrade, but with the hotel being so empty, was this really the “best available” room?  I asked the bellman (who was still there bringing in our bags) if it would be possible to change the room.  He called the front desk and was told that we could have a room down the hall, also a suite with a fireplace.  So he went to get the new keys and we loaded our bags back on the cart and proceeded to the new room.

What a difference!  This room was on the ocean side of the hotel with a great view!  It was spacious and had a separate area with a dining table and chairs.  I literally did a cartwheel in the main room, that’s how much space there was.  (Yes this middle-aged former gymnast can still do cartwheels ).  So now I am consumed with questions…..why weren’t we given this room in the first place?  Why give us what was probably the worst suite with the worst view, when so many rooms were available?  Why are we not worthy to be offered the best available room?  While I was much happier with the new room, I could not get past the initial impression and these questions.  This was disappointment number 1.

Disappointment number 2 came very quickly after number 1.  My husband went out to the car for something and I asked him to inquire at the front desk about getting some slippers brought to the room.  Now I have stayed in Marriott Spa hotels before and they always offer robes and slippers.  The robes were in the closet, but no slippers.  My husband retrieved his item from the car and came back to the room with the news that the front desk was on the slipper hunt.  About 20 minutes later we received a call from the front desk saying that they couldn’t find any slippers in the hotel for us.  What?  This is a spa hotel, isn’t it?  And I was told by the person who recommended this place that they provide slippers, so why didn’t we have them?  Did the Wentworth decide to cut them for cost reasons?  Were they just out of them and more should be coming?  More consuming questions.

Number 3 happened very quickly again…..it was like a rapid fire of disappointments aimed right at me.  As a platinum member we were given access to the concierge lounge.  After the news regarding the slippers we decided to check out the lounge.  We went into a dark, room and found a staffer who informed us that the lounge would not be open this week.  We were welcome to go there anytime for cold soft drinks, but there would be no coffee/tea or food served in the lounge that week.  OK, that was strike 3 and we had only been there an hour.

Of course my husband couldn’t understand why this was such a big deal to me.  Before we met, he was a Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn kind of guy, and since he rarely travels, he’s still that kind of guy at heart.  He was thrilled with all the things the hotel did offer, and didn’t miss these “little” things because he wasn’t used to having them in the first place.  I adore my husband and thank God everyday for him – he helps me to remember what is TRULY important in life.

Since the lounge was closed, we should have been offered breakfast vouchers for the restaurant, so on our way out we stopped by the front desk and asked about the vouchers which were given to us right away.  Of course this raises another nagging question – why did we have to ask?  Shouldn’t these have just been offered per standard Marriott policy?  Was this just an oversight or were we not good enough to be offered the vouchers?

Aside from all this disappointment in the first hour of our stay, we were able to enjoy ourselves on our getaway.  We had dinner in the restaurant that night which was quite nice.  They offered a special for a 3 course meal for $30, so we decided to try that.  For the appetizer, entrée’, and dessert courses we were able to choose 1 item from the 3 selections, and even though the selection was limited we both were able to find something that enjoyed.  The quality and quantity of food was good, and we were even able to get our desserts “to go” and bring them back to our room to enjoy later.

We had breakfast the next morning in the same restaurant.  Our voucher included the breakfast buffet, coffee/tea, and juice.  The buffet was quite nice with eggs cooked to order, 6 or 7 kinds of fresh fruit, a Belgian waffle station with a choice of fruit toppings, a bread selection that included bagels, various sliced breads, muffins, croissant, and Danish.  There was also smoked salmon and other sliced meats, and assorted cereals.  The chefs (different each day) prepared my eggs just the way I like them after getting past some initial confusion as to what a “real” egg is.  I like my eggs scrambled with various vegetables and the chefs like to make me an omelet with “liquid egg product”.  So when I asked for real eggs the first day, the chef looked puzzled and held up something resembling a milk carton and said “these are real eggs”.  I explained that what I meant by “REAL” was the egg that was still in its shell.  Once we cleared up the confusion everything was great.   For the next 2 mornings I enjoyed my “real” eggs exactly how I like them.

Since the initial disappointments, everything was going fine until the 3^rd day when I decided to treat myself to a pedicure at the spa.  I have had several before, and several at Marriott Spa hotels, so I definitely had some expectations in my mind.  The pedicures here were on the expensive side – almost $100 for a 75 minute treatment (after tip, which by the way they charge you for up front).  When I arrived for my appointment, I was taken to the relaxation room (another term for waiting room) and told to wait for my appointment.  I wasn’t told where the locker room was, or given a key.  Since I was wearing my street clothes I thought getting a pedicure while wearing my jeans would not be a good idea, so I found the locker room and 1 open locker with a robe and sandals.  I didn’t have any valuables so I wasn’t too bothered by not having a key to the locker. 

I was retrieved from the relaxation room and brought into the nail spa where I was asked to sit in the chair and soak my feet.  Then I was asked to pick a color for the polish.  Now if you like the color RED, or any variant of it, you would probably be happy here.  I don’t happen to like RED, I am more of a PURPLE girl myself.  They had ONE purple color choice which was very pale.  All the other colors were reds, with a couple of blackish colors thrown in.  I have a hard time with such an expensive treatment and they don’t even have a decent color selection.  I could get a $25 pedicure at a local salon and they have 3-4 times as many colors to choose from.

