Nice room
We were only in the fairmont gold room for 1 night after a cruise. It was known early on that we would be arriving early as I informed the gold staff as soon as they reached out. Upon arrival, we were told we could only access the lounge starting at 11 (disappointing since we had to leave the next morning by 6am and would miss breakfast). So we left and were told we’d get a text when room ready. (This was around 9am). When we returned around 1pm, I asked to be taken up to the lounge. Lounge was nice and all lounge staff very nice. The drinks you had to pay extra for were downright odd. Seems like a “nickel and dime” you situation. Gold level was in some cases twice as much as non gold level, but all alcohol you paid as much as $25+ a glass for? In my experience in club level in other places, this was downright embarrassing policy. However, we were told again our room was being expedited but not yet ready. Our family was tired and leaving first thing in the morning next day, so we were disappointed in continuing to wait. 3pm rolled around (check in time), and the staff said our room still not ready but again, it will be expedited (I was told around 30 minutes). We got luggage brought up (took around 20 minutes), and dressed in lounge bathroom so daughter could swim. Down at the swimming pool, zero seats whatsoever. Our daughter got in pool but I sat on a gardening ledge close to the pool. Finally, approximately 4pm (1 hour after check in), I went back to the lounge to see about the room. We had 5:30 dinner reservations and wanted to freshen up before then. Staff at first confused and said room still not ready but expediting. At this point, I’ll admit I was angry. Here we had gold level service, but seemed like we were just having games played with us. Is it’s fairmont’s policy that the room is ready whenever you all get it cleaned, which can be whenever you want? Seems unfair to the customers (I overhead another gold check in with her room not ready around 4pm, she also thought it odd). Anyways, at my persistence, a manager was called in, who got us into a suite! The upgrade was greatly appreciated and we did love the room and the view. Seems to me that this room exchange could have occurred much earlier, if the staff felt more empowered to do things like this. I can only guess they don’t, and until I was persistent and a manager interceded, the gold staff didn’t push on changing rooms. We had a similar experience at the four seasons Seattle (early check in and the room wasn’t quite ready). However, the staff called me within 20 minutes and found a room that would accommodate us. I don’t know why it took this long for Fairmont, so I would suggest more autonomy within the staff. We had dessert within the lounge which was a huge disappointment. Only 3 small choices of dessert. Since we had to leave for a flight at 6am, we didn’t experience breakfast. The gold lounge did call and asked about our room later. I let them know I appreciated the room upgrade/etc. Again, we were very appreciated of the upgrade, but would have preferred more timely service since we had such a short stay.