I was asked if I wanted anything to drink and I asked for some herbal tea.  “Sorry, we only have regular and decaf”.  WHAT?  How can a spa not have herbal tea?  I thought it was a staple.  She did offer to go to the restaurant to see what they had, and she did come back with some chamomile tea, but why isn’t this a standard offering in the spa – especially when it’s available down the hall in the restaurant?

As I was going through the treatment, the technician never asked how long/short to keep the nails, whether I wanted them squared or rounded.  I will take the blame for not thinking of it at the time, but I could have mentioned something about how I like my nails to look.  It wasn’t until she started to put the polish on that I noticed they were much shorter than I liked, and not very evenly trimmed.  The first polish she put on was one of the reds I chose, but after seeing it on the first toe, I really didn’t like it on so I mentioned that I had my own polish in the room.  She urged me to get mine, which I did, and she started painting with that.  When she was finished, I looked at my toes and I really wasn’t happy, but I felt it was too late to do anything so I left and went upstairs.  When I showed my husband, he commented that the polish didn’t even cover the whole nail.  There was a sizeable gap between the cuticle and the polish and he said that it looked as if my nails had grown out a couple of weeks.  HUH?  If that was the case, they would look really ridiculous in a couple of weeks, so he urged me to go back and have it fixed.

The technician was nice about the whole thing.  I explained my concerns with the gap in the polish and she tried to fix it by filling in the gap.  The problem was that she was adding multiple coats of polish and when it is too thick it chips very quickly.  She was also rushing to try and finish me so she could be on time for her next appointment.  By this time I am really feeling stressed because I hate to make anyone uncomfortable, but there was nothing comfortable about this situation.  Another technician related the story of a customer she had last week who wasn’t happy and wasn’t very nice about it.  I told her that I didn’t want to be that person and I felt horrible that I wasn’t happy.  I understand that these technicians work hard everyday with people’s gross feet and I appreciate their service, but at the same time I just spent $100 on something that I was really not happy with.  If I didn’t say anything then I knew I would have a very negative reaction everyday for the next month each time I saw my feet.

I offered to come back after the next appointment so that it wasn’t a rush job.  The first technician asked the other if she would do the polish because maybe she could do it better.  I went back a couple hours later and had my toes repainted by the other technician.  This time the paint job was a bit better, but the fundamental problem was with the shortness and shape of the nail.  There was nothing at that point that could be done to fix that.

After the 75 minute pedicure that took 4 hours, I was so stressed that my jaw started to lock up.  I occasionally have TMJ issues, but nothing like this.  I couldn’t touch my cheek the muscles were so sore and tight, and I could barely open my mouth to eat my dinner that night.  So my “relaxing” spa treatment caused me much physical and emotional discomfort.  I don’t think I will be back there.

The final disappointment came later that day when I stopped by the front desk to request a late checkout.  The normal checkout time for this hotel is 11am.  Platinum members are usually able to request a checkout as late as 4pm.  My request was for 2pm and I was told that the best they could give me is 1pm.  Now I could see if I were checking out on a Friday before a big weekend crowd arrived, but I was checking out on a Wednesday.  The hotel was hardly busy and I would think they could have sucked it up to give me the extra hour I requested.

I don’t want this to seem like a whining report.  There are several things I liked about this hotel.  The primary thing was the location.  Ocean view, close to parks, golf (not that we did this in January), and downtown – all within a few minutes drive.  The sunrise coming over the ocean was breathtaking!  I love that they offer FREE high speed Internet:  wired in the room and wireless in the common areas.  If your room is above the lobby, you have free wireless in your room as well.  We were close enough that we could get a decent signal and both my husband and I could surf at the same time.  The décor was tasteful and provided the New England charm that I like.  The bathroom had a separate shower stall and air jet tub, double sink and a door to separate the toilet from the rest of the bathroom.  The fireplace was gas, very nice and created much ambience as well as heat. The staff was friendly and displayed that “spirit to serve”.   Even with the pedicure debacle the staff did their best to make it right.

The things I didn’t like – already mentioned previously: initially being offered the worst suite in the hotel, no slippers, concierge lounge closed, spa experience, price.  Another thing that was noticeable; while the décor was attractive it was starting to look worn and shabby.  The carpeting throughout the hotel and in the room definitely had some wear and staining.  The wallpaper had a multitude of scuff marks was starting to peel at the seams.  Housekeeping did a decent job of cleaning, but in 2 out of the 3 days forgot to replace the toilet paper and towels.  Also, there really needed to be a magnifying mirror in the bathroom.

If I had gone at a different time, this review may have had a different result.  I can’t say that I would or would not recommend this hotel.  I also can’t say that I would or would not return for a 2^nd visit.  I think my indifference says it all.

Ratings: (out of 10)

General Impression:                             8.80

Room/Amenities:                                 7.84

Bathroom:                                            7.85

Concierge Lounge:                                5.20

Restaurants/Food Service:                    9.25

Optional Services:                                8.13

Overall Rating:                                     8.09